a beautiful rage

I found myself listening to Pearl Jam's debut album, 1991's Ten, and marveling at Eddie Vedder's passionate and angry baritone. I remember the first time I heard "Even Flow" and I was floored by the power, the way that he expressed his rage and frustration through the sound of his voice. All through Ten there are moments of delicacy ("Oceans", "Black", "Garden") balanced with this incredibly powerful anger ("Once", "Even Flow", "Why Go", to name a few) that struck a chord with me. Admittedly, I love the Brendan O'Brien remixes of "Once", "Alive", "Black", "Jeremy", and "Even Flow" (where a completely different version is featured--rawer, funkier, and more powerful, which should have made the original album) found on the greatest hits compilation Rearviewmirror because they are cleaner and get rid of much of the echo that plagues the original album.

I found myself listening to "Once" over and over the other day and thinking to myself that there have been so many imitators of that voice, but none of the pretenders can claim to have the vocal range, the songwriting chops, the charisma, and the impact of Vedder. That song was the world's first exposure to Pearl Jam and I was shocked anew at the wounded howl that burst through my headphones as he bellowed furiously, "Once upon a time, I could CONTROL MYSELF!!"

I sometimes wish I could go back to the first time I ever heard Pearl Jam and experience that high of hearing Eddie Vedder express frustration that I felt, not necessarily through his lyrics (though they have amazed and moved me many, many times), but through that voice. Amazing.