PEARL JAM — Ten (review)

PEARL JAM — Ten album cover Album · 1991 · Heavy Alternative Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
martindavey87
‘Ten’ is the debut album by hard rock band Pearl Jam. It was released in 1991, during grunge’s heyday, and with the help of a number of hit singles, it sold in its millions, rocketing the Seattle band to superstardom, and becoming one of the most influential bands (and albums) of the early 90’s.

But for all the accolades and praise this album receives, I find it to be more of a mixed bag. The first half in particular, are all absolute bangers, and arguably some of the bands best material, as well as some of the most famous rock songs to come out of the first half of the decade. But the rest, well… they’re not terrible… but they’re not overly exciting either.

Don’t get me wrong, they’re not bad, and the album as a whole still flows quite nicely. But the first half gives you the likes of ‘Evenflow’, ‘Once’, ‘Alive’, ‘Why Go’, ‘Black’, and of course, mega hit ‘Jeremy’, basically, some of the best hard rock songs of their time. The second half just feels like background music. A lot of the energy and grungy angst is gone, and replaced by what feels like chilled out, elevator music. Special mention to funky bonus track ‘Dirty Frank’, while slightly unusual, is embarrassingly catchy!

Overall though, the good on this album outweighs the bad, making this an all-round solid debut. Its status as one of the all-time greatest might be slightly hyperbolic, but yet, it HAS held up for all these years, and despite the filler tracks, it’s still fairly easy to listen to all the way through.
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