Backspacer: Official Album Thread

[stip]

I just love this album. I couldn't tell you where it will stack up years from now (and it needs to not be the 'new' one and songs need time to age before I can be sure, but it is entirely possible when all is said and done this will be my 4th (probably where I rank it now) or even 3rd favorite Pearl Jam record. I can't even imagine them ever producing an album at this point I like more than Ten or Vitalogy but this still remains, 3 and a half years after the fact, the pearl jam album I listen to the most these days.


GSMF, Johnny Guitar, The Fixer, Just Breathe, Force of Nature, and The End are all just below the very top tier of pearl jam songs for me (I might even put Force of Nature in there). There are days I think Got Some is just as good as those songs. While Unthought Known and Amongst the Waves are not great, there are parts of both songs I love (the verses in Amongst the Waves, which I think are top notch, and the way UK starts to build after the first two verses, the gems and rhinestones verse, the 'no one's rival' verse. I was not super enamored with the demo of speed of sound (although I think it's probably better) but I think there is a good song underneath an overly busy presentation. Really supersonic is the only song I could care less about.



4-5 Star songs on every album


Vitalogy: 10/10 (every one of the formal 'songs')
Ten: 9/11 (everything but deep and release)

Vs 6/12: go, animal, daughter, rearview mirror, small town, indifference
No Code: 5/13 (hail hail, in my tree, red mosquito, present tense, who you are--that's a new one for me. it's grown on me in the last few years)
Yield: 4/13 (Brain of J, Given To Fly, Wishlist, Do the Evolution)--some days I'd put ATY in there
Binaural: 5/13 (NAIS, Insignificance, Grievance, Rival, Parting Ways)--but the songs I don't care for on this album drag it down
Riot Act: 3/15 (Can't Keep, Save You, I am Mine)
S/T: 5/13 (Life Wasted, WWS, Comatose, Parachutes, Come Back)
Backspacer: (6/11): GSMF, Fixer, Johnny Guitar, Just Breathe, Force of Nature, The End)


Yeah, although the high spots on Yield, Vs, and S/T are higher for me than the high spots on Backspacer, in terms of how many songs I just really love listening to Backspacer is really high up there.




I went through my 'pearl jam is in decline' phase from 1996-2006. These last 7 years have been like a second honeymoon. I just wish they were making more music.

I pretty much agree with your thoughts on Backspacer..is such a unique and different album yet its 100% pearl jam.
It seems they took their idea of rocking out with a different approach than the previous one, but there were hints of this sound in avocado too ( Unemployable).
What is impossible for me is just to think this one can be their third best record..there is no way this record is better than Vs or Yield or Binaural, just to name a few.

I agree that is way more focused than RA.

If every PJ record sounded like Backspacer it would lose its charm very quickly, but this is a refreshingly unencumbered (without being simplistic) set of songs that fills a much needed niche in their catalog.


Vs. has always been my second or third favorite album, and probably always will be. The high spots on Vs. just beat the crap out of the high spots on almost any other pearl jam album, and even the songs that i've grown a little bored with after 20 years are still pretty good. It's hard to say if in 20 years I'll just enjoy the mid tier tracks on Backspacer more than the ones on Vs. I might, but probably not.


Binaural, like Backspacer, lacks any truly top tier songs for me. In the end even the songs I really like are a little ponderous (Binaural, like Riot Act, sometimes feels exhausting to listen to), and Binaural has a fairly sizeable chunk of songs I just don't care about. It also lacks an unbroken string of great songs (for me) to elevate the album. Both Backspacer and S/T have excellent A sides, for instance, which elevates the album as a whole.

The high points on Yield beat the high points on backspacer (Brain of J, Wishlist, GTF, and DTE are going to beat out any 4 songs on Backspacer, probably by quite a bit). But there are just not enough songs on that album I love. Yield has not aged well for me in that there are too many songs I think are pretty good, but not great, and a few I just cannot seem to get into. It's not that there are bad songs. it's just that a lot of songs that for other people elevate the album (faithful, no way, in hiding, low light, etc) i just think are kind of there. I probably enjoy Amongst the Waves or UK more than any of those, for instance. And I've really tried to get into all those songs over the years. I'm just not impressed by them.

[Birds in Hell]

It's not that there are bad songs. it's just that a lot of songs that for other people elevate the album (faithful, no way, in hiding, low light, etc) i just think are kind of there. I probably enjoy Amongst the Waves or UK more than any of those, for instance.

You'd think I'd have stopped reacting by now when stip says things like this, but no.

[Norah]

It's not that there are bad songs. it's just that a lot of songs that for other people elevate the album (faithful, no way, in hiding, low light, etc) i just think are kind of there. I probably enjoy Amongst the Waves or UK more than any of those, for instance.

You'd think I'd have stopped reacting by now when stip says things like this, but no.

It's just baffling.

[Birds in Hell]

It's not that there are bad songs. it's just that a lot of songs that for other people elevate the album (faithful, no way, in hiding, low light, etc) i just think are kind of there. I probably enjoy Amongst the Waves or UK more than any of those, for instance.

You'd think I'd have stopped reacting by now when stip says things like this, but no.

