Vs. - Pearl Jam (CD 1993)

To celebrate the upcoming release of the upcoming album Riot Act by the 1990s Seattle rock band Pearl Jam, our esteemed host, Pearl Jam expert, and the King of Rock at Epinions.com, MattA75 decided to host the Pearl Jam Write-Off. He along with several other rock writers who are fans of the band decided to review an album or product related to the influential Seattle band. For my contribution, I decided to review their 1993 masterpiece, Vs .

In 1992, rock was alive again. After years of bland and bloated hair-metal bands and corporate pop schlock, rock music finally got the kick in the *ss it deserved. On January of 1992, the King of Pop, Michael Jackson was knocked out of the top spot of the Billboard 200 album charts by an unknown trio from Seattle who all looked like they never got out of the garage. On that week, Nirvana were the kings of rock as Seattle became the new rock capital of the world with bands like Screaming Trees, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, and Alice In Chains belting out a new sound filled with Black Sabbath riffs, punk intensity, and underground sensibilities that was marketed as grunge rock. Another band from Seattle that also broke big was Pearl Jam. Their 1991 debut album Ten was released and the band were the biggest band in the world behind the likes of Nirvana, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, REM, and U2.

While Ten yielded many hits and sold millions, there were those in the music press that suspected them as being a corporate rock band riding along the success of Nirvana. While critics were divided over Pearl Jam, there were those who liked Pearl Jam that wanted to remind their detractors that the members Pearl Jam came from two influential and obscure Seattle bands, Green River and Mother Love Bone. After a successful slot in the 1992 Lollapalooza tour, Pearl Jam were still being successful but the attention and scrutiny of the press were troubling the band particularly singer Eddie Vedder. With offers to do stadium tours and all of the things most major rock bands had done in the past, Pearl Jam decided not to do any of those things. They did fewer interviews and stopped making music videos as they began to guard their image (or lack thereof since they never looked like anything or anyone) more closely than ever. The band returned to the studio to work on their sophomore release that was titled Vs. .

Vs. in comparison to their debut Ten is a much more murkier and less anthemic than the debut album. While Ten was an album with blazing rock anthems and a glossy production from Rick Parashar, Vs. is an album straight out of the Seattle gutters thanks to producer Brendan O Brien who marked his first collaboration with the band on this album. While the album does have a few ballads, they re not the overblown rock ballads of the 1980s. Here, Eddie Vedder channel out angst-ridden lyrics and introspective storytelling to the album that pushes him away from several of his grunge rock contemporaries. With Dave Abbruzzese s drums and Jeff Ament s bass along with dual guitar work of Stone Gossard and Mike McCready, Pearl Jam have crafted their first and definitive masterpiece with Vs. .

The album begins with the rumbling rocker; Go that opens up with Abbruzzese s powerful drum fills and Jeff Ament s rumbling bass lines along with fast, and soft hard rock guitar riffs. Then the song goes full-throttle with its punk-like intensity as Stone Gossard and Mike McCready bring in their raging guitar riffs as Eddie Vedder sings, in his fast-paced vocals that is hard enough to keep up with what he s saying but the intensity and power is enough to make this a great opener as he sings the chorus of Please, don t go on me that is followed by a wailing guitar solo from McCready that are followed by the power riffs of Gossard. The next song is the classic Animal with its fast-droning Sabbath riffs and powerhouse rhythms as Vedder sings, -2-3-4-5 against 1/I said, 5, 5 against 1-2-3-4-5 against 1/Torch her from me to me/Abduct it from the street as he leads to the chorus of I d rather be, I d rather be with, I d rather be with an animal as Abbruzzese brings in his powerful beats along with raging power chords of Gossard and McCready who brings in a powerful guitar solo at the end of the song as Eddie screams the chorus with his raging, baritone vocals.

Next is the classic ballad Daughter with its opening acoustic guitar track and Vedder s smooth vocals as he sings, Alone listless, breakfast table, otherwise, empty room/Young girl, violins center of her own/Mother reads aloud child tries to understand it/Tries to make her proud shades go down, inside her hand/Painted room can t deny there s something wrong that leads to the chorus of Don t call me daughter, not fit to/Picture kept will remind me (repeat the 2 lines)/Don t call me . As the band plays in a smooth and soft tone, Vedder sings, She holds the hand that hold her down, she will rise as McCready brings in a smooth guitar solo as he is followed by smooth rhythm section of Ament and Abbruzzese as Vedder sings the chorus for the final time that leads to a smooth coda of throbbing bass lines from Ament s stand-up bass Gossard and McCready s guitar.

