Red Mosquito

At least I have the impression that they really care about their 10th album. Sure, they have taken their time and have done dozens of side projects but on the other hand they have been working for this album for a long time: Since 2010/2011 there have been various recording sessions. Other albums were finished very quickly. My theory is that they could have already released the album in 2011/2012 if they had wanted. But instead they decided not to take the Backspacer-Approach ("it all came together really quickly...we dont think too much...blablabla") and do some more recording to achieve a higher quality. This is an optimistic interpretation but it fits to some Vedder quotes from 2011.

that would be a whole lot better then the thought that they just dont care enough about PJ to work on a PJ album, so i hope you are right

Maybe it`s both. On the one hand they dont have the focus that they once had and are all doing their own stuff. On the other hand they dont want to release something as a Pearl Jam album when they are not completely convinced of it.

SpectorHD wrote:Maybe it`s both. On the one hand they dont have the focus that they once had and are all doing their own stuff. On the other hand they dont want to release something as a Pearl Jam album when they are not completely convinced of it.

I think it's this.

Thejambi wrote:

stip wrote: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.

fair enough--I certainly agree that each album is unique--they tend to explore a different aspect of their sound each time out. But Pearl Jam has not been (nor do I expect them to be) a band that has had the variety in sound and style throughout their career like REM, Radiohead, or U2--to pick 3 of their peers.

Which is totally fine. Radical change is neither good nor bad for me. It all comes down to whether or not the songs are good.

Birds in Hell wrote:

Wendy Carlos's Twin wrote:More Matt Cameron songs.

Forever.

I could do with another Fixer!

harmless wrote:

SpectorHD wrote:Maybe it`s both. On the one hand they dont have the focus that they once had and are all doing their own stuff. On the other hand they dont want to release something as a Pearl Jam album when they are not completely convinced of it.

I think it's this.

If I ever got to ask the band a question in an interview I would love to know how the proliferation of side projects impacts the band. Are the side projects a response to an inactive pearl jam? Or does it reflect poor scheduling and/or a desire to not step on other people's toes. Do these feed off each other?

i.e.--they lose matt for a while for soundgarden, so eddie releases his uke album and prepares to go on tour. Matt is back but eddie got hurt so he has to delay his tour. While that is happening Stone records some stuff. Eddie is good to go but do they pull the plug on whatever stone is doing. Pearl jam is more important, but who is going to be the dick who says 'you don't get to do your solo thing because everyone else is ready to go.'

I'd like to hope it is that.

i just want to hope it is everything other then them not wanting to be pearl jam anymore, if they have plans to record and tour for the next 10 to 20 years, then im fine with the long wait between albums, but i dont wanna have waited 4 years for a new album because they arent really interested in doing music as the band, only to have them officially call it quits not long after for the same reason. i would love to think there are 4 or 5 more albums at least in them after this one, even if there are 10 ed albums, 10 different bands of jeffs releasing albums, a brad album or 2 and another stone solo album, and various other stuff in between, but im not ready to have just all the side projects and no actual PJ music

stip wrote: If I ever got to ask the band a question in an interview I would love to know how the proliferation of side projects impacts the band

"Well it's a bit like... choosing different boards for different types of waves. Every wave is different. Same as songs. Some boards work great with some waves. Some don't. So you shop them around. Internally. You start thinking of what works for this particular combination of... words and music. For small but punchy waves, you use a groveler or... a hybrid board. When you've got decent waves that are rolling, you go with a longboard, you know? When they're large and pitching, you use a tow board. And on and on. Every wave is a new experience. Boy, I love waves. I'd fuck a wave. Would you fuck a wave? I mean, if you were another wave. Would you fuck a wave if you were another wave? That's what I meant. I'm not some pervert who goes in the ocean and has sex with waves. Jesus. What kind of a freak do you think I am, anyway?"
- Eddie Vedder, Esquire Magazine, 9/10/09

theplatypus wrote:

stip wrote: If I ever got to ask the band a question in an interview I would love to know how the proliferation of side projects impacts the band

"Well it's a bit like... choosing different boards for different types of waves. Every wave is different. Same as songs. Some boards work great with some waves. Some don't. So you shop them around. Internally. You start thinking of what works for this particular combination of... words and music. For small but punchy waves, you use a groveler or... a hybrid board. When you've got decent waves that are rolling, you go with a longboard, you know? When they're large and pitching, you use a tow board. And on and on. Every wave is a new experience. Boy, I love waves. I'd fuck a wave. Would you fuck a wave? I mean, if you were another wave. Would you fuck a wave if you were another wave? That's what I meant. I'm not some pervert who goes in the ocean and has sex with waves. Jesus. What kind of a freak do you think I am, anyway?"
- Eddie Vedder, Esquire Magazine, 9/10/09

damn

stip wrote:

harmless wrote:

SpectorHD wrote:Maybe it`s both. On the one hand they dont have the focus that they once had and are all doing their own stuff. On the other hand they dont want to release something as a Pearl Jam album when they are not completely convinced of it.

