Ten
Ten
Release facts
The album's story
Ten is Pearl Jam's first album. The band recorded it at London Bridge Studio in Seattle in March and April 1991, with Rick Parashar producing alongside the band, and Epic Records released it on August 27, 1991. The five who made it were Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, Jeff Ament, and Dave Krusen, and by the day it came out the drum seat had changed hands twice. The songs were older than the sessions: "Release," "Alive," "Once," "Even Flow," and "Black" had all been played at the band's first show in October 1990, when it still called itself Mookie Blaylock. The title kept a trace of that name, the number on Blaylock's jersey.
Where Ten sits in the band's story
On Monday, October 22, 1990, five musicians played their first show together at the Off Ramp Cafe in Seattle, an opening act under the name Mookie Blaylock. Five of the eight songs they played would be on Ten: "Release," the opener, then "Alive," "Once," "Even Flow," and "Black." The road there is told in Where It Began, and the night in The First Show.
The name came from a basketball player, Mookie Blaylock, then a point guard for the New Jersey Nets. The name changed after the band signed to Epic Records, whose executives, by the published account, were concerned about naming rights after Blaylock's deal with Nike. The album's title kept a trace of the old name: Ten was the number on Blaylock's jersey.
Writing and demos
Two of the first show's songs had begun as instrumentals on a cassette Gossard, Ament, and McCready recorded the summer before, under working titles: "Dollar Short" became "Alive," and "Agytian Crave" became "Once." "Black" had begun on the same tape, under the title "E Ballad" by Wikipedia's account.
At the Moore Theatre on December 22, "Why Go" and "Porch" were in the official list for the first time; the night is told in Saturday at the Moore. "Garden" both chronologies record for the first time at Florentine Gardens on February 7, told in Nine Songs in Los Angeles. "Deep," "Jeremy," and "Oceans" were in the set by the spring; Back at the Off Ramp records them on May 17 and carries the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology's earlier listings: "Oceans" in Vancouver in January, "Deep" and "Jeremy" in Los Angeles in February. By Wikipedia's account, "Porch," "Deep," "Why Go," and "Garden" were first recorded at the album sessions, the rest in demo sessions before.
In the studio
Eight days after the last show under the old name, Five Horizons records, Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament announced on KISW's New Music Hour that the band was now called Pearl Jam and was going into the studio the next day. In March and April 1991 the band recorded Ten at London Bridge Studio in Seattle with Rick Parashar producing, the band credited as co-producer. Parashar had co-produced Temple of the Dog the winter before, with three of the five on that record and Vedder singing on a few songs; by Wikipedia's account Gossard and Ament then asked him to co-produce and engineer Ten.
On KISW on April 14, 1991, as Five Horizons transcribes it, Ament said about a week of recording remained, and that the record was expected in late July. Dave Krusen played the drums on the record; after the sessions he left in May 1991, by the published accounts, and his last show was the wrap party for the film Singles, at RKCNDY on May 25, told in The Wrap Party. In June the band joined Tim Palmer in England for the mixing.
Release and reception
"Alive" came out as a single on July 7, 1991, seven weeks before the album, with "Wash" on the B-side, by Wikipedia's account. Filmed at RKCNDY tells the night of August 3, when the band played "Alive" more than once at the club in Seattle and, both chronologies record, most of the footage in the song's video was shot. Sixteen days later, on Monday, August 19, the band played the same room on a night the club advertised as a record release party, told in The Record Release Party; no set list survives. Four nights later, at the Mural Amphitheatre, Dave Abbruzzese played his first show on drums, and afterward, the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology records, the band held an "exclusive first-listen preview party" for Ten at the Phantom nightclub.
Ten came out on Tuesday, August 27, 1991, through Epic Records. On the original compact disc, by Wikipedia's account, a hidden instrumental called "Master/Slave" opens and closes the album. The record was slow to sell at first, by the published account. Of the reviews Wikipedia quotes from that year, Greg Kot in the Chicago Tribune on September 5, 1991, found the music "Occasionally overwrought and unrelentingly humorless" but wrote that it "nonetheless exerts a hypnotic power at its best," and David Fricke in Rolling Stone in December wrote that Pearl Jam "hurtles into the mystic at warp speed."
