2-Fer

I hit a sort of mini jackpot on Sunday night. I took out the trash to the apartment dumpster and found that someone had thrown away an entire collection of CDs. There were probably 75-100 of them stacked next to the dumpster. Well my curiosity got the best of me and I sifted through them and found a few that I wanted to listen to.

When was the last time that you listened to an entire CD from start to finish? In modern era of IPods and MP3 players, a custom order playlist is much more common than listening to an entire album of possibly less than perfect songs. So here is my review of listening straight through two very popular albums that I found on the side of the road. More reviews will come as I have time to listen to them.

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Artist: Pearl Jam

Album: Ten

Year: 1991






This album is one of the most popular of the decade. It quickly took over the as the leader of the grunge movement, at least on the popular side of things. Ole Eddie Vedder was an instant pop culture icon with his passionate lyrics. The guitar of the period is very good and blends well with the songs rather than sticking out for the sake of having a crazy solo. This being the band's first album, they had a less time pressures and therefore had a good amount of time to perfect the sound. Here is my rating of each song as I listened yesterday.

1. Once - 4
2. Even Flow - 5
3. Alive - 4.5
4. Why Go - 2
5. Black - 4
6. Jeremy - 4.5
7. Oceans - 3
8. Porch - 3.5
9. Garden - 3
10. Deep - 3.5
11. Release - 4

The opener and non-radio hit Once was the best surprise for me. I enjoyed the entire album as a whole. 3.73 is the average song rating that I gave. I will boost the album up a quarter point to a 3.98 based upon the way that it worked together so well.

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Artist: Matchbox Twenty

Album: Yourself or Someone Like You

Year: 1996





This band features a similar vocal sound as the previous album. Rob Thomas presents a more soulful sound as compared to the rougher Vedder voice. The big difference in my opinion is the development or further emphasis of the singing. Popular Rock took a turn towards less of a guitar emphasis and this is one of the first groups to pull it off.

1. Real World - 4.5
2. Long Day - 4
3. 3 AM - 4
4. Push - 4.5
5. Girl Like That - 2.5
6. Back 2 Good - 3.5
7. Dam - 3
8. Argue - 3.5
9. Kody - 2.5
10. Busted - 1.5
11. Shame = 2
12. Hang - 2.5

The hidden non-radio gem on this album was Long Day for me. Unfortunately the second half of this album tended to drag on in my opinion and left hoping that it would be over soon. The first few songs are all ones that you can sing along to and enjoy. The average song rating of this album is 3.17.