Once Upon a Ten5 Out of 5 Stars
Pearl Jam's debut album, "Ten," helped to upend the state of American Rock and Roll. Coming off the remnants of several other noteworthy bands (most of all, Mother Love Bone) and recruited San Diegian singer Eddie Vedder, "Ten" stripped the fluff and posturing away from late 80's hair-metal and scraped it down to primal guitar and deep angst. Vedder gave this perfect voice, and guitarist Mike McCready stayed more inside the classic rock manual when it came time for guitar leads.
The result was an a album that resonated both the current rock lovers and the grunge crowd that was lusting for anything that gave of something that resembled Nirvana's grunge vibe. "Evenflow," "Alive," "Jeremy" and "Black" soon became established on radio and MTV, and the rest,as is often said, is history. That established, the most exciting thing about this deluxe remaster is the obvious care the band, producer Rick Parashar, bonus disc remixer Brendan O'Brien and other contributors put into this edition. The original album sounds as blistering as it always did, and the second disc rethinks the original while losing none of the impact. O'Brien reins in the echo/reverb, pushes Vedder more to the fore and makes things a bit cleaner. Disc one is like getting caught in a ravaging sandstorm, the remix is like getting a sand blaster applied in a precise location. Either way, you're getting pounded and laid bare.
The DVD is the MTV Unplugged performance of March 1992 (roughly when "Ten" was beginning to peak), and captures the band in all its anti-swagger glory. The DVD is also devoid of clutter and scraps, making it a more valuable watch. The scraps are in the main packaging, with articles about Mookie Blaylock (Pearl Jam's original name), lots of pictures, posters, passes, and plenty of Vedder's surprisingly good sketches. The deluxe version of "Ten" is exactly how a re-issue should be done; no waste and plenty of value, respectful to both fan and band.
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