The fall tour, which the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology calls the band's first as a headliner in the United States, in support of Ten, began on September 25 in clubs. Both chronologies call the room at the Vatican in Houston half-full. In San Diego on October 5, both entries carry the same sentence: with Ten catching on, as they put it, the club sold out.
The run was cut short, the Pearl Jam Concert Chronology's heading says, when the Red Hot Chili Peppers offered the Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam the opening slot on a two-month Blood Sugar Sex Magik tour of North America. That is the album's first year as the sources keep it: made in about a month from songs the band already knew, released at the end of August, and carried through the fall to rooms sometimes half-full and sometimes sold out.
Track list
- Once3:51
- Even Flow4:53
- Alive5:40
- Why Go3:19
- Black5:43
- Jeremy5:18
- Oceans2:41
- Porch3:30
- Garden4:58
- Deep4:18
- Release6:30
Sessions and credits
- tracking · London Bridge Studios
- 27 March 1991 – 26 April 1991 · 20021 Ballinger Way NE, Seattle, WA [1][3]
- mixing · Ridge Farm Studios
- June 1991 · Rusper Road, Capel, Dorking, Surrey, RH5 5HG, England, UK [1]
- mastering · Masterdisk
- July 1991 · New York, NY, USA [1]
Band
Guests
Production
- Pearl Jam — Producer [1]
- Rick Parashar — Producer, Recording Engineer [1]
- Tim Palmer — Mixing Engineer [1]
- Bob Ludwig — Mastering Engineer (1991 Original) [1]
- Dave Hillis — Assistant Engineer (London Bridge Studios) [1]
- Don Gilmore — Assistant Engineer (London Bridge Studios) [1]
- Adrian Moore — Assistant Engineer (London Bridge Studios) [1]
- Julian Wheatley — Assistant Mix Engineer (Ridge Farm Studios) [1]
- Jeff Ament — Art Direction, Concept, Hand Lettering, Wooden Cutout Sculptures [1]
- Lisa Sparagano — Design and Layout [1]
- Risa Zaitschek — Design and Layout [1]
- Chris Cuffaro — Group Band Portrait Photography (Los Angeles) [1]
- Lance Mercer — Documentary, Rehearsal, and Early Live Performance Photography [1]
- Bob Lahaie — Additional Photography [1]
- Kelly Curtis — Management (Curtis Management) [1]
- Don Muller — Booking Agent (William Morris Agency) [1]
- Michael Lamb — Legal Counsel [1]
- Michael Goldstone — A&R Representative (Epic Records) [1]
Packaging
- Jeff Ament — Art Direction, Concept, Hand Lettering, Wooden Cutout Sculptures [1]
- Lisa Sparagano — Design and Layout [1]
- Risa Zaitschek — Design and Layout [1]
- Chris Cuffaro — Group Band Portrait Photography (Los Angeles) [1]
- Lance Mercer — Documentary, Rehearsal, and Early Live Performance Photography [1]
- Bob Lahaie — Additional Photography [1]
Editions and pressings
Ten (Original US Compact Disc)Reference edition
United States · Compact Disc (1xCD in jewel case) · 27 August 1991 [2][4]
Hidden prelude before Track 1, reprises unlisted after Release
Ten (Original US Cassette)
United States · Cassette (1xMC) · 27 August 1991 [2]
Ten (Vinyl (1xLP, 12-inch 33 1/3 RPM))
Europe / UK · Vinyl (1xLP, 12-inch 33 1/3 RPM) · 27 August 1991 [2]
Ten (Original US Vinyl)
United States · Vinyl (1xLP, 12-inch 33 1/3 RPM) · 12 April 1994 [2]
First domestic US vinyl commercial release
Ten (Original European Standard CD)
Europe / United Kingdom · Compact Disc (1xCD) · 27 August 1991 [2][5]
Ten (European Reissue with 3 Bonus Tracks / Special Pinkpop Edition)
Europe · Compact Disc (1xCD with custom front sticker) [6]
Reissued following Pearl Jam's triumphant June 1992 European festival tour (Pinkpop). Contains 3 appended bonus tracks: Track 12: 'Alive (Live at Moore Theatre, Dec 22, 1990)' (4:58), Track 13: 'Wash' (3:33), Track 14: 'Dirty Frank' (5:38). 'Dirty Frank' features drummer Dave Abbruzzese and was cut during post-Ten sessions.
