It's Stone. Mike, at this point, only mirrored the bass line.

The open space of "Black" is still one of its most remarkable aspects. All the tumult of the first four songs instantly evaporates when that first guitar twinkles in. I don't feel a strong connection to the sentiments of the song any longer, so it doesn't hit me the way it used to. This is another one that has a slow ramping of intensity until everything is firing away near the end. One of the better uses if piano in a Pearl Jam song, I think. It works well, intertwining on the melody with Ed's vocals.

I love the twelve-string bass on "Jeremy." How often does this band let the bass define the riff and in such a memorable fashion? This is the song that sold me on Pearl Jam. It was still all over rock radio when I was first getting into them, alongside "Even Flow" and "Alive." I think, of those three iconic songs, this is the one that's most carried by Eddie. The guitars aren't huge like in the other two, more just accents to Ed's performance with Jeff's bass being the beating heart. Another interesting thing to note, and I think it's happened in some of the other songs so far, is that after the initial structure of verse>chorus>verse>chorus, the tune then veers into a freeform territory where all the instruments are still playing together, but following no map. Everyone is free to do as they please until the end, taking little solos here, pulling back to chase texture there.

"Oceans" might be my favorite song on this album, though it often vies with "Jeremy." It has no interest in grand statements, instead settling into the personal. As I was listening, I was also glancing at a comment Krusen made about the drums in this song. There was a regular drum part at one point, and they added in some tympani overdubs. They then listened back with the original drum track muted, and decided that the typanis and shakers were sufficient. Interesting trivia.

And then we get to "Porch," a song that, for some reason, has never stuck deeply in my memory. The structure of this song is very different to the rest of the album. The opening is sparse before launching into motion, which then quickly peaks and drops into the ethereal jam section. When it climbs back out, everything's back to that high energy assault. There's a little bit at this point that makes me think vaguely of "Free Bird"; the way the lead guitar is just noodling over the stampeding beat and driving rhythm.

Ah. Thanks for the info.

I think I'm in the minority, but I think I like the BOB redux better than the original.

It comes as no surprise that, over time, songs like "Garden" have come to be more interesting to me than something like "Once" or "Porch." There's an evocative darkness to the guitars at the beginning of the song. Listening in such close proximity to Lost Dogs, I see a lot of similarity to "Wash" in this song. I think they share some tonal inflections, and both seem to use the reverb of the mixing to a similar effect. Again, we get to a point in the song where everything transitions into a free-for-all jam, and in this case, I think it makes the song suffer.

The groove in "Deep" is so liquid, spiraling and shifting side to side. This is another song that makes ample use of the instrumental tones and effects at the band's disposal to craft moody imagery even outside of the lyrical content. It's kind of gritty and urban feeling, though without so much of the bustling chaos those terms generally evoke. That final stretch of the song is intense. All of the blistering guitar noise pulls back into vaguely threatening echoes as Ed sings the last verse, then it all crashes back into focus again, before slowly peeling apart into splinters for the finish.

"Release" is a wonderful tune. All the chatter about Ed's lowing aside, he soars in this song. The main guitar line is restrained, while the second guitar slowly unfolds in glissando waves, and all the while Jeff and Dave K. are playing up a little rhythmic shuffle to hold it all in place. Like some, I've had a complicated relationship with my father, thought it's in a much better place now than it ever was before. So, there's some personal resonance to this song that still shines through over the span of time in a way that much of the rest of the album does not.

Then we're treated to the real "Master/Slave," a piece that to this day still seems so strange. There are many exotic qualities to this in the form of the wordless chanting and vocalizing, the ambient guitar tones that flicker and swirl around, the cyclical bass line and drum beat. Even at this early stage, the band were playing around with notion of being a fairly straightforward rock group with eccentric tendencies and a desire to occasionally chase strange detours of form.

Outside of some moments where my attention waned, I find it impressive that I can still listen to this album and not only find small sonic details that have gone unnoticed in the past, but still get flashes of some of the initial feelings that were evoked in early days. It's a bit like smell memory. I feel like I can also trace little strands of the musical DNA in this through to my current listening tendencies, even in idioms far removed from this form of bluesy hard rock. A testament both to the inter-connectivity of all music as an artform, and the way that this album is part of my bedrock for interacting with music as an expression.

Whenever I listen to the studio even flow I realize that this may be their best ever song, which is so easy to forget until you hear it again. How were they able to create such a cool groove on this song and NEVER achieve it again?

Boston 1994. Groovy little version.

Certainly much better than now, because Dave A has a groove in his drumming, but if its this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou5RmTnVS84 I still wish they'd slow down, I don't like this song so fast.

Certainly much better than now, because Dave A has a groove in his drumming, but if its this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou5RmTnVS84 I still wish they'd slow down, I don't like this song so fast.

Edit: As I keep listening I have to say that while I still like it slower, I would be very satisfied with this version. It made me despise matt cameron because PJ can't sound like this anymore. Dave A is the best. PJ shows are so much fun, imagine if they still had the ability to sound like this

I've heard every song on Ten a million times. So I'm always like. Let me listen to some other stuff - Ten is boring by now. Nothing new to hear. So I listen to No Code. Or Backspacer. Or S/T. Or Yield. Or even Binaural and Riot Act. And I'm like. This stuff is great. People don't know how much great stuff PJ has in their catalog.

Then eventually I force myself like Gah I'll listen to Ten again.

Then I'm like. OMG. This is amazing. WTF happened to this band. This is incredible.

Every. Time.

Listening to this album makes me drop all their other stuff down a point from how much I think I like it.

Even Flow especially always surprises me (as it did earlier in this very thread). WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BAND THAT MADE EVEN FLOW? This IS Pearl Jam. Or was.

Also HOW is this Eddie Vedder the same guy as today

There was a random comment on social media about Dance of the Clairvoyants. The guy said, "you lost me after Ten". Are you this guy? Because it sounds like you don't want them to do anything different ever, past Ten. You just want grunge record after grunge record.

No, I enjoy their whole catalog. It's just then I listen back to Ten and realize they really did in many ways peak there. Though I also really like Vs. but I think its like...the more you listen to something the more you don't want to call the popular choice your favorite because its not the most interesting since its overplayed. But sometimes its popular because its the best

Stone was always a very talented songwriter. With Ten he brought in Mike that could really enhance his music, got solid backing from Jeff and Matt (Dave K on the album), and almost stumbled upon someone that could match his good friend Chris in the lead singer role. Mike and Ed had never had any success, and were really hungry for it. Stone was in a very creative place, lots of turmoil in his life. The connection between his music, and the fire in Ed, made Ten something fantastic. Unmatched, and it’s not difficult to see why it was their greatest success.

Despite this, No Code, where Ed had a lot more control, and the band had grown and moved on musically, is still my favorite.

eddie is just on an altogether different plane of existence here.

He was great on Ten, but only because he had a great band behind him, and some fantastic songs to sing on and write lyrics for. Bad Radio is a joke in comparison.

just put this on (man I missed pearl jam. amazing what new music can do). this is certainly my favorite vocal performance of all time

i am listening to the original mix. I forgot how out in front eddie is. you can barely hear thr band

ive been taking the original black for granted

i hope gigaton brings back the extended outro. all the best songs on here have one and theyre so good