What is Each Album's Major Flaw?: Ten

[Tj]

Ten gave us no clue who Pearl Jam was. The next four album were reboots for the band. I can only view Ten in a vacuum, when I look at it in the context of there career output it makes no sense at all. It is important to remember the same could be said of the Beatles and The Who. So while debut albums aren't always a window into the future there is often something that connects the dots. I can not find a path from Ten to Vitalogy. So in short Ed is not being Ed he is being Eddie. His Bad Radio days show me more of where he is going than Ten. Stone has fifty billion riff ideas left over from MLB, and used as many as he could on Ten then forgot the rest. Some like my wife will say Ten is great cause Ed is Eddie. I say Ten is great despite Ed being Eddie.

[bodysnatcher]

Bet Mookie wishes he would have let the band keep their name..

[PryTo]

Stone has fifty billion riff ideas left over from MLB, and used as many as he could on Ten then forgot the rest.

All interesting points. I'd say Once is probably my favorite song on Ten. The music really sounds like MLB.

[Jorge]

Stone has fifty billion riff ideas left over from MLB, and used as many as he could on Ten then forgot the rest.

All interesting points. I'd say Once is probably my favorite song on Ten. The music really sounds like MLB.

Oh man, "Once" is probably my least-favorite song on Ten. Maybe it's because of how much it sounds like MLB.

[Kaius]

I skip Once just about every time. I like it more than Why Go though.

[PryTo]

Stone has fifty billion riff ideas left over from MLB, and used as many as he could on Ten then forgot the rest.

All interesting points. I'd say Once is probably my favorite song on Ten. The music really sounds like MLB.

Oh man, "Once" is probably my least-favorite song on Ten. Maybe it's because of how much it sounds like MLB.

To each his own. What's your favorite song on Ten, Platy?

[Jorge]

"Oceans", I think.

[PryTo]

I skip Once just about every time. I like it more than Why Go though.

Kaius, care to weigh in on your top Ten track?

[Kaius]

I would say Oceans, Release, and Even Flow in a 3-way tie.

[Kevin Davis]

The supercharged macho-dramatic vocals are definitely Ten's major flaw for me.

[Birds in Hell]

Stone has fifty billion riff ideas left over from MLB, and used as many as he could on Ten then forgot the rest.

All interesting points. I'd say Once is probably my favorite song on Ten. The music really sounds like MLB.

I'm a big fan of Once too.

[Kevin Davis]

Like most of the Ten songs, ''Once'' sounds a lot better in later live versions where Eddie dials back the theatrics a little bit. The riff is pretty badass.

[PryTo]

Badass, indeed. I actually like the lyrics, too.

[Kevin Davis]

Flaw: Only 11 songs and I had to pay like $40 at the time to get the import version with Wash and Dirty Frank.

I just bought the ''Alive'' Japanese import EP off eBay for $5 a few months ago. It has the video versions of ''Alive'' and ''Even Flow'' as well as the original version of ''Wash'' and ''Dirty Frank.'' The lyrics for ''Wash'' printed in the liner notes are hilariously mis-transcribed. Question: Does the video version of ''Alive'' feature Matt Chamberlain on drums, or does he just appear in the video over someone else's backing track?

[BurtReynolds]

I've listened to this album far too many times to say I don't like his voice. It obviously touched me to the core, no matter what the older me thinks now. And its not so much the lower hurrdurr stuff, but when he belts it out he positively roars, with a voice strong enough to back it up. No one can really do it like he did. Its pure unrestrained emotion. Sometimes I prefer an unfiltered sound to a more nuanced one. One isn't really better than the other.

Last edited by BurtReynolds on Wed May 07, 2014 5:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

[bodysnatcher]

Alive was on the radio on the way home. Still good.

[Birds in Hell]

Does the video version of ''Alive'' feature Matt Chamberlain on drums, or does he just appear in the video over someone else's backing track?

I believe Matt actually plays on that version, his only official recording with the band.

[Heathen]

I've listened to this album far too many times to say I don't like his voice. It obviously touched me to the core, no matter what the older me thinks now. And its not so much the lower hurrdurr stuff, but when he belts it out he positively roars, with a voice strong enough to back it up. No one can really do it like he did. Its pure unrestrained emotion. Sometimes I prefer an unfiltered sound to a more nuanced one. One isn't really better than the other.

Team Burt

[Kevin Davis]

I've listened to this album far too many times to say I don't like his voice. It obviously touched me to the core, no matter what the older me thinks now. And its not so much the lower hurrdurr stuff, but when he belts it out he positively roars, with a voice strong enough to back it up. No one can really do it like he did. Its pure unrestrained emotion. Sometimes I prefer an unfiltered sound to a more nuanced one. One isn't really better than the other.

I appreciate the general sentiment of this; I guess (a) I don't see a necessary difference between ''unfiltered'' and ''nuanced'' (''Do the Evolution'' is a great example of a performance that is raw and unhinged but also nuanced and detailed), and (b) I just don't hear it on ''Ten,'' regardless. A lot of people are saying things like:

whatever is being expressed on those first two albums (first three, maybe, but Vitalogy is more complicated) HAD to get out--to the point that figuring out a way to express it trumped almost all other considerations.

I think that strict purist, emotionally charged place comes from 5 guys that are unsure if they'll get another real shot at making a record. It's that "We've got one shot, let's try to blow the doors off of this thing. What's our strong suits?"

...and I guess that feeling just doesn't register with me. To my ears there is as much self-conscious rock star posturing in Eddie's vocal performance as there is raw, unfiltered honesty; I find it actually detracts from the sincerity of the content, which is why I prefer live versions from 1998 and 2000 where he just sounds like a dude singing some songs.

[stip]

...and I guess that feeling just doesn't register with me. To my ears there is as much self-conscious rock star posturing in Eddie's vocal performance as there is raw, unfiltered honesty

That will really be the divide on these songs. What makes them so great was that the album took all of the oversized grandeur of arena/anthematic rock and somehow made it feel honest and personal and intimate at the same time. You didn't have to be embarrassed to love it and you could take it (and yourself) seriously while listening to it. It managed be a guilty pleasure and an identity record at the same time. I can't think of another album that did this as effectively as Ten. But if you don't hear that it's certainly understandable why the performance might turn you off. The later performances you cite always felt at least slightly neutered to me.