Customer Reviews

Pearl Jam (Vs.)

5 star:		(176)
4 star:		(52)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Vs. is a rock album. As far as I'm concerned, Pearl Jam made only two true rock albums. Ten, and Vs. The others are more expermimental with punk, pop, and folk. Every song on this album is excellent. The guitar, drums, and vocals are at their best here. It is just a pure masterpiece.

Go-9.5/10- What a way to open up an album. This is just one hell of a rock song. Eddie's vocals tear through the song, and a strong bass line backs it all up.

Animal-10/10- Absolutely amazing rock song. The vocals are just primal. There's a sense of funk in this one. There's a great guitar solo in here that shouldn't be passed up.

Daughter-10/10- We've all heard this song. The first acoustic song Pearl Jam ever did. Great lyrics about child abuse and the solo really takes the cake. This song also has a great outro.

Glorified G-9/10- Another song with an almost funky sense. Interesting guitar riff. Great tongue in cheek lyrics about gun control.

Dissident-10/10- Easily one of my favorite Pearl Jam songs ever. Eddie's lyrics and vocals are just captivating. There's a great lead riff and rythym riff in this song that perfectly blend to create a beautiful combination of power and melody. Almost perfect.

WMA-8/10- This is the album's only rough spot. The song is too tribal and never gets going. The only thing that really saves it is Eddie's mesmorizing vocal performance. Overall though, I can't say anything too bad about this one, the lyrics are really great.

Blood-9/10- This is one hell of a rock song. The vocals are just awesome. Easily the hardest song on the album. The huge scream after the second chorus really jacks this one up. Interesting guitar too!

Rearviewmirror-10/10- An absolutely excellent song. Starts off as just a simple guitar riff and slowly grows into the mournful outro. The vocals are just perfect. Only Eddie Vedder can deliver a performance like that. Great lyrics that paint a picture of someone leaving an abusive situation and finally being free of the shackles. The guitar during the choruses and outro is just excellent. This song is perfection.

Rats-8.5/10- Cool song. Tough act to follow though. The lyrics are very cool, comparing the human race to rats. Ed's vocals during the verses are cool, a really low growl. Another cool guitar solo!

Elderly Woman-10/10- Beautiful and simple song. Most people think of it as a song about meeting someone you remember, but I almost see it as a reflection of growing old and wishing you could be as free as you used to be. Led by an acoustic riff by the way!

Leash-10/10- A thrilling song. This is a seriously hard rock song. I don't suppose it's perfect but I love the uplifting vibe.

Indifference-10/10- This song never quite jumped out at me until I really listened to it. It's now one of my favorite songs on this album. Great calm vibe and lyrics about struggling to go on. Beautiful.

Pearl Jam would never repeat this album's excellence. It is just a near work of perfection. EXCELLENCE!

OK. . . so i might be assuming too much if i say this album will change your life- but I'm saying it anyway! I'm a die-hard music lover, and as soon as i first heard pearl jam (at the tender age of 11) i fell head over heels. Being at such a vulnerable age and feeling so alone,i found a dear friend in pearl jam's TEN, and their lyrics helped me understand that all people go through hell sometimes. The lyrics of "Vs" (my fave pj album) empowered me and gave me music to laugh to, cry to, and cherish altogether. Eddie Vedder has such an amazing voice and their songs are so unique compared to any other. I am now 19 turning 30 ( i've gone through so much in my young life like deaths of loved ones, living around the world, and so much more) and i still cherish "Vs." to this very day. I reach for it when the world doesn't make sense, get into my car and shout out the lyrics to "rearviewmirror"- while i drive into the dark. . . and i stop feeling so alone in this world. I imagine that I know Eddie, because his lyrics are so in touch with all of the different emotions i go through and with all of the affect dynamics in my life. When I listen to Pearl Jam, I can close my eyes and feel the moisture of my first loves goodbye kiss on my cheek( so many years ago now it seems ), My mother's hand in mine and i feel the breeze on my face of a million new experiences and treasured moments that yet haven't entered my life. Pearl Jam's "Vs." is an album to treasure, I promise.

What an appropriate name for this album. Lyrically, the themes are full of conflict. Black dude vs. white cops. Ed vs. the media. Children vs. their own parents. Five against one, and so on.
Musically, it's both angrier and more tender than Ten. While it doesn't have the consistency and overall depth of that album, it brings a new element into PJ's sound that continues to this day....experimentation and diversity. It's too hard to describe this album in general. One track at a time, please.