Embedded at end of Track 11 before bonus tracks begin
Ten (Japan Compact Disc, 1991)
Japan · Compact Disc · 25 October 1991 [2][7]
13 tracks; bonus tracks as listed
First Japanese CD pressing; SRCS 5634
Ten (Legacy Edition 2-CD Remaster & Redux)
Worldwide · 2xCD digipak with slipcase [8]
Ten (Deluxe Edition 2-CD + 1-DVD)
Worldwide · 2xCD + 1xDVD box format [8]
Ten (Super Deluxe Collector's Box Set)
Worldwide · Linen-bound Collector's Box (2xCD, 1xDVD, 4xLP, 1xCassette, 80-page hardbound book, replica memorabilia envelope) [8]
Media of record
Related concerts
- Tivoli, Utrecht - 4 March 1992 [9]
- The First Show
five of the album's songs in the first set, October 22, 1990
- Saturday at the Moore
"Why Go" and "Porch" in the official list for the first time, December 22, 1990
- Nine Songs in Los Angeles
"Garden" recorded for the first time by both chronologies, February 7, 1991
- The Last Show as Mookie Blaylock
the last show under the old name, and the KISW announcement eight days later
- Back at the Off Ramp
the first show after the recording was completed, and the jersey number
- The Wrap Party
Dave Krusen's last show, May 25, 1991
- The Fourth at RKCNDY
the first show after the mixing, and Matt Chamberlain's first, July 4, 1991
- Filmed at RKCNDY
"Alive" played more than once on the night most of its video was shot, August 3, 1991
- The Record Release Party
the night advertised as a record release party, eight days before the album, August 19, 1991
- Outdoors at the Mural Amphitheatre
Dave Abbruzzese's first show, and the preview party for Ten, August 23, 1991
- The ASCAP Showcase
the first show after the release, August 29, 1991
- Back at the Town Pump
at the start of the fall tour in support of Ten, begun in Victoria the night before, September 26, 1991
- The Guest List at Winter's
with Ten catching on, a sold-out club, October 5, 1991
- Thursday at Trees
a room of about 100, October 10, 1991
- Half-Full at the Vatican
a half-full room, October 11, 1991
- The Van Goes Home
the club run cut short for the Chili Peppers tour, October 14, 1991
- Feel Lucky Tonight
the first of the Chili Peppers dates, October 16, 1991
- The First Flower
"Master/Slave" over the PA as the band took the stage, October 22, 1991
- This Is Seattle
"Master/Slave" as the entering music, October 26, 1991
For the record shelf
Pearl Jam finds on eBay
Sources & thanks (9)
- Pearl Jam. Ten. Epic Associated / Sony Music Entertainment, catalog # ZK 47857 (Compact Disc), 1991.
- Pearl Jam Official Website. Music Archive: Ten (1991) and Ten Reissue (2009). https://pearljam.com/music/album/ten (opens in a new tab)
- London Bridge Studio. History. (opens in a new tab)
- Discogs. Pearl Jam - Ten, US CD, Epic Associated ZK 47857 (release 367375). (opens in a new tab)
- Discogs. Pearl Jam - Ten, European CD, Epic EPC 468884 2 (release 376269). (opens in a new tab)
- Discogs. Pearl Jam - Ten, European Tour Edition, Epic EPC 468884 9 (release 1826040). (opens in a new tab)
- Discogs. Pearl Jam - Ten, Japanese CD, Epic/Sony SRCS 5634 (release 1885542). (opens in a new tab)
- Discogs. Pearl Jam — Ten (master release 73824). (opens in a new tab)
- Pearl Jam Music Factory. Concert record 1992-03-04 Tivoli, Utrecht (accepted R70 record).