Cons: Rats and W.M.A. Also, the complete lack of interest from Pearl Jam.
The Bottom Line: With zero promotion, no videos, and no official singles Pearl Jam's sophomore album Vs. still managed to sell an impressive five million copies.
Pearl Jam was one of the bands that grunge-era pseudo acts aspired to emulate. They burst onto the scene after their debut with Ten and then quickly decided that their audience wasn’t going to be that which the highly commercial MTV attracted.
The first album Pearl Jam refused to make videos for was their sophomore effort, Vs.. On it’s initial release, the album was called Five Against One although the title never appeared on the packaging. It was during this brief window that I picked up my cassette tape and only later did I purchase Vs. on compact disc.
In comparing Ten and Vs. the first thing that comes to mind is how differently Pearl Jam approached the promotional process. As I’ve already mentioned, they filmed no videos after having great success with Jeremy, Alive and Even Flow among others. Vs. also had no actual singles. Although, a few of the tracks featured did attract some unsolicited attention. In fact, the album earned three coveted Grammy nominations despite a complete apathy to the industry on the part of Pearl Jam.
The bleak lyrics sung so angrily by Eddie Vedder were backed by eloquent guitars from Stone Gossard and Mike McCready. Jeff Ahment added the band’s backbone with his driving bass skills while Pearl Jam was rounded out on the recording of the album by drummer Dave Abbruzzese. Despite the complete lack of promotion, the album went on to sell an astounding five million copies. But, where Ten was at times forgiving, Vs. was unrelenting and angered thus alienating some of the band’s fair-weather friends.
Of the twelve songs on Vs. a few stand out as achievements (not to say that the entire album isn’t a triumph of sorts). Daughter, Rearviewmirror, Go, Animal, and Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town are all amazing rock tracks that manage to somehow transcend the grunge scene of the era. It’s this ability to transcend that has really allowed Pearl Jam to continue to thrive even in today’s pop saturated music market.
In 1993 and 1994 it was easy to classify Pearl Jam as part of the Seattle grunge scene. But, in doing so it pigeonholed the talented rock outfit. On tracks like Go with the dueling guitars, intense emotion and otherwise impressive bass and drums the band is at the top of their game.
Sure Daughter is more of a ballad than an all-out rocker thus making it more appealing to sometimes listeners. But, the song still manages to be musically impressive while at the same time taking into account Vedder’s unusually low tenor. The same applies to Elderly Woman… and Dissident.
But where I enjoy Pearl Jam most is when they are rockin’ out as with Animal. That track is short, intense, loud, and growls in anger at an obviously unfair world. The tendency continues off and on throughout the rest of the album with songs like Blood, Rearviewmirror, and Leash each making a mark in the rock world.
Vs. at times seems a bit lacking. I find myself yearning for something more when suffering through Rats and W.M.A.. But, overall the album is still pretty impressive. Pearl Jam sounds loose and limber and their songs on this album aren’t nearly as tightly produced as those on Ten. That isn’t a bad characteristic, either. What this relaxed style did for Pearl Jam was turn them into a jam band that eventually would go on to release even more albums including a huge series of CD’s covering live concerts in 2000.
I guess that proves that Pearl Jam can do whatever they damn well please. Anyway, Vs. is a good album yet it lacks the spark that makes albums great. For a great album from Pearl Jam look no further than 1994’s Vitalogy, a release that includes classics like Not for You, Corduroy and Betterman among a whole lot of others. I do recommend Vs.. It’s a must for rock fans. I can’t however give it 5/5 stars for the reasons I’ve stated above.
Track Listing:
1. Go
2. Animal
3. Daughter
4. Glorified G
5. Dissident
6. W.M.A.
7. Blood
8. Rearviewmirror
9. Rats
10. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
11. Leash
12. Indifference
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