1. Go - In my opinion, probably the best PJ album opener ever. Written by the new drummer, it suceeds thanks to sounding like a harder version of a Ten song, and takes off on a blistering McCready solo.
2. Animal - For the first 8 seconds, this one sounds like Even Flow part 2. But then Ed starts counting "1, 2, 3, 4, 5 against 1..." and it becomes clear that the two songs have nothing in common. Continues the flow begun by "Go" perfectly.
3. Daughter - The only hit song from this album(and the only one blatantly ripped off by Sheryl Crow), I love the bipolar mood swings of this tune; at times it goes from uplifting to depressing and back without missing a beat. Plus you have to love the way it ends, with an ominous-sounding refrain about the shades going down.
4. Glorified G - I really hate this song; I admire the fact that they're already trying to ditch their established "sound" this early into their careers, but this one just annoys me. That's ok, cause look what follows...
5. Dissident - Amazing. I'd rank this up with "Release" and "Red Mosquito" as one of Pearl Jam's most beautiful songs ever. Reminiscent of Ten if only for of it's haunting chorus.
6. W.M.A. - When I first heard this, I hated it ... But after allowing the song to grow on me(along with picking up the rest of their albums and understanding what direction they had gone in), it's one of my favorites. I love the live version of "Daughter" that flows right into this one.
7. Blood - This song gets a bad rap. Why??? Personally I think the way Eddie lashes out at the backlash of fame and success is very cathartic and beautiful. And like W.M.A., this song was also very prophetic of what direction later albums followed.
8. Rearviewmirror - Holy (excrement), this has got to be one of this band's highest ranked songs ever. Starting as a simple riff until the entire band gradually EXPLODES, the whole of it is brilliant, much like Alive. There isn't a certain moment or highlight of the song you listen for, since the ENTIRE running time of the song is majestic from start to finish.
9. Rats - When Kurt Cobain accused PJ of not challenging their fanbase, and being a "safe rock" band, he obviously had gone temporarily deaf while this track was playing. Sounding like nothing off of Ten, this one kicks off with a funkyass bassline that erupts in a frenzied chorus that almost makes you want to bust a groove instead of mosh. Lyrics are somewhat corny, but I think they suit the music well.
10. blah blah blah....Small Town - Starts with a single acoustic guitar and Ed singing a very simple melody. Eventually builds into an epic ballad resembling 70's bands like Kansas or CSNY. Chorus is sort of lacking, but other than that it's all lovely.
11. Leash - I love songs that Eddie just screams his way through. I also love when they deviate from the normal verse-chorus-verse structure. And I love it when they put lyrics that aren't even sung in the liner notes, that give away the meaning of the song(is it the first one about abortion? Someone help me out). Heck, there's nothing I don't love about this song.
12. Indifference - Probably the best closing song for any of PJ's albums. Quietest song on the album, with a swing-time feel thing going on. It's just gorgeous, even though the ending kind of drags.

This album broke sales records when it first came out, and I'll bet caught all 950,000 people who bought one in the first week off-guard at least twice. If you like your music diverse, unpredictable, and soulful, you can't go wrong with this one. And if you're a PJ fan(to any degree), you don't deserve to LIVE if you don't own this.

As a collective, Vs stands out as Pearl Jam's most cohesive offering to date. It is also the closest studio recording to what the real live Pearl Jam experience - raw, intense, passionate, spontaneous. The suckerpunch opening of the short and snappy Go and the swaggering Animal are taken from the top draw of alternative rock- on this inspired form, no one could touch the band. Fans lapped up single Dissident as it sounds like a Ten outtake, the huge guitar riff and overstrained Eddie Vedder vocals setting the heart racing. The great strength of Vs is that no matter how fast or hard the song is pushed, the playing never loses precision. In some ways, the music feels too slick when the punk-rock chaos, the kind that Nirvana was masters at, would be unleashed instead being held back. The understated Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town is a welcome break between the high drama that surrounds it, an indicator for the quieter, more restrained direction the band would take on future album tracks Nothingman, Wishlist and Sometimes. On release Vs became the fastest selling album ever (although pop muppets N'Synch now hold that record), giving an idea of the impact and popularity that Pearl Jam attained during 1993. It was not known at the time that this was the peak and from then on it was downhill.

Pearl Jam has taken some pretty firm stances throughout their career on several social issues. Abortion, race relations, poverty, and the environment are just a few they have tackled throughout their time in the spotlight. You can get overtones of this social conscience in all other music. The concept of the broken home is also rather recurrent throughout their body of work.

