Go-9.5/10- What a way to open up an album. This is just one hell of a rock song. Eddie's vocals tear through the song, and a strong bass line backs it all up.

Animal-10/10- Absolutely amazing rock song. The vocals are just primal. There's a sense of funk in this one. There's a great guitar solo in here that shouldn't be passed up.

Daughter-10/10- We've all heard this song. The first acoustic song Pearl Jam ever did. Great lyrics about child abuse and the solo really takes the cake. This song also has a great outro.

Glorified G-9/10- Another song with an almost funky sense. Interesting guitar riff. Great tongue in cheek lyrics about gun control.

Dissident-10/10- Easily one of my favorite Pearl Jam songs ever. Eddie's lyrics and vocals are just captivating. There's a great lead riff and rythym riff in this song that perfectly blend to create a beautiful combination of power and melody. Almost perfect.

WMA-8/10- This is the album's only rough spot. The song is too tribal and never gets going. The only thing that really saves it is Eddie's mesmorizing vocal performance. Overall though, I can't say anything too bad about this one, the lyrics are really great.

Blood-9/10- This is one hell of a rock song. The vocals are just awesome. Easily the hardest song on the album. The huge scream after the second chorus really jacks this one up. Interesting guitar too!

Rearviewmirror-10/10- An absolutely excellent song. Starts off as just a simple guitar riff and slowly grows into the mournful outro. The vocals are just perfect. Only Eddie Vedder can deliver a performance like that. Great lyrics that paint a picture of someone leaving an abusive situation and finally being free of the shackles. The guitar during the choruses and outro is just excellent. This song is perfection.

Rats-8.5/10- Cool song. Tough act to follow though. The lyrics are very cool, comparing the human race to rats. Ed's vocals during the verses are cool, a really low growl. Another cool guitar solo!

Elderly Woman-10/10- Beautiful and simple song. Most people think of it as a song about meeting someone you remember, but I almost see it as a reflection of growing old and wishing you could be as free as you used to be. Led by an acoustic riff by the way!

Leash-10/10- A thrilling song. This is a seriously hard rock song. I don't suppose it's perfect but I love the uplifting vibe.

Indifference-10/10- This song never quite jumped out at me until I really listened to it. It's now one of my favorite songs on this album. Great calm vibe and lyrics about struggling to go on. Beautiful.

Pearl Jam would never repeat this album's excellence. It is just a near work of perfection. EXCELLENCE!


Pearl Jam Will Become Your Very Own Kindred Spirit   February 6, 2000
Kerissa M. Dickie (BC, Canada)
27 out of 29 found this review helpful

OK. . . so i might be assuming too much if i say this album will change your life- but I'm saying it anyway! I'm a die-hard music lover, and as soon as i first heard pearl jam (at the tender age of 11) i fell head over heels. Being at such a vulnerable age and feeling so alone,i found a dear friend in pearl jam's TEN, and their lyrics helped me understand that all people go through hell sometimes. The lyrics of "Vs" (my fave pj album) empowered me and gave me music to laugh to, cry to, and cherish altogether. Eddie Vedder has such an amazing voice and their songs are so unique compared to any other. I am now 19 turning 30 ( i've gone through so much in my young life like deaths of loved ones, living around the world, and so much more) and i still cherish "Vs." to this very day. I reach for it when the world doesn't make sense, get into my car and shout out the lyrics to "rearviewmirror"- while i drive into the dark. . . and i stop feeling so alone in this world. I imagine that I know Eddie, because his lyrics are so in touch with all of the different emotions i go through and with all of the affect dynamics in my life. When I listen to Pearl Jam, I can close my eyes and feel the moisture of my first loves goodbye kiss on my cheek( so many years ago now it seems ), My mother's hand in mine and i feel the breeze on my face of a million new experiences and treasured moments that yet haven't entered my life. Pearl Jam's "Vs." is an album to treasure, I promise.


Pearl Jam at their peak   May 14, 2001
Nick (England)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

As a collective, Vs stands out as Pearl Jam's most cohesive offering to date. It is also the closest studio recording to what the real live Pearl Jam experience - raw, intense, passionate, spontaneous. The suckerpunch opening of the short and snappy Go and the swaggering Animal are taken from the top draw of alternative rock- on this inspired form, no one could touch the band. Fans lapped up single Dissident as it sounds like a Ten outtake, the huge guitar riff and overstrained Eddie Vedder vocals setting the heart racing. The great strength of Vs is that no matter how fast or hard the song is pushed, the playing never loses precision. In some ways, the music feels too slick when the punk-rock chaos, the kind that Nirvana was masters at, would be unleashed instead being held back. The understated Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town is a welcome break between the high drama that surrounds it, an indicator for the quieter, more restrained direction the band would take on future album tracks Nothingman, Wishlist and Sometimes. On release Vs became the fastest selling album ever (although pop muppets N'Synch now hold that record), giving an idea of the impact and popularity that Pearl Jam attained during 1993. It was not known at the time that this was the peak and from then on it was downhill.


