Pearl Jam - Vs.

Pearl Jams 'Hard Rock album'!

'Vs.' is a great hard rock album, sadly it is the last album like this that Pearl Jam would make.  After this they would go in some sort of 'college radio' direction.  That has never made sense to me.  Why try to sound like the Pixies (who already had tons of clones... including Nirvana) when you can sound like a unique hard rock band up there with the Rolling Stones, Led Zep, and Guns N' Roses... that is pretty rarified air to enter... many try and many fail.  I think Pearl Jam could have gotten that good if they had not changed styles.

While 'Vs.' is assuredly a hard rock record and also finds Pearl Jam really putting out their first ballads, I just can't help but think what they would have sounded like with Andrew Wood at the helm.  He could do sleaze rock... look at 'Mindshaker Meltdown' so I am certain he could have held his own as a hard rocker.  But ya' know I think Wood could have handled making ballads better then Vedder.  Also Wood played piano!  That would have added a whole new dimension!  Maybe like Queen or something!

Also there is the whole issue of the Pearl Jams ultra-liberal political posturing.  It started to infect their songs like 'Glorified G'.  Listen if they want to talk about this crap on MTV interviews that is ok, but I don't really want to actually listen to it!  With 'Vs.' they finally started to get too political.

Anyhow after this album I sort of bailed on Pearl Jam and would only like a few of their singles after this.  Judged by their record sales many others did as well.

It would have been interesting to have seen them try and keep going in a 'Vs..' type direction but it was just not to be...

Pearl Jam - Ten

Pearl Jam... Oh boy Hard Harry412 has some issues with these guys.

When it comes to just the album 'Ten', I like it.  It is a good hard rock/ Alt rock album.  There are loads of songs on there that I like.  'Even Flow' and 'Alive'.  'Once' is pretty damn good as well.  In fact the only songs I dislike on here are some of the B-side filler on the flip side (yes I owned a cassette version of this back in the day and still judge some albums on when and where I would have to actually flip the tape!! )

However outside of 'Ten' I just have mega-issues with these guys.

1.) Hard Harry412 is sorry, but I just CAN NOT get over the loss of Andrew Wood and getting totally on board with Eddie Vedder!  I just think he is a better frontman then Eddie Vedder... period, end of story.  Wood had this whole humorous David Lee Roth thing going on.  Plus he had these awesome romantic piano ballads that even a dude could listen too!  Sorry but Eddie Vedder just doesn't have those qualities.

Also Vedder is just totally way too pretentious for my taste.  Not every dang song has to be so dang serious!!  Then there is the whole political side to Pearl Jam (liberalism), and this stuff didn't start until Vedder came along.  Mother Love Bone was totally a-political and invited folks to be fans, without any type of political litmus test.  Pearl Jam is right on the line of being too political for my taste.

2.) I give PJ lots of credit for battling it out with Ticket Master back in the day:

By 1994, Pearl Jam was "fighting on all fronts", as its manager described the band at the time.[33] Pearl Jam was outraged when, after it played a pair of shows in Chicago, Illinois, it discovered that ticket vendor Ticketmaster had added a service charge to the tickets. Pearl Jam was committed to keeping their concert ticket prices down but Fred Rosen of Ticketmaster, refused to waive the service charge. Since Ticketmaster controlled most major venues, the band was forced to create from scratch its own outdoor stadiums in rural areas in order to perform. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Jam#Dealing_with_success:_1993.E2.80.931995 

However it seems that over the years that PJ has turned its back on its original convictions.  For example when Eddie Vedder was touring solo around here just like 2 years ago (I think he was solo playing a ukulele) and he was charging $100 for a ticket!  What the F*&$?!?!!?  For a solo gig?  I saw Nirvana for like only $20!  And that was Nirvana, not Vedder solo or even Pearl Jam!!!!

3.) What the heck is up with PJs hatred of music videos?  First they started out making the darn things.  And they were cool.  I like the 'Alive' video and especially the 'Even Flow' one as excellent 'live in concert' type videos.  Then PJ went totally anti-video, then like years later they started making videos again... Did they do it to try and become popular again?  For a band that is so totally pretentious I think it is fair to call them out on possibly being sell-outs.  Remember, dear Hard Harry412Post readers, it is PJ that started out all serious and stuff, not me!!!  Also their new videos aren't even very good!!!!  I also hold Darkthrone to account for making videos now too, so it is not like I only think that PJ are lame for doing this, there are others as well!!

Still there are some good things about Pearl Jam!  I give them credit for being better then Linkin Park or NIckelback!  I still really like Jeff Aments early bass guitar playing (which is a major thing I like about 'Ten').  Mike McCready kicks ass as a guitar player and I think that being in PJ actually holds him back some considering how much he ruled with Mad Season and that one M.A.C.C. song that was a Hendrix cover.  Finally, yes even Vedder has his good points.  He is one hell of a good baritone singer.  (being a fellow baritone I enjoy singing along with PJ songs actually!).

This remastered version of 'Ten' that I have actually sounds pretty good!  There is also an additional album version with mixing done by Brendan O'brien I think, but frankly after listening just a little it doesn't do much for me.  I think I like the original album version better!  Someday this other mix I will listen to all the way through though.  Additionally, there are a few really cool B-sides on here I had never heard before and some live tracks from like 1992 added on as a bonus and that is always welcome!

In my mind PJ is a mixed bag and I just take the good with the bad, whilst still wondering in the back of mind what may have been had Andrew Wood pulled through.  If that pisses off hardcore PJ fans... well then SO BE IT!