Vitalogy

Vitalogy is the third studio album by American rock band Pearl Jam, released on November 22, 1994, on Epic Records. Pearl Jam wrote and recorded Vitalogy while touring behind its previous album Vs. (1993). The music on the record was more diverse than previous releases, and consisted of aggressive rock songs, ballads, and other stylistic elements, making it Pearl Jam's most experimental album at that period. Considered a departure from the grunge sound of the band’s first two albums, the record focuses more on punk rock and hardcore styles in its production.

The album was first released on vinyl, followed by a release on CD and cassette two weeks later on December 6, 1994. The LP sold 34,000 copies in its first week of release, and until Jack White's 2014 album Lazaretto it held the record for most vinyl sales in one week since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. Upon its CD release, Vitalogy became the second-fastest selling album in history, behind only the band's previous release Vs., selling 877,000 copies in its first week and quickly going multi-platinum. The album has been certified five times platinum by the RIAA in the United States. It is Pearl Jam's last album to feature drummer Dave Abbruzzese, who left the band before recording was finished. He was initially replaced by session drummers and later officially replaced by former Red Hot Chili Peppers' drummer Jack Irons, who completed the recording of the album.

Rolling Stone staff writer Al Weisel gave Vitalogy a positive four out of five stars, describing the album as "a wildly uneven and difficult record, sometimes maddening, sometimes ridiculous, often powerful." While Weisel praised several songs, saying that " Vitalogy has a number of gripping songs that match the soaring anthems of Ten, the extended grooves of Vs. or the poetry of either record", he somewhat criticized some of the more experimental songs as "throwaways and strange experiments that don't always work".

Jon Pareles of The New York Times praised the album's diversity compared to the band's previous records, commenting that the band incorporated "fast but brutal punk, fuzz-toned psychedelia and judicious folk-rock, all of it sounding more spontaneous than before." He felt the band continued to be "unremittingly glum", and described the majority of the songs as "tortured first-person proclamations", commenting that "Vedder sounds more alone than ever." Time reviewer Christopher John Farley singled out "Bugs" as one of the album's "share of stinkers", but added "that's one admirably experimental failure on a largely successful album." Despite writing negatively of the album's "shapeless high-energy riff-rockers", Newsday staff writer Ira Robbins lauded Vitalogy's sound and called it a "compelling triumph of surface over substance". In a mixed review of the album, Mark Jenkins of The Washington Post perceived a lack of subject matter or lyrical substance as Vitalogy's weakness.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia page dedicated to this album. No copyright infringement is intended.