Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Backspacer

[BladeRunner]

LB way over Spacer and not even close!! The worst opening four songs in their history. Pathetic, awful and to be never listened to again.and to think a fan here saying 'it will be remembered forever!' Hahaha.

[stip]

that's a really good run of songs.

[LetMeSleep]

Taste huh.

[Leatherhead]

I just can't get behind Just Breathe -> Amongst the Waves -> Unthought Known -> Supersonic. Just a terrible 4 song stretch. Everything else before and after is pretty good.

[bodysnatcher]

I just can't get behind Just Breathe -> Amongst the Waves -> Unthought Known -> Supersonic. Just a terrible 4 song stretch. Everything else before and after is pretty good.

Yeah, that's a chunk of the album I just never listen to. Put I'd say...

Just Breathe > Future Days
Amongst The Wave < Everything including dimply butts
Unthought Known < Lightning Bolt
Supersonic < Mankind

So, that run has one thing going for it, I guess.

[stip]

Okay, lets do this. Backspacer has basically disappeared from rotation after Lighting Bolt came out. Prior to L-Bolt it was probably 4 in my PJ rankings, and the album I was still listening to the most. The fact that it's so much shorter than Ten and Vitalogy, and in general such a lighter (not fun, but lighter) album, contributed a lot to that. But I kinda miss Backspacer.

[stip]

Gonna See My Friend: One of my very favorite openers, probably only behind Last Exit, Go, and Life Wasted. There's so much flying off the rails energy to it, and so much joyful noise--the sound of people playing their instruments as hard as they can because the world is actually a pretty great place sometimes.

This is one of my favorite Matt performances. And I love the riff. I like shrieking Ed from S/T and Backspacer, and this is one of the best examples of it. Stone's backing vocals do a nice job anchoring the song.

Jeff gives the song a nice meaty center that holds it all together.

This is an easy song to bounce along to

The hanging spaces at the start of the bridge build momentum, and the end of the bridge is great.

I wouldn't mind a better lyric than 'I'm gonna see my friend' for the chorus. I'm glad they return to the intro playing for the outro. It's one of my favorite little guitar parts Eddie's has written.

I've always really liked the grunge inversion of this song--the way it plays off of so many of those tropes, but about something pretty happy and uplifting instead of the usual woe is me stuff. It makes the song slightly unexpected.

This song is basically Breakerfall's reflection, and that song looks much better in the mirror.

[stip]

Got Some: Probably Eddie's weakest performance on this record, vocally and lyrically (probably the worst lyrics he ever wrote that arent no more war). The melody is pretty good, but it seems like he has trouble keeping in front of it. It's too bad, cuz the music is great. I love the rolling drums from matt and the siren guitars. The fingers crawling up your back verses are good. The way the song dives down and comes back up during the bridge is cool, but I do wish the explosion into the last verse was a bit stronger.

The backing vocals on this one are nice.

I really like Mike's screaming guitar at the end. I wish it went on longer.

Still, it's a good song, and a nice follow up to GSMF. It's a strong 1-2 start. Upbeat and fast paced songs that feel light and purposeful at the same time

[stip]

The Fixer:

[stip]

I don't love the Fixer as much as I once did, but it's still a really good song. The music is great--warm, fuzzy, and the way the guitars, drums, and bass all interact with each other in such a precise way is a great listen. I like the hand claps, the little accent part that Mike plays in the second verse (like a content) sigh, and the tinkling chorus was such a different sound for them.

The bridge is just a nice little moment of swirling optimism, with a nice hanging transition back into the chorus.

One more verse would be nice, though.

I do think Eddie sounds too processed in parts of this song--both the uh huh huhs at the start and a bit for the yeah yeah yeah's (not too bad there, though). Beyond that I like falling apart at the seams but holding together attitude, and the pleasure it takes in hanging on.

I also think, with maybe one or two exceptions, these are actually good lyrics. Some nice simple images, some clever moments, an intelligent bridge to punctuate them.

This is a really good song.

[bodysnatcher]

The Fixer:

so glad they stopped playing this one with any regularity. probably the best thing PJ did in 2013

[EJ]

I still think The Fixer is one of the worst songs they've ever made.

[Lament]

I also think, with maybe one or two exceptions, these are actually good lyrics.

EXCEPTIONS:

1. Each time he says "When something's______" and then tells you what he's gonna do about it.

2. The Bridge.

[stip]

Johnny guitar: I still love how filthy this song is, and the way the second guitar is sort of snickering at something inappropriate underneath the primary rhythm part. It's a great vocal melody, and the desperate teenage delivery makes sense for an immature song about a stupid 30 year fantasy, but it would have been interesting to see him drop this a bit and make it a bit older and creepier.

Matt is really good on this album.

The bridge is so dirty. I wish it was longer. I don't know that this song needs a solo, but it doesn't need a fade either. Especially on such a short record. And it's a nice pattern mike is playing. It'd be nice to see where they take it.

These lyrics are really good--pretty clever innuendo and a fun, pathetic story. I didn't think Eddie could write a song like this. It's basically I Got Shit laughing at itself.

[stip]

I also think, with maybe one or two exceptions, these are actually good lyrics.

EXCEPTIONS:

1. Each time he says "When something's______" and then tells you what he's gonna do about it.

2. The Bridge.

If he didn't tell you you'd just spend the rest of your day wondering.

[stip]

I also think, with maybe one or two exceptions, these are actually good lyrics.

EXCEPTIONS:

1. Each time he says "When something's______" and then tells you what he's gonna do about it.

2. The Bridge.

This and lightning bolt are two songs I'm still really surprised you don't like.

[Lament]

I really like everything about the song Lightning Bolt except for Ed's vocals (apart from the "Always something" part, which is cool). The problem is I dislike Ed's vocals on it so much that I find the song pretty unlistenable. If it were an instrumental I'd probably play it all the time.

I bet if Oasis took a crack at The Fixer, they could turn it into something I like.

[stip]

Just Breathe: This is a lovely little piece of syrup. I like Eddie's playing, the vocal melody is really good (I think this may be Eddie's best album for melody), and while the lyrics are too personal and sentimental to really be compelling much of the time, the "I'm a lucky man to count on both hands the one I love" is a great lyric.

I like when Jeff's bass comes in.

I wonder why Eddie adopted such a nasally tone for this song though, it does hurt it a bit.

The chorus is still so over the top. It actually probably fits the song, but I would have liked for it to be a little less loud in the mix.

The guitar accents are nice little moments every time they come in

I do like how just breathe is slightly haunted by its own mortality. It's more front and center in the end, but it makes everything feel realer. Still a lot of treacly sentiment, but not cheap sentiment.

[stip]

5 for 5 with songs I really like so far, although none of this really crack into the upper tier. Backspacer is full of really good songs, but light on great ones.

[stip]

I really like everything about the song Lightning Bolt except for Ed's vocals (apart from the "Always something" part, which is cool). The problem is I dislike Ed's vocals on it so much that I find the song pretty unlistenable. If it were an instrumental I'd probably play it all the time.

I bet if Oasis took a crack at The Fixer, they could turn it into something I like.

if Ed was lower down in the mix and the song kept the live jam Lighting Bolt would probably crack my top 15 or 20.