Review Summary: That sheep screamed out loud in 1993
Seattle´s music changed the world in 1990/91. Mother Love Bone, Temple of The Dog and then Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden screamed their point to the world: rock is for real people, not for clowns in tights and nice hair.
Flashbacking a little bit: Ament and Gossard (the fundamental stone) were by 1990 kinda unemployed. Their great frontman, Andrew Wood (Mother Love Bone) died. But they had too much music in their minds to settle. So they decided to form a new band. They started to jam with lead guitarist Mike McCready, recruited drummer Dave Krusen and searched for a new frontman. Vedder answered by sending back one of their demos (Alive) with lyrics on it. That was it. The search was over.
Ten, their first album, was huge. It stands proudly along Nevermind as one of the ultimate records of the nineties. It sounded powerful, thoughtful, provocative and haunting. They developed one hell of a sound, and found on Eddie Vedder the frontman they dreamed about.
Two years after, they faced the difficult task to make the next album. Dave Krusen left the group and Dave Abbruzzese joined in. Also, this time, unlike Ten, where Ament and Gossard had great portion of the material already written, the band jammed more in order to find their tunes. Vs. saw the light on october 19, 1993. How is it sound?
I like to compare Vs. and Ten with Deep Purple´s In Rock and Machine Head. Machine Head is nearly perfect, and no brainer the best DP´s record overall. But In Rock is rawer and more exciting. That´s pretty much the thing here. Ten is an almost perfect album, but Vs. is rawer, more aggresive, and diverse.
Vedder´s range is crazy here, from Daughter to Blood. He sounds confident, and just by hearing him you know this guy has something deep to say. Eddie´s trademark howl is really a force to be reckoned.
The difference between the drummers is noticeable. Abbruzzese had a wider scope, and even some songwriting skills (wilder intro song Go is written by him). It helps the album to sound more diverse and live.
The main sound, made by Ament, Gossard and McCready is more powerful and right to the point. The interplay between both guitars is really amazing in different ways track by track. There is some third guitar in a couple of songs, by Vedder. And Ament´s bass lines do nothing but empower the overall sound. Listen to Rats to hear Ament´s groove.
There are diversity in Vs. unseen on Ten. We have some tribal drums, funk injected tunes and acoustic ballads. But there is a sense of rawness in everysong. Listen to this record now, more than 20 years after, and you´ll find that feeling and power you used to have and feel back then when you used to wear your lumber shirt.
One more thing. I guess few records have album covers that hints you what to expect on an album you´re about to listen the way this one did. Definitely one of the greatest records from that amazing decade.
