Ten

Ten was my first real introduction to Pearl Jam, and I came away really liking it. The biggest things that stood out to me were how catchy a lot of songs were, Eddie Vedder's vocals, and the lyrics when they really connected with me. There are some great songs here, especially Garden, Black, and Alive, and Garden actually surprised me by becoming my favorite song on the entire album. I do think the album is a little inconsistent though. Some songs have a lot of repetition in the lyrics, which held songs like Why Go and Jeremy back for me. There were also a few songs I just did not connect with as much. Oceans never really clicked with me, and Release was a disappointing way to end the album because I felt like it went on for way too long without giving me enough to justify its length. Still, the highs are really high. Songs like Garden, Black, Alive, Even Flow, and Porch give me plenty that I want to come back to, and I really like Pearl Jam's overall sound. There are definitely weaker moments, but as my introduction to the band, Ten made me interested in wanting to hear a lot more from them. 8.5/10