"Vs." is an extension of the aforementioned concepts. It is filled with amazing, and profoundly powerful, rock anthems. Songs like "Go," "Dissident," and "Leash" are great. "Dissident" did make its way to rock radio for some time. "Leash," already mentioned above, is straight rock `n' roll. The first single "Animal," was a rather interesting choice for a single. Though I like the song, it isn't exactly radio friendly.

Contrasting the rock anthems on the record was some very good melodic rock songs. The big single off of this record was "Daughter." I never quite did get this song. But, nonetheless, it is pretty good. I think there are much better songs on the records than the ones that were released singles. "Indifference" a slow, bass laden slow song, has this "Twin Peaks" kind of feel to it. It is very cool. The song with the longest title I have ever heard in my life is one of the best songs: "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town."

This record is one of the most prolific works of its time. It held the record for the "most records sold in the first week of availability" for several years. Before the concept of internet presale, this record went platinum in just over a week. It is amazing and a must have for any Pearl Jam fan.

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I've saved this PJ studio album as my last to review. Why? I'm pretty conflicted about this one. When PJ first came out with "Ten", I was listening but I wasn't hooked, didn't really believe the hype. Then "Vs." came out and I wore it out in my Discman sitting outside a tent in the desert of Egypt. There was fury and anger aplenty and the album cover sums it up with a trapped sheep biting his way through the fence that boxes him in. This was the band's statement at the pains of newfound popularity, but Vs. still yielded some radio friendly hits in "Daughter" and "Elderly Woman..." and "Dissident" helping to launch the CD to record setting quickest release sales.

So where's the confliction you may ask? I don't feel like the band found their voice as yet. In fact when I go back and listen to PJ CD's, this is the one I least often turn to. Maybe I wore it out with over listening, but I don't think that's it. I don't think the album as a whole has weathered well. It's too straight-forward and doesn't allow the band to branch out, experiment, and find their unique contribution to the modernity of rock today. With their third album, "Vitalogy" the band exorcised its demons and shrugged off the shackles of popularity leaving them truly finding their sound with their least-selling but best work, "No Code."

"Vs." looking back on it has some pretty remarkable tunes. "Go" and "Animal" are as good of a 1-2 punch as rock-n-roll provides, but the true gem here is "Rearview Mirror." It stands up there with all time great "car escape" songs along with Rush's "Red Barchetta," Bruce Springsteen's "Thunder Road." Though, this album as a whole hasn't aged as well as the rest of PJ's, this track is timeless. Starting with a simple repetitive solo riff, the song builds and speaks volumes of movement, driving, escape. By the end Vedder is screaming, "Saw things so much clearer once you're in my rearview mirror." The same shades that were drawn earlier in "Daughter" are now raised as Vedder takes us for a cathartic drive.

The album is good, but the band is not yet all they can be, all they will become. Get "No Code" or "Yield." If you are new to PJ, go ahead and get "Ten." But if you are a fan, don't go on me and don't go without "Vs."

For my money Vs. is the pinnacle of Pearl Jam's career. Ten was a great debut, but was bogged down by the grunge sound at times while Vitology had some better songs, but it was also a decent into lunacy with songs like Bugs and the closing "song." But it is Vs. where everything came together, expanding on the grunge sound, to make the best album of their career.

Vs. starts out with the one-two punch of Go and Animal, two songs that, if they can't get your blood pumping, nothing will. But the band quickly showed their growth next with Daughter where they were able to slow things down without going into the power ballad cliché. The musicianship really shines through on the song and I love the ambiguity of the lyrics with the booklet saying the line in "violins (ence)." Granted intelligibility of Eddie Vedder doesn't work because for a long time I thought he was saying "a glorified version of a pelican."

Dissident features one of the best riffs the band has come up with making you wonder how the duel attack of Stone Gossard and Mike McCready are always absent from best guitarist list, but that may be the answer, that there is two of them. The band takes a complete left turn on W.M.A. with its percussion and bass heavy song about police brutality and still has yet come close to creating another song like it which is somewhat of a same. Rats may not have been the best song on the album, but you got to love the Michael Jackson shoutout at the end.

Near the end of the album are two of my favorite Pearl Jam songs starting with the pulsing Rearviewmirror. I remember after getting my license a few years later and I loved playing this song at night in the summer on a country road with the windows down as each passing headlight telling a different story as the song made a perfect soundtrack. There was just a sense of optimism to the song. On the other hand Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town took a much more subtle approach and after two albums filled with doom and gloom, the song was a refreshing breath of clarity and simplicity.

