What is Each Album's Major Flaw?: Backspacer

[Clem Halibut]

The stretch of songs - Speed of Sound, Force of Nature & The End all suck, and bring this album to a terrible and mediocre close.

[stip]

The mid-Tempo songs are all mediocre (Fixer/Force/Unthought/Waves). A PJ album cannot reach high quality when the mid-tempos all fail to be really good.

fixer and especially Force of Nature are excellent

[Jorge]

I would not call "The Fixer" mid-tempo

[Habitman]

I would not call "The Fixer" mid-tempo

100% right... too fast... Stand corrected.

[Jorge]

Stand corrected when theplatypus comes

[ghost]

The major flaw is the production. PJ's catalog has plenty of mediocre songs that are elevated by interesting band dynamics, weird tonal choices, studio ambiance, etc. Backspacer has none of that. It's airless, sexless and bland. That's part of the reason the songs don't stick. They're sanded down so smooth they just slide right off of you.

[mikejasond]

Im surprised people hate ATW and UK so much

[EJ]

Im surprised people hate ATW and UK so much

they veer way into adult contemporary schlock

[Ms Harmless]

I was trying to think of what band(s) BoB was trying to emulate when he took ATW (an "Alive" type composition) and produced it like he did, and the band I came up with was Hoobastank

and the thing is, I don't mind that, as a (somewhat failed but listenable) experiment, but they've done that now; if they have any "anthems" on the new album I'd like them to sound a little more roomy, spacious and paired back, like, say, "Faithfull", which is a third song I'd put in this mid-tempo anthem pile

[Royalearth]

Backspacer sucks. All of it. Even the good parts are terrible. It’s just a boring and shitty album. That’s reality.

Double yep to that.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Iholdthepain]

Backspacer sucks. All of it. Even the good parts are terrible. It’s just a boring and shitty album. That’s reality.

Double yep to that.

such hyperbole about this shit!

I used to actually enjoy Lightning Bolt, too, until rm...

Now I feel like an absolute idiot for liking songs such as Just Breathe, Unthought Known, and The End.

Lightning Bolt > Backspacer, tho

[liebzz]

Im surprised people hate ATW and UK so much

they veer way into adult contemporary schlock

I always thought these songs were trying to out-anthem U2 or something. Or at the least recreate the mid-tempo anthem-like deliveries that are some of the hallmarks of Yield, like Given to Fly and In Hiding. The difference is the latter two songs I mentioned are great and the Backspacer songs okay to good.

[OmegaprimeVKM]

In hindsight, they should have released this album proclaiming it to be 11 unreleased b-sides. There'd be people creaming their pants over half the tracks and accepting the pedestrian filler around filling the rest of the space.

[RAG319]

ATW -> UK is the worst sequencing of any PJ record.

[PHATJ]

Backspacer sucks. All of it. Even the good parts are terrible. It’s just a boring and shitty album. That’s reality.

Double yep to that.

such hyperbole about this shit!

I used to actually enjoy Lightning Bolt, too, until rm...

Now I feel like an absolute idiot for liking songs such as Just Breathe, Unthought Known, and The End.

Lightning Bolt > Backspacer, tho

No hyperbole intended. I’ve been an adamant Backspacer critic since the beginning.

[E.H. Ruddock]

Wait, I thought PhatJ loved Amongst the Waves?

[PHATJ]

Wait, I thought PhatJ loved Amongst the Waves?

It’s the best song on the album, but about the 80th best PJ song.