Release (Pearl Jam) (LP 3452 - 3456)

Pearl Jam  Ten (CD, Epic Records, 1991) ****  

Pearl Jam  Vs (CD, Epic Records, 1993) *****  

Pearl Jam  Vitalogy (CD, Epic Records, 1993) ****

Pearl Jam  No Code (CD, Epic Records, 1996) ***  

Pearl Jam  Yield (CD, Epic Records, 1998) ****  

Genre: Rock, Grunge

Places I remember: Marbecks Records, a music club (Vitalogy), JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Even Flow (Ten)

Gear costume: Animal (Vs.); Given To Fly (Yield)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: Pearl Jam are a band that a lot of my friends regard as 'their band'. Plus, they've been around long enough for my son Adam, and his wife (both in their late thirties) to form a deep attachment to Eddie Vedder and his mates.

Same with me. I started with Ten, back in 1991, and I have a large enough number of their albums that I need to divide my collection into four: two posts on the studio albums, one for live albums and finally an odds and sods section.

Let's crack on and launch into their nineties origins.

Ten was unavoidable back in 1991. It was huge! As was their sound and their hair. I bet they look back on that MTV Unplugged session and smile.

The songs sound big - they'd not ever go for this rich sound again, but this was 1991 and key members had been in seminal grunge bands (Mother Love Bone, Green River) before uniting as Pearl Jam at the start of the decade.

The songs on Ten benefit from Eddie Vedder's lyrics and his singing blends superbly with the twin guitars of Stone Gossard and Mike McCready.

Vs. is for me, a five star classic - in that there are no dud tracks. It covers a range of new sounds, has a superior drum sound to Ten, and exhibits a real confidence in their future - this is the rawer, more aggressive sound they are all about as a band.

Third album, Vitalogy continues that almost punk attitude with two blasts of brilliantly uncompromising sound on Last Exit/ Spin The Black Circle before heading into more eclectic styles, that even includes ballads like Nothingman and Corduroy. Bugs and a few of the stranger items I can do without but hey - its Pearl Jam.

No Code is a new direction for the band, away from the direct assault of Vs. and Vitalogy, and a slight move away from the quirkiness of Vitalogy. Instead, the band reaches into new territory, working with droning, mantra-like riffs and vocals, layered exotic percussion, and a newfound subtlety. Although it's still cool and all, it's not one of my favourite Pearl Jam albums.

Yield is though. They seem really comfortable inside their own Pearl Jam skin on Yield. Vedder's lyrics are brilliant, the band are goosey loosey and it's also a lot of fun. It's probably their most mainstream album but I like that about it.

Where do they all belong? Up next - the studio albums continued.