From: leo@ph.tn.tudelft.nl (Leo Breebaart)
Subject: Kronto Review: Pearl Jam - Ten
Followup-To: rec.music.misc
Originator: recmusic@galaxy
Reply-To: leo@ph.tn.tudelft.nl
Organization: Delft University of Technology
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 12:34:50 GMT

Pearl Jam - Ten (1991)
Epic 468884 2
53:26 min, 11 tracks
Produced by: Pearl Jam and Rick Parashar

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the Uriah Heep of the Nineties.

No, I'm not trying to be a wise-guy, and I'm not making fun of Pearl 
Jam -- if you have read other reviews of me you should probably know 
enough about my tastes by now to realize that I mean things like 
this as compliments (I mean, who else out there still regularly 
listens to "Demons and Wizards", eh?).

Still, I *am* being sarcastic, of course, but the sarcasm is aimed 
at a certain group of fans -- those musical snobs who need 
'alternative' bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam and the concept of a 
specific 'scene' to feel themselves superior to everybody else, 
particularly the 'common' top-40 listeners. Those fans, the types 
who want separate newsgroups for in-depth discussion of the cool 
Seattle bands, will undoubtedly dismiss my comparison of Pearl Jam 
to Uriah Heep with a sniff of their upturned noses. Yet I am only 
partially kidding.

We have here a rock band, who makes rather heavy-handed music. Long, 
drawn-out variations on what is usually a single, low-tempo rock 
guitar-riff or melodic theme. A lead singer who is not particularly 
powerful, and who emotionally 'declares' his lyrics more than that 
he sings them. A remarkably conventional, old-fashioned approach to 
the songs themselves: melodies, and the aforementioned heavy guitar 
rock stuff -- but nothing that would really place this music into a 
totally non-top-40 uncommercial corner. And indeed, 'Alive' was a 
big hit everywhere, probably because the chart-buying public simply 
knows what it likes, and often recognizes a classic song when it 
hears one, regardless of whether it is a song by Madonna, R.E.M. or 
Pearl Jam.

So while I was listening to this album I more and more got the 
feeling that I had heard this category of music before. Not the 
specific style, perhaps, but certainly the approach. At that point 
Uriah Heep, and all those other dinosaurs from the seventies, from 
Deep Purple to Led Zeppelin, slipped into my mind without any 
outside help. I think that anybody who cannot see the similarities 
between, say, 'Release' and 'July Morning' is fooling herself.

Ok, I have made my point. So what did I think of the album? 
To be honest, it grew on me a lot. At first every song sounded 
exactly like each other, and this is, indeed, in the long run the 
main weakness of the album: way too little variation in both song 
construction and vocal style. After a number of listens, however, 
things do get a lot better, and there is no question in my mind that 
this album deserves much if not most of the praise heaped upon it -- 
Pearl Jam is not all hype and no substance. In particular, the first 
three songs on the album form an incredibly strong opening trio 
'Once' is energetic and forceful; 'Even Flow' is my melodic 
favourite, a song that won't leave the pathways of your brain once 
it burns its way in there; and finally 'Alive', Pearl Jam's piece de 
resistance, a long song that builds really nicely towards a powerful 
finale. The rest of the songs are good-to-very-good mid-classers, 
with perhaps 'Jeremy' as another particularly noticeable entry.

In conclusion, I think this is a fine album, which should not be 
rejected or accepted because of the surrounding Seattle hype. It has 
sufficient substance to be judged on its own merits. I do predict, 
however, that Pearl Jam are *not* going to (artistically) survive an 
identical second album. I hope that they realize this too, and I 
will be looking forwards to seeing how they are going to progress.

(As a P.S. I think that all Pearl Jam fans should check out the 
album "Mental Jewelry" by the group Live. You can also read my 
review of it, which should have been posted in the same batch as 
this one).

-- 
Leo Breebaart  (leo @ ph.tn.tudelft.nl)
Newsgroups: rec.music.reviews