Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Backspacer

[Clem Halibut]

I liked Backspacer when it came out & still love a couple of the songs

But the last 3 songs just kill the record for me

Speed of Sound
Force of Nature
The End

Didn't think an album could have a more mediocre finish.

Well Until......

Swallowed Whole
Let the Records Play
Sleeping By Myself
Yellow Moon
Future Days

[Strat]

I liked Backspacer when it came out & still love a couple of the songs

But the last 3 songs just kill the record for me

Speed of Sound
Force of Nature
The End

Didn't think an album could have a more mediocre finish.

Well Until......

Swallowed Whole
Let the Records Play
Sleeping By Myself
Yellow Moon
Future Days

Ooh, the last three songs on backspacer are a great way to end the album. Big fan.

[Clem Halibut]

I remember reading that Speed of Sound was written for Ron Wood and intended to given to him to record.

After listening to it....I can see why Ron Wood chose not to record it

Also, the goddamn lasers piss me off too.

Brendan O'Brien should have been fired on the spot after that

[PHATJ]

Backspacer sucks. The best moment on the album is the bridge in one of the worst songs (Supersonic) on an album filled with bad songs. It’s all downhill from there.

[Anders]

For me the best songs on the album are:
Got Some
Johnny Guitar
Just Breathe
Force of Nature

I really want to like The Fixer, but there’s something off about it.

[7 Years and Maybe Longer]

I liked Backspacer when it came out & still love a couple of the songs

But the last 3 songs just kill the record for me

Speed of Sound
Force of Nature
The End

Didn't think an album could have a more mediocre finish.

Well Until......

Swallowed Whole
Let the Records Play
Sleeping By Myself
Yellow Moon
Future Days

The ending of Backspacer is ok in my book, but would have been much better if they went with the Speed of Sound demo.

Yellow Moon would have been a good closing track for Lightning Bolt. Future Days should be renamed Stupid Mop II as it makes my ears bleed.

[Anders]

I liked Backspacer when it came out & still love a couple of the songs

But the last 3 songs just kill the record for me

Speed of Sound
Force of Nature
The End

Didn't think an album could have a more mediocre finish.

Well Until......

Swallowed Whole
Let the Records Play
Sleeping By Myself
Yellow Moon
Future Days

The ending of Backspacer is ok in my book, but would have been much better if they went with the Speed of Sound demo.

Yellow Moon would have been a good closing track for Lightning Bolt. Future Days should be renamed Stupid Mop II as it makes my ears bleed.

Swallowed Whole is underrated.

I agree with you. They should have cut out Future Days. If they had reworked LTRP, with changed lyrics and some slight changes to the music, it could have been munch better.

[guitar_davey]

I've been a PJ fan since 1991 and I really enjoy this album.

Love the first four tracks, including The Fixer - definitely a poppy single, but fuck it, it's fun. I like Matt's time signature for the riff a lot too.

Just Breathe is fine. Not an all-time favourite, but I appreciate the sentiment.

I think Amongst the Waves is one of their best latter day anthems, and one of the few that (to my ears) translates really well live.

Unthought Known is OK, although it hasn't aged well for me. I've seen others compare it to Love Boat Captain and Lightning Bolt, but I think these two are far superior songs.

Supersonic doesn't bother me as much as it seems to bother most of you, although it's not a song I'm ever craving. If I'm spinning Backspacer, I'll let it play. Of all these types of songs in their catalogue, it's arguably the weakest.

Speed of Sound -- a little adult contemporary for my taste, but it's OK. I did hear it live in person in 2016 and I thought they nailed it. And yeah, WTF is going on with those lasers?! Jesus.

Force of Nature -- love this on the album but I'm with a lot of you on that intro being a bit cheesey. Probably doesn't help that they never did manage to nail it live (because Ed really can't sing it).

The End - love the song and love it as an album closer, although by the time it happens, the album feels like it's been winding down for the last ten or fifteen minutes.

Not necessarily the "best" Pearl Jam album, but it's one of the ones I find myself playing the most these days. For what it's worth, my nine-year-old loves it.

[Clem Halibut]

I liked Backspacer when it came out & still love a couple of the songs

But the last 3 songs just kill the record for me

Speed of Sound
Force of Nature
The End

Didn't think an album could have a more mediocre finish.

Well Until......