The album ends with the haunting Indifferent, yet another chance the band took and the line, "I'll swallow poison until I grow immune" still sends a chill down my spine to this day. The diversity and the and all the successful risks the band took on Vs. makes it the best of their career. And yes, I do have one of the copies of the CD without the title on it. (If you remember, the band did have a name for the album when it when to print, so the first shipment went out without Vs. appearing on the album anywhere.)

Vs. did not only prove a worthy successor to "Ten," but the best album of Pearl Jam's career and quite possibly one of the greatest rock albums ever. This album is truly a memorable listening experience that transcends the "grunge" or "alternative rock" categories, it is an album for everyone, and a quite life affirming one at that. This is one album that you'll absolutely love after just a couple of listens. Eddie Vedder's songwriting is vastly different here than on "Ten." For starters, hes so much more emotional and reaching out this time, examining life and all its frailties, and pointing out all of the many things in society that depress us, sometimes subconsciously, yet we all notice with a passing glimpse. From the opening notes of the anthemic "Go" to the album's swirling closing track "Indifference," all the songs paint a great picture. Ed's ironic depiction of trigger happy jacks ("Glorified G") comes across as an ironic statement about gun control. The semi-acoustic "Daughter" is also a great portrait of American life. However, the awesome tribal beats of "W.M.A." (White Male American) give a great backdrop to an awesome, angry song about racism. "Rearviewmirror," with its minor-key progression has Eddie examining his troubled past life, and it is one of those songs that make you feel so free and uninhibited. The haunting acoustic "Elderly Lady Behind The Counter In A Small Town" paints a picture of loneliness and human frailty that is truly touching. Instrumentally, the band never sounded better. With the hard-hitting rhythm guitar of Stone Gossard and Mike McCready's truly memorable lead work, the guitar playing is excellent. Along with the rhythm section of monster bassist Jeff Ament and drummer Dave Abruzzese, the band is top notch. Several elements here are also different than in the past, like the use of tribal rhythms and hand percussion in "W.M.A" or the unusual but super-cool hooks in songs like "Glorified G" and "Rearviewmirror." This album has it all. It'll make you laugh, cry, and shout out loud, but most of all it will make you think.

From the moment 'Go' kicks in with a riff to die for until the haunting echoes of 'Indifference' fade to silence, 'Vs.' delivers. It is by far Pearl Jam's best work, every instrument, including Vedder's diverse vocal stylings, fitting together seemlessly. More emotional than 'Ten', catchier than 'Vitalogy', moodier than 'No Code' and livlier than 'Yield', this album is at once moving and uplifting despite its lyrical content of child abuse ('Daughter'), the American gun culture ('Glorified G'), the general dog-eat-dog state of humanity ('Rats'), and heroin addiction ('Blood'). Vedder had more influence on 'Vs.', and it shows in the punky vibe behind songs like 'Rearviewmirror' and 'Leash'. Indeed, this album is carried by sheer song-writing talent as opposed to the old-school rock stylings of 'Ten' which was overdependent on its long guitar solos.

'Vs.' slams in with perhaps the best opening couplet ever recorded, 'Go' and 'Animal'. Hard rock mixing with hardciore power soon gives way to the softer, more emotional 'Daughter', before cranking up a notch to another rocky 'Glorified G.' 'Dissident' showcases Vedder's powerful voice to the max, before 'W.M.A', a moody number with a tribal feel brings us back down. 'Blood' is a slice of pure punk angst and energy, which sets you up perfectly for arguably the best song ever written. 'Rearviewmirror' is deep, emotional, and so, so musical. 'Rats' brings you back down to a funky feel, before the acoustic 'Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town' shows that even taking the guitar solo's and distortion out of Pearl Jam, they have the power to write catchy yet emotional music. 'Leash' is a slice of fun punky rock, that brings you to the point of climax before 'Indifference' gently soothes you out of the album with its quiet beauty and atmospheric keyboards.

Speaking from a personal viewpoint, this is my favourite album. It is disappointing that Pearl Jam have veered so far from what they accomplished on 'Vs.' As it stands, it is truly the greatest album ever recorded, which, incidentally, still holds the record for the fastest-selling album of all time. It is the only CD I have ever owned that, five-years after I bought it, still holds that same allure, the same atmosphere and emotion as it always has. My advice to anyone is to buy it and love it as I have. But one word of warning to anybody who is into Pearl Jam and has not heard this album: it is worth listening to, but once you have heard it, it makes everything else Pearl Jam has ever done pale into insignificance. It's your choice. I'll leave you with a line from the album: "I changed by not changing at all." If only that were true.