Pearl Jam Vs. The World - No Contest   June 10, 2000
Andy Gill (Dorset, England)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

From the moment 'Go' kicks in with a riff to die for until the haunting echoes of 'Indifference' fade to silence, 'Vs.' delivers. It is by far Pearl Jam's best work, every instrument, including Vedder's diverse vocal stylings, fitting together seemlessly. More emotional than 'Ten', catchier than 'Vitalogy', moodier than 'No Code' and livlier than 'Yield', this album is at once moving and uplifting despite its lyrical content of child abuse ('Daughter'), the American gun culture ('Glorified G'), the general dog-eat-dog state of humanity ('Rats'), and heroin addiction ('Blood'). Vedder had more influence on 'Vs.', and it shows in the punky vibe behind songs like 'Rearviewmirror' and 'Leash'. Indeed, this album is carried by sheer song-writing talent as opposed to the old-school rock stylings of 'Ten' which was overdependent on its long guitar solos.

'Vs.' slams in with perhaps the best opening couplet ever recorded, 'Go' and 'Animal'. Hard rock mixing with hardciore power soon gives way to the softer, more emotional 'Daughter', before cranking up a notch to another rocky 'Glorified G.' 'Dissident' showcases Vedder's powerful voice to the max, before 'W.M.A', a moody number with a tribal feel brings us back down. 'Blood' is a slice of pure punk angst and energy, which sets you up perfectly for arguably the best song ever written. 'Rearviewmirror' is deep, emotional, and so, so musical. 'Rats' brings you back down to a funky feel, before the acoustic 'Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town' shows that even taking the guitar solo's and distortion out of Pearl Jam, they have the power to write catchy yet emotional music. 'Leash' is a slice of fun punky rock, that brings you to the point of climax before 'Indifference' gently soothes you out of the album with its quiet beauty and atmospheric keyboards.

Speaking from a personal viewpoint, this is my favourite album. It is disappointing that Pearl Jam have veered so far from what they accomplished on 'Vs.' As it stands, it is truly the greatest album ever recorded, which, incidentally, still holds the record for the fastest-selling album of all time. It is the only CD I have ever owned that, five-years after I bought it, still holds that same allure, the same atmosphere and emotion as it always has. My advice to anyone is to buy it and love it as I have. But one word of warning to anybody who is into Pearl Jam and has not heard this album: it is worth listening to, but once you have heard it, it makes everything else Pearl Jam has ever done pale into insignificance. It's your choice. I'll leave you with a line from the album: "I changed by not changing at all." If only that were true.


Pearl Jam Vs. The World of Rock   November 22, 2002
E. Callaway (Walker MI, USA)
14 out of 16 found this review helpful

Pearl Jam has taken some pretty firm stances throughout their career on several social issues. Abortion, race relations, poverty, and the environment are just a few they have tackled throughout their time in the spotlight. You can get overtones of this social conscience in all other music. The concept of the broken home is also rather recurrent throughout their body of work.

"Vs." is an extension of the aforementioned concepts. It is filled with amazing, and profoundly powerful, rock anthems. Songs like "Go," "Dissident," and "Leash" are great. "Dissident" did make its way to rock radio for some time. "Leash," already mentioned above, is straight rock `n' roll. The first single "Animal," was a rather interesting choice for a single. Though I like the song, it isn't exactly radio friendly.

Contrasting the rock anthems on the record was some very good melodic rock songs. The big single off of this record was "Daughter." I never quite did get this song. But, nonetheless, it is pretty good. I think there are much better songs on the records than the ones that were released singles. "Indifference" a slow, bass laden slow song, has this "Twin Peaks" kind of feel to it. It is very cool. The song with the longest title I have ever heard in my life is one of the best songs: "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town."

This record is one of the most prolific works of its time. It held the record for the "most records sold in the first week of availability" for several years. Before the concept of internet presale, this record went platinum in just over a week. It is amazing and a must have for any Pearl Jam fan.

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