reviews

neenerbean - review of Vitalogy for my high school newspaper

Pearl Jam
"Vitalogy"
(Epic)
* * * *

For starters, let me tell you that this review may seem a little biased, since I've been a fan of Pearl Jam for about three years now. They've been my favorite band since I first got "Ten," their break-through debut album spawning such hits as "Alive," "Even Flow," and "Jeremy." I couldn't wait until they released their next album, "Vs." which was first self-titled, then named "Five Against One," then finally "Vs."

"Vitalogy" was originally going to be titled "Life," but was then changed to "Vitalogy" meaning "the study of life." The subject didn't change much, but the release date was thrown around enough to make anyone confused.

First a rave on "Nothingman," the fifth track. It is the most wonderful song I have ever heard. Some lyrics include: "Some words when spoken/Can't be taken back"; "Caught a bolt of lightning/Cursed the day he let it go"; "And he who forgets/Will be destined to remember"; as well as the last line: "Could've been something, nothingman" as opposed to the chorus which asks, "Isn't it something, nothingman?" The singer, Eddie Vedder, is obviously a supporter of vinyl, and even wrote a song about it named "Spin the Black Circle." With lyrics like: "See this needle/See my hand/Drop, drop, droppin' it down/Oh so gently."

Other songs include "Last Exit" (a song supposedly about suicide), "Not For You" (bashing poseurs who listen to their music just to be cool), "Whipping" (I have a feeling this one's about abortion rights and Pro-Choice), "Pry, To" (where Eddie repeatedly spells "privacy" for approximately one minute), "Corduroy" (hey, the guy likes corduroy), "Bugs" (a song about, well, bugs), "Satan's Bed" (it's cool, trust me), "Betterman" (a song about a woman trapped in a bad, perhaps abusive, relationship - also rumored to be about Vedder's mother), "Immortality" (containing many references to Kurt Cobain's suicide, although denied by Vedder to be a song about Cobain), and last but not least, a seven minute song called "Hey Foxymophandlemama, That's Me" which is also called "Stupid Mop."

Drummer Dave Abbrusseze (now ex-drummer) does little above-average work on this album, so I guess that explains the "ex-". Bassist Jeff Ament shines only once or twice, but weaves in, around, and out of Dave's heartbeat drum rhythms. Guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard provide background vocals on more than a few tracks, and they are perfect compliments to Vedder's already amazing voice. They also provide acoustic as well as electric shocks of shrieking guitar on a song or two. I really believe that there are great songs on this album, with the exception of some bafflers, so I can't bring myself to give the album even three and a half stars just because of two or three experimental tracks. Out of fourteen songs, that isn't bad. I just hope they (Q101) don't overplay these songs like they did the others, although they've already begun playing six or seven songs before the album was even available. I think they even played "Nothingman" a few times already. Oh, please - don't let it be so.