Firstly, I should say that I think the 90's was an inspirational time to get into music. "Grunge" as it was vaguely known, was the most passionate music since punk, and at its' forefront was Pearl Jam. Creating the best debut of the 1990's in "Ten", they had a very hard act to follow. While I love "Ten" and still believe it to be the most impressive debut of the last 20 years, "Vs." improves upon it in just about every way. Vedder's vocals are truly impassioned and strong, the music is a lot more varied (being both rawer and more acoustic).
The first two songs, "Go" and "Animal" are just about the most driven songs Pearl Jam ever laid down, combining agitated riffs with rock-solid rhythm and soaring vocals. The intension of both is never out of view. Thirdly, the tragic but beautifully executed acoustic flow of "Daughter" provides one of Pearl Jam's most poignant songs. The lyrics are special in this song and what has always impressed me about Vedder is most evident here... His vocal performance always mirrors the lyrical intent. If you listen to the way that he sings the lines "She holds the hand, that holds her down, she will... rise above" the hairs will stand to attention.
Following "Daughter" is the strangely disconcerting stop-start riff of "Glorified G", a song attacking American gun-culture and machismo. The soaring anthem, "Dissident" is probably the most mainstream song on the album, but the broken voice of Vedder with the opening lines "She nursed him there, overnight, wasn't so sure if she wanted him to stay... what to say, what to say?", added to the monsterous chorus is just the single most perfect slice of anthemic rock this side of "Alive" and "Even Flow".
The rhythmic tribal drumming and atmosphere of W.M.A is contained but lively and is another monsterous song to finish the first half of the album.
"Blood" opens the second half with the heaviest song the band has ever written... If I'm honest, it's not of the same standard as the rest of the album, but given the fact that that standard is quite so high, it's certainly forgiveable.
"Rearviewmirror" is one of their best 10 songs and the metaphor of the drive is echoed perfectly in the feel of the song. One of the major reasons for the albums mood is undoubtedly Abruzzese's superb drumming. As a drummer I was always in awe of his ability to fuel a song and this is the perfect Pearl Jam album to demonstrate this (of course, the only other album he played on was "Vitalogy", so that's probably not saying much. Anyone who has felt anger following a break-up or even the end of a friendship will feel the vitriol in one of the last build ups of the song... "Saw things, Saw things, Saw things... clearer, clearer, once you were in my rearviewmirror. It's a stunningly evocative metaphor and one of Vedder's best moments and performances.
"Rats" follows the anthemic mood on.. another of Vedder's greatest vocal performances. "Elderly Woman..." is the mirror acoustic image of "Daughter", one of the most accessible songs they've written and certainly one of the best. Stunning. Following this is the hard rock "Wah-Wah" of "Leash" and the anger in the lyrics (another amazing song) is palpable. Finally, comes the eerily atmospheric "Indifference", a beautiful album closer, very much in the same mould of "Release" off "Ten".

The one thing that always gets me is that of the songs on this album, about 7 always make it onto my "BestOf" compilations, far more than any of their other albums. The mood is SO consistent on this album, and the execution SO perfect that I really am hard pressed to find a fault with it. The production is truly exceptional... imbuing everything Pearl Jam ever wanted to be I feel... Raw and impassioned but clear and crisp: the perfect combination. Add to all this the performances: Vedder's best 5 (at least) vocal performances are on this album, Gossard's riffs are very much at their peak, McCready's lead work is unparalleled in any 90's album, Ament's bass is impressively versatile and as I said previously, Abruzzese's drumming is simply perfect.

To me, given the albums that were released around the time (Nevermind, Superunknown etc) the public was spoiled for choice. The best of all grunge albums is, without doubt, Vs. I can't find an album from the era which characterised anger, pain, grief and beauty with more inspired execution and intent. Nevermind was too polished and the lyrics were often impenetrable... Superunknown was too sludgey, bt Vs. was the perfect blend of every style of rock, inflected with Vedder's stunning melodic sensibilities. I often listen to this album just to appreciate what a milestone it really was. It still is. There hasn't been a better rock album released since in my opinion, and I'm no Pearl Jam freak... I can be equally critical, especially of their later works (What happened on Binaural, anyone?). Indeed, their later works have badly lacked the consistency that was epitomised on this album, and while they were very good indeed... this is perfect.