Following the success of their debut album “Ten” in 1991, Pearl Jam released their sophomore album, “Vs.” two years later, on Oct. 19, 1993. Now, the band is releasing a re-issue of the album for the record’s 30-year anniversary. Pearl Jam caught the media’s eye with their distressing lyrics, impressive guitar solos and routine of questioning authority. In “Ten,” the band was able to tie the album all together with a solid, well-flowing musical and lyrical composition. At times, “Vs.” isn’t able to do the same due to the musical tone going from intense, brass and angry guitar tones to slow, acoustic melodies —  which leads the album to come off as more unorganized than the band’s past work. 

“Vs.” opens with the strongly guitar-led track, “Go.” Guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard carry the song. The talented guitarists control the musical flow and, at times, overpower lead vocalist Eddie Vedder. For me, the album truly opens up with the second track, “Animal.” The impertinent lyrics are tied in with Vedder’s roaring voice and Gossard’s expeditious guitar riff, making it one of their best and one of my personal favorite tracks.

The next track is the folk-toned hit, “Daughter.” I love this song. It is so simple, yet equally as distressing. The song carries an interesting perspective from the band, as Vedder wasn’t writing himself into a narrative for the song. Vedder writes, “Don’t call me daughter, not fit to,” on the acoustic track. Vedder wrote the song for people who have shared the same unfortunate childhood experiences as he had. The sole thing I dislike about the track is that it’s right after “Animal.” Both are amazing songs, but I don’t like the mood shift from the spiteful “Animal” to the “staring at a wall” kind of mood “Daughter” brings to the table. 

Immediately after “Daughter” saddens the listener, the non-subtle diss track “Glorified G” breaks through. “Glorified G” is a simple-sounding Pearl Jam song, but has a story behind it that makes it one of the band’s best. The song was based off of Pearl Jam’s first drummer: Dave Abbruzzese. While making “Vs.” Abbruzzese mentioned that he had bought a gun which led to  a very anti-gun Vedder asking if he really did buy a gun, to which Abbruzzese corrected him, stating he had actually bought two guns. Abbruzzese described the guns he owned as glorified versions of pellet guns, which Vedder later turned into the title. The song remains relevant today with the heavy discussions of the Second Amendment being debated extensively throughout the country. Personally, I don’t love the directed way in which Vedder sings the song, but I adore how outspoken Vedder is about people carrying guns to feel like they are important. 

Towards the middle of the album “Vs.” stays solid, but it doesn’t really get better. Track five, “Dissident,” challenges Vedder’s vocal range. More than anything, I think the song is more showboating than enjoyable. It feels like Vedder is straining his vocal chords when he changes octaves during the melody. The song isn’t bad by any means, but it’s just vocally over-the-top at times. 

The next tracks, “W.M.A.” and “Blood,” don’t stand out as much to me. It feels like these tracks are relying on Vedder’s voice after what “Dissident” put him through. Overall, these songs are skippable compared to the others. Especially since they are right before track eight, “Rearviewmirror.” 

Nothing about “Rearviewmirror” needs to be improved. The fan-favorite track is about leaving someone in the past and the song is perfect down to the musical buildup, the lyrics and even the small voice cracks Vedder has as the painful song concludes. It’s truly one of Pearl Jam’s best tracks and should’ve been the concluding song on the album. Instead, four more songs follow after. 

“Rats” follows as the ninth song and is rather disappointing; it sounds like everything “Animal” didn’t want to be. Similar to “Go,” Gossard and McCready keep the song above water with their guitar variations and parallel to “Dissident,” Vedder’s voice on the melody of “Rats” sounds more like he is damaging his vocal chords, than releasing his signature angry tenor rasp.

  The next track, “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” does the same thing to “Rats” that “Daughter” does to “Animal” — deflates the mood. Vedder sings “Rats” with a spiteful attitude, but that quickly goes away with the “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” since it’s just him and an acoustic guitar. In fact, that’s my biggest consistent problem with “Vs.” — the out of place songs. 

The following song is yet another anger-filled track, “Leash.” Out of all the songs on the album, I prefer it over “Dissident” or “Rats” in regards to Vedder pushing the envelope with his vocals. “Leash” is able to blend Vedder’s confident voice and the band’s musical composition better than the other tracks. 

“Vs.” ends with yet another messy transition into a slow paced acoustic song: “Indifference.”  When comparing melancholic songs, I prefer the 10th track “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town.” I think both songs are great in their own right, but I have to be in a certain mood to want to listen to either song.  I could see myself listening to either song if I were on a long road trip and in need of a quiet moment, but in almost any other situation, I have to skip these two. I feel like that’s a fair statement, since I prefer the more intense Pearl Jam songs that challenge them as a band more than their acoustic songs. 

On “Vs.” it’s easy to tell that this is the album where the band actually started becoming a group instead of just five guys who wanted to play music. On “Ten,” it sounded like all of the emotion was just being produced by Vedder, but on “Vs.” everyone releases some form of passion. The intensity that makes “Animal” and “Rearviewmirror” really stick with me as some of Pearl Jam’s best work. Still, I wish Pearl Jam would’ve arranged the tracklist a little differently which would have made some of the slower songs more enjoyable and not overshadowed by more aggressive tracks. 

Overall, for Pearl Jam having to follow up the huge success of “Ten,” they did a great job with “Vs.” Musically, the album is produced very well and Vedder’s lyrics on this album are much more cynical and thought out, which makes the album definitely count as one of my favorite Pearl Jam and grunge albums. 

Pathfinder gives Pearl Jam’s “VS” a 8/10