Swallowed Whole
Let the Records Play
Sleeping By Myself
Yellow Moon
Future Days

The ending of Backspacer is ok in my book, but would have been much better if they went with the Speed of Sound demo.

Yellow Moon would have been a good closing track for Lightning Bolt. Future Days should be renamed Stupid Mop II as it makes my ears bleed.

Swallowed Whole is underrated.

I agree with you. They should have cut out Future Days. If they had reworked LTRP, with changed lyrics and some slight changes to the music, it could have been munch better.

Swallowed Whole and Sleeping By Myself could have been better. The arrangements could have been worked out better - But the biggest issue is the horrible production.

[guitar_davey]

I liked Backspacer when it came out & still love a couple of the songs

But the last 3 songs just kill the record for me

Speed of Sound
Force of Nature
The End

Didn't think an album could have a more mediocre finish.

Well Until......

Swallowed Whole
Let the Records Play
Sleeping By Myself
Yellow Moon
Future Days

The ending of Backspacer is ok in my book, but would have been much better if they went with the Speed of Sound demo.

Yellow Moon would have been a good closing track for Lightning Bolt. Future Days should be renamed Stupid Mop II as it makes my ears bleed.

Swallowed Whole is underrated.

I agree with you. They should have cut out Future Days. If they had reworked LTRP, with changed lyrics and some slight changes to the music, it could have been munch better.

LTRP might be the corniest Pearl Jam song. Future Days is near the top of that list as well. I'm with you that Swallowed Whole is underrated - I think it's actually one of the latter day PJ songs that retains some of the early mystique.

[Clem Halibut]

Let the Records Play should've been abandoned and thrown away.
Just an awful fucking song

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[7 Years and Maybe Longer]

Let the Records Play should've been abandoned and thrown away.
Just an awful fucking song

Let the Records Stay

I'm a fan of this one because it's fun and different than what they usually do.

[Ms Harmless]

Swallowed Whole is a good song and I love its bridge, there's a real Yield-like joy in that thing that's spoiled by the production

LTRP has fun verses but needed to be much dirtier and have a chorus like GSMF (in the same shuffled rhythm and in Ed's low register)

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[7 Years and Maybe Longer]

I've been a PJ fan since 1991 and I really enjoy this album.

Love the first four tracks, including The Fixer - definitely a poppy single, but fuck it, it's fun. I like Matt's time signature for the riff a lot too.

Just Breathe is fine. Not an all-time favourite, but I appreciate the sentiment.

I think Amongst the Waves is one of their best latter day anthems, and one of the few that (to my ears) translates really well live.

Unthought Known is OK, although it hasn't aged well for me. I've seen others compare it to Love Boat Captain and Lightning Bolt, but I think these two are far superior songs.

Supersonic doesn't bother me as much as it seems to bother most of you, although it's not a song I'm ever craving. If I'm spinning Backspacer, I'll let it play. Of all these types of songs in their catalogue, it's arguably the weakest.

Speed of Sound -- a little adult contemporary for my taste, but it's OK. I did hear it live in person in 2016 and I thought they nailed it. And yeah, WTF is going on with those lasers?! Jesus.

Force of Nature -- love this on the album but I'm with a lot of you on that intro being a bit cheesey. Probably doesn't help that they never did manage to nail it live (because Ed really can't sing it).

The End - love the song and love it as an album closer, although by the time it happens, the album feels like it's been winding down for the last ten or fifteen minutes.

Not necessarily the "best" Pearl Jam album, but it's one of the ones I find myself playing the most these days. For what it's worth, my nine-year-old loves it.

The first 3 songs are a good start, but I'm not on Team Johnny, so that followed by Just Breathe hurts the momentum for me.

[Ms Harmless]

the worst thing about JB is Ed's over-enunciation, uh-huh! I honestly think it's a very pretty song

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[7 Years and Maybe Longer]

Let the Records Play should've been abandoned and thrown away.
Just an awful fucking song

Let the Records Stay

I'm a fan of this one because it's fun and different than what they usually do.

The last 30 seconds or so fucking slay

Agree that's probably the best part. Also, I think if this went right into Yellow Moon, it would be better sequencing.

[guitar_davey]

the worst thing about JB is Ed's over-enunciation, uh-huh! I honestly think it's a very pretty song

I agree it's the one where he's most clearly got that "head cold" thing going on. I also agree that it's a very pretty song.