This is the first of what will be called Flashback Friday.  The reviews on here will be on new releases in music, print, film, art, etc. except on Friday.  We’ll take a ride in the nostalgia machine and look at old releases of albums that we can now fit into better context because let’s face it – Flock of Seagulls were pretty dope at the time, but looking back you think, “Some potential in the music but what the hell where they doing with their hair?”  Anyway, I think you get the idea, so let’s check out today’s release.

If you want further proof that there is no such genre called “grunge,” look no further than Pearl Jam’s second album Vs.  With the lead riff and funk guitar garnishing on “Animal,” the tribal drumming stylizings of “W.M.A.,” and the jangly folk-acoustic tracks “Daughter,” and “Elderly Woman Behind The Counter in a Small Town,” how could someone possibly place this album in the same category as Nirvana, Alice In Chains, or even compare it to Pearl Jam’s debut Ten?  Mike McCready’s lead playing in combination with Stone Gossard’s rhythm guitar really stand out here and has a more mature feel here than Ten. 

It’s great to look at this album in retrospect considering the fate of many of Pearl Jam’s peers.  The second release by a recording artist usually determines a band’s future, and often never lives up to the expectation, especially when you have to measure up to a classic 90’s album like Ten.  Many critics thought Pearl Jam would have their day and the sun and the ship would eventually sink as “grunge” music supposedly died along with Kurt Cobain. Pearl Jam has gone on to prove that they have true staying power through their live shows and Eddie Vedder’s work on the Academy Award nominated film Into The Wild.

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