Ten: Official album thread

[Anders]

[DeeDee]

Obviously, 5 stars.

[mikejasond]

So the Dark Matter thread showed who wrote what song. And Im thinking about it...and like....Stone wrote Scared of Fear and Setting Sun, and no doubt those songs are good and all....

But how come Pearl Jam (Stone specifically I guess, since I think he brought these songs originally) has never written anything as complex and interesting from a musical standpoint as the arrangements and songs on Ten? I don't know how anybody even comes up with Even Flow. I guess they have technically gone more complex with things like Sleight of Hand, but Ten really amazes me because these are completely digestible, accessible anthems, and yet the music is so interesting across the board. I dunno how we get from the interlocking parts on Ten to the repetitive chords and riffs on things like Yield.

Like this album is really awesome for listening to the little guitar noodlings that accentuate each of the unconventional riffs (Especially Mike's work on Black on Even Flow). I love how this album has all these different parts coming together to create something that just sounds so RIGHT, and then you listen to a live show from 1992 and they completely NAIL THE SOUND (Im hearing this one from England now in 92 and you literally think you're listening to the album or something with even more energy). I can't believe they were able to recreate this live so well considering how they often seem to struggle in later years to get the proper sound.

I think in general the band has regressed a lot as musicians since the first album and it confuses me. Stone and Mike definitely sound far better live in these early days than they would later. Did Stone just use all his best ideas on the first album? Not that Scared of Fear is BAD but compared to a song like Even Flow or something, it seems to be missing something. Pearl Jam never sounded anything like Ten again, and I like everything that they were in later eras too, but I wonder why they never touched some of the things that made Ten so special again.

I am showing my girlfriend the pearl jam albums one by one since we'll be seeing them in September, and she also noticed the cool guitar parts in Ten, and how it really impressed on a close listen all the little extras they add in to add to the feel of the song. It just really made me think about how that is a very Ten-specific phenomenon.

[oftheearth]

I think Stone and Jeff have been pretty open (recently) about not writing songs/riffs that are too complicated. Not sure when that came into practice, I'm assuming post Ten? Seems like an odd choice but then you hear Stone talk about how long it took them to record Even Flow.

[Ms Harmless]

Pearl Jam lost two very technical drummers in Daves K and A; they often still wrote around their drummers after Ten, and still do, but the reason they've praised Matt's high-callibre groove on Dark Matter is that it's been the exception, not the rule, for a long time now, kind of forcing the general songwriting style to change (in various different ways) over time

[Kevin Davis]

The songs on Ten were also kicked around for a long time as instrumentals before a singer ever entered into the picture -- really the only time they've written like that, in anticipation of vocals rather than around the vocals.

[VinylGuy]

I also think Stone was more into acoustic arrangements for a while, specially around the time he did Moonlander.

By the way, release Moonlander in streaming services goddamn!! and vinyl

[liebzz]

I don’t think i will ever have a conversation with Stone Gossard, but if i do, i promise to advocate for releasing his solo albums on streaming services. We should be coming up on 25 years since Bayleaf (23) and Moonlander was 2011?

[VinylGuy]

yeah, its an atrocity. He said, i think it was last year while he was talking about Loosegrove, that he was planning to have them on streaming services and at least Bayleaf was considering being out on vinyl.

[liebzz]

I looked on the 10c site since that is where i got Moonlander on vinyl when it came out. Had no idea they sell it on CD!

[VinylGuy]

I looked on the 10c site since that is where i got Moonlander on vinyl when it came out. Had no idea they sell it on CD!

yeah i got it from back in the day. Cool edition.