General Pearl Jam Bitching

[bodysnatcher]

From what I gathered in a few interviews, a lot of Jeff's material came from stuff that PJ discarded (or material he knew wouldn't work with them). So maybe sometimes, the material that is used in solo work are songs that PJ gets to try first but doesn't want.

[washing machine]

I think of it like this; this is a band made up of musicians who are being guided away by five different horses into exciting new territories, and if this band were ever to come back to the main camp and contribute 100% of what they each discovered, the music would just sound like a mash-up of incompatible styles. It'd be better for everyone listening if they went further and further down those mysterious paths and never returned.

[Strat]

Dont spook the horse.

[verb_to_trust]

That RNDM album took what, 6 days to write? The new album is going on year 4. That really says it all in my opinion.

[epilogue]

Eh. They're all busy. Whatever. It doesn't matter how long it takes as long as it's good.

[verb_to_trust]

I agree. I don't need a new Pearl Jam album every year or even two years, but if we wait four for another Backspacer that is going to be rough. One would think they are feeling at least a little pressure to make this one something the fanbase is willing to rally around.

[Wendy Carlos's Twin]

I'm looking forward to another broken xmas single. Hooray for thin envelopes!

[E.H. Ruddock]

I guess I'll have to say it on this new board. This next album of Pearl Jam's will be their last.

[harmless]

Eh. They're all busy. Whatever. It doesn't matter how long it takes as long as it's good.

I like your thinking.

But it's the 'as long as it's good' thing. If I trusted them to make better work after more time these days, I'd be looking forward to something awesome.

[numbers]

I guess I'll have to say it on this new board. This next album of Pearl Jam's will be their last.

I think I'm with you on this.

[McParadigm]

I guess I'll have to say it on this new board. This next album of Pearl Jam's will be their last.

I think I'm with you on this.

It's not a huge leap to make. Ed is about as old right now as Pete was when he made Psychoderelict, or Roger Waters was when he made Amused to Death. He's only like 4 years younger than Bono. Getting started late means that Pearl Jam are going to have a lot less of that reunion/blockbuster tour/rock royalty phase.

Shit...even the Stones only had 3 records left in them by 48. Old age doesn't treat bands as well as it does solo artists.

[E.H. Ruddock]

Is this the 10C sucks thread too or do we not have one yet?

[bodysnatcher]

That RNDM album took what, 6 days to write? The new album is going on year 4. That really says it all in my opinion.

Eh, not too fair of a comparison. The first album of a probably one-off band of friends slapping some songs together for fun or epxerimentation, versus a band of 20+ years that's sold millions upon millions of albums with millions upon millions of fans to please.

[Birds in Hell]

That RNDM album took what, 6 days to write? The new album is going on year 4. That really says it all in my opinion.

Eh, not too fair of a comparison. The first album of a probably one-off band of friends slapping some songs together for fun or epxerimentation, versus a band of 20+ years that's sold millions upon millions of albums with millions upon millions of fans to please.

I'd much prefer Pearl Jam make records with the former attitude than the latter.

[stip]

aren't you also complaining there's no way they can make a good album if they just sit down for short recording sessions? Or is that someone else?

[Birds in Hell]

In a way - it was more that short recording sessions spread out over four or five years (with no direction or results apparently forthcoming) don't bode well for any artist trying to maintain some kind of creative momentum.

I think that's a different (though not entirely unrelated) issue to the headspace in which recording and writing is approached, which is what I was commenting on here.

[stip]

i don't know--it seems to me like the former could just the approach of the later played out over time. What is the difference?

[Birds in Hell]

An approach where they just experiment and have fun bouncing musical ideas off one another, free of whether or not it has to sound like (or even be) a "Pearl Jam record", doesn't necessarily imply a brief or lengthy recording process.

I think you're getting too hung up on the "recorded in six days" comment, which I didn't intend to be taken as part of what I was responding to. I was only commenting on the juxtaposition between having fun and experimenting on the one hand and feeling as though they had to make a record that won't confuse their existing fanbase on the other.

[verb_to_trust]

Don't these guys just essentially work on each others demos nowadays? I don't think they approach recording in the way you are referencing. Off the top of my head I can remember Save You and Down from Riot Act being the product of the band in the same room jamming. That was a long time ago...

[Birds in Hell]

Wait, who are you disagreeing with?