Pearl Jam – Ten (Legacy Edition)
Filed under: Album Reviews by Marty1 Comment »
Times are hard!!! Credit has been crunched and the global economy is crashing down pitifully around our cash strapped pockets. Repossession is rife, redundancies are mandatory and retail giants are receeding into liquidation daily. The latest business sector reportedly rocked by the escalating financial crisis is the wealthy aristocrat or, more specifically, the somewhat expensive indulgences of the socially superior. That’s right kids, Mistresses are the latest in a long line of excessive expenditures to be cruelly dropped in place of sensible saving plans. When the high rollers are hit in such a worrying manner what hopes are there for the common man on the street?
With capital being in such short supply entertainment is one of the biggest industries to feel the pinch. Strategic intelligence is being implored to desperately reverse this downturn in fortune. You’ll find Movie studios are following savvily produced plans before investing in big budget releases for fears of suffering significantly damaging losses. Never one to be left behind the sister industry of the silver screen, the Music business is readying it’s assault on the unsuspecting consumer. If people don’t have money they can’t afford to buy music, it really is that simple. Whats more, Johnny Average is going to be even less likely to invest in a new artist that he’s only vaguely familiar with on the radio. Sadly such luxuries do not apply in a worldwide economic freeze. So, how do record labels turn a profit during these turbulent times? RE-RELEASES!!
Well-established artists have core demographics and fiercely loyal fanbases cultivated through years of releases and extensive touring. Any A&R man worth his six figure salary will recognise a proven charting act has a higher probability of inducing mass sales than a relative newcomer. You may have noticed Radiohead have recently re-issued their first three albums featuring a spate of rarities and special features, well, they aren’t the only ones.
Pearl Jam at least have a valid reason to re-issue their seminal debut disc, we are inching ever nearer to the band’s twenty year anniversary. To mark this impressive milestone those good folks at Epic records have decided to re-issue every studio album the band has ever produced within a two year period, this will eventually lead us into 2011 which is when the Seattle based stalwarts bid farewell to their teens and officially become men. Pearl Jam have already released a greatest hits compilation and a rarities double disc set, so what else can really be done to make their old material attractive again, especially in this period of economic unrest? No less than four variations of ‘Ten…again’ have just hit the shelves, all featuring the remastered original and the remixed version boasting bonus tracks. Extras are added according to the price you are willing to pay, what we shall be focusing on today is the ‘third’ edition entitled ‘Legacy’.
Disc one is the original album simply remastered by Bob Ludwig who controlled the board at those genre defining sessions eighteen years prior. On first listen it would appear not much has been tampered with which will no doubt please old school followers. Repeated spins do reveal a cleaner sound that some will state was sorely needed. Eddie Vedder himself has recently gone on record claiming he was never really happy with the outdated, almost eighties feel that he associates with ‘Ten’. The remasters certainley trim away some of the fat and provide a better quality to the overall mix.
If you listen to the Legacy edition in chronological order which logic should dictate begins with the remasters before moving onto the remixed set, you may get the feeling that the remastered version sets things up very nicely for the remixed album. Long time PJ producer Brendan O’Brien’s services have been enlisted to derive something fresh out of a record that he wasn’t really involved with in the first place. Initially (and understandably) hesitant to join the project when approached, O’Brien was finally persuaded to crash the party and you’ll be glad he did. His version of the album, cunningly titled ‘Redux’, really does add a new and exciting edge to the original recordings. Cleverly, O’Brien mainly emphasises the instrumentation aspect choosing to do away with a lot of the technical atmospherics and focusing instead on the Musicianship.
This lends a meatier, almost live feel to the album. His mixes of old standards such as ‘Even Flow’ and ‘Once’ bristle with energy and urgency, better still, they have been brought up to date and are on a par, production wise, with any new release currently clogging up the airwaves. Check out the intense bass/guitar dynamic on ‘Deep’ to oversee O’Brien’s blueprint for this CD, the dualing melodies battle for attention without ever losing Vedder’s toothless growl in the mix. The six extra tracks tagged onto the end do get lost in the translation, especially since ‘Ten’ begins and ends with an intro and outro respectively. To reach the end of the eleven remixed originals and be awarded with six unreleased and relatively rough demos is quite a change of pace although Pearl Jam fanatics will no doubt deavour them with as much enthusiasm as anything else from this set.
The real highlight of this compilation is the never before released DVD of the 1992 MTV unplugged concert. Clocking in at a consumer-friendly forty minutes this footage is spellbounding. Delivering a powerfully passionate performance Vedder and co excell in the intimate setting and prove that you don’t have to plug in to rock out. Their renditions of ‘Oceans’ and ‘Jeremy’ are particularly spine-tingling and prove the song writing abilities that have always lay at the core of this legendary quintet.
In addition to the audio/visual delights on offer a thick booklet is included overflowing with classic black and white snaps of the guys in promo shots and from the road. Recreated concert posters and backstage laminates can be found amongst these pages along with personal notes from various band members and even merchandise ideas torn straight from a journal Vedder was keeping at the time.
In summary ‘Ten-The Legacy Edition’ is a very slick, value for money purchase. It has enough attributes to appeal to a new generation of listeners whilst never alienating the legion of followers that have supported the band for nearly two decades. With a brand new album being lined up for a fall release my advice is to grab a flannel shirt because Pearl Jam show no signs of ageing yet and based on the findings of this compliation they are still on course to outlast the majority of acts half their age, leaving quite the legacy indeed!
Rating: 
