Jopie Joe,
I have a
problem. Over the past month have I’ve spent more time with my good
friend Eddie Vedder* than that of my boss and children combined. Well,
that might be an exaggeration, but I am sure you feel the same way after our side project of rating and
ranking every studio-album song that Pearl Jam ever put to compact disc.
*I
have a pick of his and therefore
consider him a friend; or rather
I had a pick of his before our sister, Katie, filched it
with some puppy dog eyes. I know, as well
as you, that Eddie tossed it to ME specifically during the Letterman show.(Editor’s
note: The Letterman show, a private concert for 400 Tenclub members that took
place in 2006, was attended by all four Poulas children who can be seen freaking out in the front row)
It was an
exhausting task that I attacked as if it were my profession, which opened my
eyes in two ways. First, I wish I had a job I loved, and second, wow—did
I fall in love with PJ all over again. Such painstaking labor should
never go unrecognized, and I thought I would take the first action of putting
my thoughts down in html.
I propose
to spend some time reviewing each of their nine albums—do we both review all nine or take them turn in turn,
maybe with comments on previous submission?—and
follow it up with a grand
finale including excel sheets, graphs, formulas, and scientific notations. (Editor’s
note—Easy nerd, Unfinished Dad’s readers don’t know he spends his time doing
things like that.)
First up,
the Classic Ten
Track
List
1-Once
2-Even
Flow
3-Alive
4-Why
Go
5-Black
6-Jeremy
7-Oceans
8-Porch
9-Garden
10-Deep
11-Release
I will
forever be in your debt for introducing me to Pearl Jam* though I don’t recall when that was
exactly. The album debuted on
*And
Stephen King’s
**And
as long as I’m dishing out the praise, I might as
well continue with that thought and thank you for Weezer too. I turned on
the “Genius” functionality for my new iPod where it makes compilation playlists that “go great together” and
Weezer and
Almost
450 words and still no review to speak of—I will keep this one relatively short then. Ten is widely
recognized as the band’s best album, and one of the most influential albums of
our lifetimes. For now, let’s say I agree with the latter and if we want
to include cultural impact in our rankings Ten would easily be #1.
My power tracks on the album are Alive,
Black, Porch, and Release. The introductions to both Alive and Black are instantly recognizable to a wide
variety of musical tastes, but
Black is a hair better and may be the
single greatest PJ song of all time. The classic lyric, “all five
horizons revolved around her soul” is a badge of wonder to all fans and as far
as I know, the band has never come out and explicitly provided a meaning to the
verse.
I could
listen to the
However,
if I were beached on an island and could take only one track from Ten with me,
it would be Release. I can’t quite put into words why this song is so
potent for me. I guess you would call it a power ballad, and it slowly
builds Eddie’s vocals and wonderful guitar
work, and who among us has never exactly related to the line, “I’ll ride the wave
where it takes me”? It
is the perfect track to listen to when in the mood to recall strong emotion—whether
joyous or tearful, Release will recall it to memory.
Remember
the Bear Share days? We have a bootlegged live version of Release that perfectly
states how PJ fans feel. Listen to the first few moments of that song,
for what I assume is the moment that Eddie, or maybe most of band walks out on
stage—chills and waterworks. It’s as simple as that.
Once,
Even Flow, and Oceans are also 4 out 5 star songs, and while I no longer have a
taste for the most overplayed song in PJ history, I at least recognize that Jeremy is in fact a very good tune. The
beauty of Ten is that even their lesser known tracks—Why Go, Garden, and Deep—are
all good, making Ten the band’s deepest album.
Lou
Feel like sharing your thoughts about Pearl Jam's original album? Let 'er rip in the comments below. We'd love to here your memories.


Let's see, Pearl Jam, Weezer, is there hope for Fringe! TRY IT, YOU'LL LIKE IT!
Posted by: Kathy Poulas | October 22, 2009 at 01:03 PM