It's just baffling.

It really is.

[VinylGuy]

just Listened to GSMF, Got Some and The Fixer, and thats a great first run of songs right there...The final moments in Got Some are amazing.

[stip]

they are. Musically that one is top notch

[VinylGuy]

they are. Musically that one is top notch

yeah, it remind me of some classic moments in their catalog like Faithfull or Insignificance..not saying its that good, but at the end you hear the band fucking rocking out like crazy...its amazing.

[dprival78]

I really wish that eddie would've put more effort into got some. it really does rock, but the throw away lyrics keep it from being great.

[VinylGuy]

I really wish that eddie would've put more effort into got some. it really does rock, but the throw away lyrics keep it from being great.

yeah they lyrics arent great, they are not bad either...they are trying to be fun and still have a little comment.

[verb_to_trust]

It's not that there are bad songs. it's just that a lot of songs that for other people elevate the album (faithful, no way, in hiding, low light, etc) i just think are kind of there. I probably enjoy Amongst the Waves or UK more than any of those, for instance.

You'd think I'd have stopped reacting by now when stip says things like this, but no.

It's just baffling.

It really is.

It almost reads like well written trolling. I guess that's one of the things that makes this band unique though. I doubt AC/DC fans argue much about stuff like this...the music is too samey.

[Jorge]

cue spenno

[stip]

they're bad, but it's a fast song that moves past them so you don't notice

[Birds in Hell]

cue spenno

[dprival78]

the mix on got some disappointed me a bit too.. mainly in the way mike is pretty much buried. in the conan performance, mike was out front much more and i thought his tone was sick - particularly through through the outro.

mike's got some great sleater-kinney-esque stuff going on in this tune, and i don't know why BoB didn't showcase it more.

[zatara]

In my opinion Backspacer is a part of a deliberate change of commercial strategy which culminated with PJ20.
The decision for stepping into the third decade as a successful grateful festival arena band, amongst reissues, interviews, ridiculous videos etc needed also an easy listening album without political references. Backspacer for me is the obvious way of how the band and its management is targeting the general audience (fixer, just breathe, amongst the waves),those who are aware of pearl jam (unknown thought, force of nature, the end), themselves (johnny guitar, speed of sound, supersonic) and how ultimately is throwing a bone to the rest (got some, gonna see my friend).
"...I'll stop trying to make a difference, no way" so the rest we can depend and wait to be targeted again by that strategy which gives better albums.

[stip]

I don't think Backspacer is a depoliticized album for the reasons you lay out here. Eddie spoke in early 2009 in the era of post election optimism how the world felt different and it was all going to be okay. It's more that there was (for a time) a sense that there was no need to write political songs after the last two records.

[zatara]

I don't think Backspacer is a depoliticized album for the reasons you lay out here. Eddie spoke in early 2009 in the era of post election optimism how the world felt different and it was all going to be okay. It's more that there was (for a time) a sense that there was no need to write political songs after the last two records.

I agree and I am aware of that era, even people from outside the U.S.A, like us, who are standing in the far far left became somehow optimistic and appreciated the election's result.
I also believe that all their albums until backspacer were political. But I think the band "legalized" and developed its new commercial strategy also as a product of the environment of that time. The less need to remain political the easiest to present themselves differently.

[stip]

I don't think Backspacer is a depoliticized album for the reasons you lay out here. Eddie spoke in early 2009 in the era of post election optimism how the world felt different and it was all going to be okay. It's more that there was (for a time) a sense that there was no need to write political songs after the last two records.

I agree and I am aware of that era, even people from outside the U.S.A, like us, who are standing in the far far left became somehow optimistic and appreciated the election's result.
I also believe that all their albums until backspacer were political. But I think the band "legalized" and developed its new commercial strategy also as a product of the environment of that time. The less need to remain political the easiest to present themselves differently.

Is it? Hating republicans is probably not going to cost PJ many record sales.

[zatara]

I don't think Backspacer is a depoliticized album for the reasons you lay out here. Eddie spoke in early 2009 in the era of post election optimism how the world felt different and it was all going to be okay. It's more that there was (for a time) a sense that there was no need to write political songs after the last two records.

I agree and I am aware of that era, even people from outside the U.S.A, like us, who are standing in the far far left became somehow optimistic and appreciated the election's result.
I also believe that all their albums until backspacer were political. But I think the band "legalized" and developed its new commercial strategy also as a product of the environment of that time. The less need to remain political the easiest to present themselves differently.

Is it? Hating republicans is probably not going to cost PJ many record sales.

Correct! But backspacer brought more average democrats closer.

[liebzz]

This album floated in the middle of PJ records for me when it was new, but now that the new album smell is gone, it falls into the bottom of the pile. Part of it is the length, and part of it is the songs themselves. They are all mostly fine, except the combination of those two leaves me nothing to grab on to and take hold of me like Pearl Jam albums do. It's just sorta there - a good collection of songs I believe the band was inspired to create in a very quick timeframe (hence the sort of unencombered feel) - but like the process itself, I feel like once the lightning stopped flashing in this bottle, there wasn't much left underneath to give it the emotional heft of any of their other albums.