Vitalogy is a magical album. No, really. There's just a intangible to this one that goes above and beyond any rational critique. Never has Pearl Jam sounded so utterly fascinating and original. Every single song on Vitalogy has a furious undertone, propelled by the stripped-down production that defied the impeccable qualities of their previous releases. This is the sound of a band with a fire in their belly. And perhaps most excitingly, the band wasn't always raging in the same direction in the studio. Tensions were high behind the scenes of this one, with the creative direction reportedly becoming a power struggle between primary songwriter Stone Gossard and the band's frontman. The result is an unmatched level of passion and immediacy. Vitalogy is also the last time we hear the band firmly entrenched in an "us vs. them" attitude that doesn't come off as slightly stale or uneven. (It's still hair-raising to hear Eddie growl "This is not for you!" over and over on the particularly aggressive "Not For You.") "Corduroy" might be the band's most definitive song, while "Nothingman" and "Tremor Christ" remain perennial fan favorites. And even though "Better Man" have have reached its saturation point long before rock radio stopped blasting it at all hours of the day, it's one of the more striking examples of how a band can so delicately teeter the edge of mainstream acceptance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfaZ_IWPv8c
