Vitalogy | ||||
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Studio album by Pearl Jam | ||||
Released | Vinyl: November 22, 1994 CD: December 6, 1994 |
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Recorded | November 1993 – October 1994 | |||
Studio | Bad Animals Studio, Seattle, Washington; Southern Tracks Recording and Doppler Studios, Atlanta, Georgia; and Kingsway Studio, New Orleans, Louisiana | |||
Genre | Grunge, hard rock, alternative rock, art rock | |||
Length | 55:30 | |||
Label | Epic | |||
Producer | Brendan O'Brien, Pearl Jam | |||
Pearl Jam chronology | ||||
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Singles from Vitalogy | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
Chicago Sun-Times | |
Entertainment Weekly | B+ |
Los Angeles Times | |
Pitchfork Media | 8.3/10 |
Q | |
Rolling Stone | |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
USA Today | |
The Village Voice | A− |
Vitalogy is the third studio album by the American rock band Pearl Jam, released on November 22, 1994, through 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 consists of aggressive rock songs, ballads and other elements making this Pearl Jam's first experimental album.
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, only behind the band's previous release Vs., selling 877,000 copies in its first week. The album has been certified five times platinum by the RIAA in the United States. This is Pearl Jam's last album to feature drummer Dave Abbruzzese.
For its third album, Pearl Jam again worked with producer Brendan O'Brien. The band wrote many of the songs during soundchecks on its Vs. Tour and the majority of the album's tracks were recorded during breaks on the tour. The first session took place late in 1993 in New Orleans, Louisiana, where the band recorded "Tremor Christ" and "Nothingman". The rest of the material was written and recorded in 1994 in sessions in Seattle, Washington and Atlanta, Georgia, with the band finishing the album at Bad Animals Studio in Seattle after the tour's completion. "Immortality" was written in April 1994 when the band was on tour in Atlanta. Sources state that most of the album was completed by early 1994, but that either a forced delay by Epic, or the band's battle with ticket vendor Ticketmaster, were to blame for the delay.