Glorified G opens up with rollicking waa-waa riffs from Mike McCready and Abbruzzese smooth and powerful drum fills as it is followed by thumping bass hooks from Ament and Gossard s power chords as Vedder sings the song with the sing-a-long chorus line of Glorified version of a pellet gun with its upbeat sound and rocking power as Vedder screams Always keep it loaded followed by McCready s rollicking guitar riffs. Dissident is another classic with its smooth, mid-tempo rhythm and McCready s blues-driven guitar solo as Vedder sings lyrics of a woman taking care of a man that leads to the chorus of When she couldn t hold, she folded/A dissident is here/Escape is never, the safest place/A dissident is here as it is followed by McCready s powerful guitar solos.

W.M.A. opens up with tribal rumbling beats from Abbruzzese s drums and Ament s hollow bass hooks. With Vedder s atmospheric vocals following along with McCready and Gossard s soft guitar drone, Vedder sings, He won the lottery, when he was born/Take his mothers, white beast to his tongue/Trained like dogs color and smell/Walks by me, to get to him that leads him to echo the line Police man in a song that is about police brutality as he screams Police stop now, hurt again in this blend of grunge and world beats that would serve as the prototype to their highly-underrated 1996 album No Code . Blood is a fast-tempo rocker with blazing guitar riffs and powerful beats as Vedder screams Spin me round, roll me over, f*cking circuits/Stab it down, one way needle, pull so slowly as Gossard brings in funky riffs as the band brings in blazing hard rock riffs with Abbruzzese s cymbal crashes.

Next is a classic live staple for the song Rearviewmirror with its driving, melodic punk riffs and upbeat rhythms as Eddie Vedder sings, Took a drive today/To emancipate /Was the beatings, made me wise/I m not about to give thanks or apologize that leads to the chorus of Head at your feet/Fool to your crown/Flat on my plate/Swallowed it down/Enmity gagged, enmity by fear/Tried to endure/What I could not forgive as he along with Mike McCready and Stone Gossard all bring in fast-pacing guitar riffs with a punk-like intensity that has become a fan favorite on live shows. Rats is a funky track led by Jeff Ament s funky bass hooks and Dave Abbruzzese smooth beats as Vedder sings, They don t get don t sleep/They don t feed, they don t seethe/Are their guns when they moan and squeak lick the dirt off a larger ones feet as it leads to the chorus of They don t scurry when something bigger, comes their way/Don t peek themselves together, and run no one/Don t ask they re not supposed to/Don t ever take whole truly not theirs/They don t suppose they don t suppose as it is followed by a wailing solo from McCready after Vedder sung it the second time.

Next is the ballad Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town as Vedder sings, I seem to recognize your face/Haunting, familiar, I can t seem to place/Cannot find a candle of thought to light your name/Lifetimes are catching up with me/All these changes taking places, wish I d seen the place/No one ever, taken me as he is accompanied by Gossard s acoustic guitar, Ament and Abbruzzese s smooth rhythm, and McCready s country-blues guitar riffs in this R.E.M. style ballad as Vedder sings the chorus of line of Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away in one of the album s most tender and luscious centerpieces.

Leash opens up with soft, distorted feedback that leads to a powerful, mid-tempo rocker with wailing guitar riffs and pounding beats from Abbruzzese as Vedder sings, Troubled souls unite, we got ourselves tonight/I am fuel friends, we got the needs to make amends, I am lost in this angst-ridden rocker filled with Vedder s raging baritone vocals that with filled with powerful emotions and anger, only something Scott Stapp wished he had. With the raging guitars of Gossard and McCready, Vedder screams, Drop the leash, drop the leash, we are young as McCready follows it up with a blues-driven guitar solo. The album s closer Indifference is a smooth, melodic ballad led by Ament s brooding bass hooks and Vedder s hollow vocals as he sings, I will light the match this morning/Watch as lien silent/I will stand area outstretched/I will make my way through as Gossard and McCready bring in smooth, melodic guitar tracks as Vedder sings, How much difference does it make with Abbruzzese playing cymbals and tambourines in the album s most haunting track that features an eerie organ accompaniment.

Upon its release, Vs. was released with minimal promotions that included no interviews and not much profile on the band. The lack of promotion surprised their label when the album debuted at number one selling an astonishing 950,000 copies in its first week where for years, the band held the record for most albums sold in a week. The murky sound of Vs. and its anti-commercial stance won rave reviews with the critics as they realized that Pearl Jam was no lame-*ss corporate rock band, they were the real thing. As they toured to promote Vs. , troubled lay ahead as the band became upset over ticket prices and went to war against Ticketmaster for a few years and rallied on other political issues as they became one of the most socially conscience bands of the 1990s. Vs. marked the period where Pearl Jam became not only one of the most influential bands of the decade but also one of the most uncompromising. With several songs on the album now radio staples or live classics, Vs. is already considered as classic Pearl Jam and it s probably their best album so far.

Very Special Thanks to our host MattA75 for hosting this amazing Epinions Pearl Jam Write-Off, please make sure to read his and the contributions for the following: Guildenstern, Jeff_Wilder78, PacManY2J, and Stairway2Drew.