Review Summary: Whilst often cited as one of the best grunge albums of all time, Ten eschews the trappings of such a restrictive label and manages to combine grunge with a whole host of other, more varied, influences, all of which results in something rather special.
Much has been written of the great grunge movement of the early 1990s. It saw the rise of Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and many more, but that trio are generally seen to be the 'big three' of the time. Whilst this genre labelling could be argued quite convincingly for AiC and Nirvana, what with their downtuned, gritty meditations on suicide and whatnot, Pearl Jam's debut effort came out of the war feeling like much more than 'just another grunge album.' Indeed, it feels like one of the greatest classic rock albums of the 1990s, if anything.
The opener, 'Once,' does admittedly set the tone firmly in the realm of grunge, but the album is permeated by such a wide range of influences, be they the heavily reverbed 'Oceans' harking back to cheesy pop of the 80s infused with a gritty modern twist, or the Hendrix-inspired solos that crop up in almost every song, Ten really does feel like more than the sum of its parts and, more importantly, more than 'just' a grunge album.
The classic rock moments are arguably the highlights of the record, with the multi-faceted ending solo to fan favourite 'Alive' borrowing heavily from the blues greats, almost to the point of stealing licks from the likes of Hendrix and SRV. Even Flow features a funky, grungy guitar riff that bounces along with the kind of groove not often found in such a refined form in debut releases. Closing track 'Release' features a sort of psychedelic ambience that is, once again, more akin to music of the 70s than any of the more modern trappings of the early 90s.
But while it's easy to get lost in placing the various elements and genres at work in Ten, it's important to remember that it's a genuinely great album in it's own right. 'Black' is one of the finest lyrical performances I've ever heard in rock music (or, indeed, grunge) and features an even stronger vocal outpouring from singer Eddie Vedder. And Vedder's 'golden baritone,' as it's been termed by critics, is one of the strongest aspects of Ten, as it lends a seeming depth to lyrics that are utterly devoid of any, and serves to enhance the emotion of the words that Vedder pens that actually do have some meaning to them.
And it would be fair to say that the album has a lot more lyrical hits than it does misses; whilst the moment in 'Why Go' where Vedder screams, 'she's been diagnosed by some stupid ***' might sound immature on paper (and it does look that way, reading back) within the context of the song it's a powerful war cry that has captivated crowds at the band's exuberant live concerts for two decades now. The aforementioned 'Black' paints an image of a breakup that utilises some surprisingly gorgeous imagery, and 'Alive' narrates a disturbing story that is, supposedly, based on real events in Vedder's life, and it does so as eloquently as many singer songwriters could. Ten isn't as immature an album as one might initially be led into thinking, and that's a very important point in it's favour that is important not to neglect.
So, overall, Ten really does manage to survive the cliches of the early 90s that it could easily have fallen foul to and, that which is much more to be admired, it retains all of the lyrical depth, musical variety and sheer energy that made it such a success upon it's release 20 years ago. And it's not often that one can say such a thing of an album so steeped in a movement of the past, so invested in it's lore, but Ten really does stand on it's own too feet as a great album to this day, regardless of any back story to it's release.
