10th album rumors and speculation

[bodysnatcher]

this is gonna be on par with Soundgarden's "Been away too long"

[dimejinky99]

Some people hit the lode in one paragraph where it takes some others pages to find a point.

I'm assuming you think you've done it in a sentence here?

Pj fans have turned into pj. Take a long time to say nothing we haven't already heard and I'd it is anything new, we don't know how to digest it.

At least pj have short spaces in between songs.

[BurtReynolds]

I feel it's important to note that Triple MMM and their DJs are generally idiots. Classic RAWK is the meat and potatoes. Music for the bogans. This endorsement doesn't fill me with excitement.

I hope this album is called Schrodinger's Cat but that wouldn't work once it was released.

heh I know what a bogan is!

[epilogue]

Yeah, like someone else already mentioned, I think the most telling thing about what this radio person said is the mention of Spin the Black Circle. At least this person was reminded of that while listening to this. That's the only substantial fragment of the thing.

[harmless]

Some people hit the lode in one paragraph where it takes some others pages to find a point.

I'm assuming you think you've done it in a sentence here?

Pj fans have turned into pj. Take a long time to say nothing we haven't already heard and I'd it is anything new, we don't know how to digest it.

At least pj have short spaces in between songs.

Your relentless cynicism is starting to jar, friend. Most of the 'negative' cynicism here is ironic fun, and no one understands it as anything more. We're still here, aren't we? If I didn't still like Pearl Jam, there are far more important places I could be than on RM.

[EJ]

Your relentless cynicism is starting to jar, friend.

mind your manners

[Strat]

Some people hit the lode in one paragraph where it takes some others pages to find a point.

I'm assuming you think you've done it in a sentence here?

Pj fans have turned into pj. Take a long time to say nothing we haven't already heard and I'd it is anything new, we don't know how to digest it.

At least pj have short spaces in between songs.

Your relentless cynicism is starting to jar, friend. Most of the 'negative' cynicism here is ironic fun, and no one understands it as anything more. We're still here, aren't we? If I didn't still like Pearl Jam, there are far more important places I could be than on RM.

really??? Do tell! i wanna go....

Laid around and played around, this whole board too long
Summer is almost gone, yea winter is coming on...
And I feel like i gotta travel on!

[dimejinky99]

You're taking it up wrong then. I'm never cynical about pj.
I will sometimes poke fun at the people who ramble on at length about them though.

[McParadigm]

You're taking it up wrong then. I'm never cynical about pj.
I will sometimes poke fun at the people who ramble on at length about them though.

tl;dr.

[E.H. Ruddock]

Just a bunch of well adjusted adults or something

[stip]

I'm just not seeing what they did on BS as being some sort of "Dylan goes electric" move, thumbing their nose at their most hardcore fans cause nobody's gonna tell them what to do. It's not that big a move (there was plenty of stuff on S/T that pointed towards what Backspacer was going to do), nor do I think they're really taking much of a stand but just trying to make glossier versions of what, overall, sound like PJ songs.

to be clear, I don't think Backspacer was written self-consciously as an experiment or an attempt to tell hardcore fans to fuck off. I think it was the record that felt right at the time (optimistic, unburdened, free), and it had them exploring elements of their writing that had always been there, but never present. Pearl Jam hasn't really done anything NEW since vitalogy, even within their own catalog (one or two exceptions aside). They have their tricks, and it's more a question of what aspects and elements they feel like highlighting, and of course the quality of the song writing.

But again, I do think Backspacer is a fairly unique record within their catalog, and plays against internal expections of what pearl jam is supposed to sound like. I don't think that was the intention. I think they made a record they wanted to amke and it happened to sound like this, but nevertheless it reflects something newish (and not something lazy, a cash grab, a mid life crisis, etc.)

[stip]

Your relentless cynicism is starting to jar, friend.

mind your manners

I enjoy this meme so much more than the fixer one.

[numbers]

Your relentless cynicism is starting to jar, friend.

mind your manners

I enjoy this meme so much more than the fixer one.

It will only truly work if the song ends up being awful.

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

Your relentless cynicism is starting to jar, friend.

mind your manners

I enjoy this meme so much more than the fixer one.

It will only truly work if the song ends up being awful.

Which is a shame cuz the song will be good

[Blenheim Augustine]

Pearl Jam hasn't really done anything NEW since vitalogy

Um, yeah, you're talking out your ass.

[stip]

like I said, there are probably a few exceptions, but since then they largely have the boundaries of their sound worked out, and each record might explore different facets of it or push different edges of it, but the sound is there (I do not intend this as a critique, btw)

what feels really new, and why?

[Thejambi]

like I said, there are probably a few exceptions, but since then they largely have the boundaries of their sound worked out, and each record might explore different facets of it or push different edges of it, but the sound is there (I do not intend this as a critique, btw)

what feels really new, and why?

I think it is less about being new and more about being unique as you described Backspacer to be. Every album has a very distinct feel, sound and approach which I think is incredible after 9 albums. What would classify as new without the band becoming something else entirely? They have had to distinctly different drummers since vitalogy, incorporates strings, ukulele , spoken word and had an organist for an entire album. We've gotten songs like strangest tribe, you are, help help, parachutes, around the bend, I'm open, who you are, mankind, red black yellow among others. The attitude and approach to Backspacer was very unique: positive, poppy, light and short. You are right that they have stayed within a range of the rock/alternative genre but the choices they have made in the song writing process are greatly varied.

[Birds in Hell]

Short cracky doesn't get me excited.

Who you are and nothing as it seems got me
Excited. That is pearl jam challenging their audience. Obviously I have not heard the song but here I am in a speculation thread so....

My initial instinct says " well they certainly have given up trying and now pj is status quo" due to the choice of a - what is most likely - pj by the numbers single release.

I'm not sure it makes sense to release a difficult song anymore, given how things have changed. your established fanbase doesn't need to be challenged by a single. They're going to get the album regardless. So if you want new people to check out your music (which is a pretty reasonable desire) and you have a limited window to grab their attention you'll want something that is immediately sticky enough to make people look again. When Who You Are or NAIS were released as singles (besides the alleged underlying desire to release difficult songs to be ornery) Pearl Jam could count on the songs being played enough to give a casual listener enough opportunities to allow a more difficult song to digest. That's not the case anymore. Pearl Jam is still enough of a musical institution that a new album will get press, and will get some initial coverage, but it is only going to get lingering coverage if the initial song catches on.

It's an unusual position to find myself in agreement with stip, but on this I am. As much I think it was great that Pearl Jam was the kind of band to introduce their new record by way of songs like Who You Are or Nothing As It Seems, I fully understand why it makes no sense for them to be that band now. Those singles only worked as statements because the wider public actually cared what the new Pearl Jam single was. Though the band don't always outwardly display a great deal of self-awareness, on this point I think they undoubtedly do - they know that the cultural cache they once held has long-since dissipated, most people simply aren't hanging out for a new Pearl Jam song. In that kind of climate, it really makes no sense to "challenge" people who already don't know or care that Pearl Jam still exist. I presume they think they may as well throw the most blatantly radio-friendly song on the record out there and see if it sticks; they really have nothing to lose.

In a move that's probably against my better judgment, I'm not preemptively expecting this new record to be totally forgettable nor do I expect it to sound exactly like Backspacer. This band has made some great music in the past and I don't doubt they could make some again so long as they want to.

[Wendy Carlos's Twin]

More Matt Cameron songs.

[Birds in Hell]

More Matt Cameron songs.

Forever.