I think it's this.

If I ever got to ask the band a question in an interview I would love to know how the proliferation of side projects impacts the band. Are the side projects a response to an inactive pearl jam? Or does it reflect poor scheduling and/or a desire to not step on other people's toes. Do these feed off each other?

i.e.--they lose matt for a while for soundgarden, so eddie releases his uke album and prepares to go on tour. Matt is back but eddie got hurt so he has to delay his tour. While that is happening Stone records some stuff. Eddie is good to go but do they pull the plug on whatever stone is doing. Pearl jam is more important, but who is going to be the dick who says 'you don't get to do your solo thing because everyone else is ready to go.'

I'd like to hope it is that.

This is a reasonable assumption.

I would guess that Ed's injury had more to do with the delay between albums than anything else. Snowball effect.

theplatypus wrote:

stip wrote: If I ever got to ask the band a question in an interview I would love to know how the proliferation of side projects impacts the band

"Well it's a bit like... choosing different boards for different types of waves. Every wave is different. Same as songs. Some boards work great with some waves. Some don't. So you shop them around. Internally. You start thinking of what works for this particular combination of... words and music. For small but punchy waves, you use a groveler or... a hybrid board. When you've got decent waves that are rolling, you go with a longboard, you know? When they're large and pitching, you use a tow board. And on and on. Every wave is a new experience. Boy, I love waves. I'd fuck a wave. Would you fuck a wave? I mean, if you were another wave. Would you fuck a wave if you were another wave? That's what I meant. I'm not some pervert who goes in the ocean and has sex with waves. Jesus. What kind of a freak do you think I am, anyway?"
- Eddie Vedder, Esquire Magazine, 9/10/09

bravo

stip wrote:
If I ever got to ask the band a question in an interview I would love to know how the proliferation of side projects impacts the band. Are the side projects a response to an inactive pearl jam? Or does it reflect poor scheduling and/or a desire to not step on other people's toes. Do these feed off each other?

i.e.--they lose matt for a while for soundgarden, so eddie releases his uke album and prepares to go on tour. Matt is back but eddie got hurt so he has to delay his tour. While that is happening Stone records some stuff. Eddie is good to go but do they pull the plug on whatever stone is doing. Pearl jam is more important, but who is going to be the dick who says 'you don't get to do your solo thing because everyone else is ready to go.'

I'd like to hope it is that.

I don't know about this; to use Jeff as an example (simply because he seems to, overall, be the guy working the most)...he gets tired of PJ sitting on its' ass for the third year running and gets some stuff together to work on. If I was him, I'm not sure how kindly I'd take to being told that that has to shut down cause the other four members of the band finally got their act together. And even though I'd prefer more PJ, I think he'd be perfectly justified in saying no way to that idea.

Edit

digster wrote:

stip wrote:
If I ever got to ask the band a question in an interview I would love to know how the proliferation of side projects impacts the band. Are the side projects a response to an inactive pearl jam? Or does it reflect poor scheduling and/or a desire to not step on other people's toes. Do these feed off each other?

i.e.--they lose matt for a while for soundgarden, so eddie releases his uke album and prepares to go on tour. Matt is back but eddie got hurt so he has to delay his tour. While that is happening Stone records some stuff. Eddie is good to go but do they pull the plug on whatever stone is doing. Pearl jam is more important, but who is going to be the dick who says 'you don't get to do your solo thing because everyone else is ready to go.'

I'd like to hope it is that.

I don't know about this; to use Jeff as an example (simply because he seems to, overall, be the guy working the most)...he gets tired of PJ sitting on its' ass for the third year running and gets some stuff together to work on. If I was him, I'm not sure how kindly I'd take to being told that that has to shut down cause the other four members of the band finally got their act together. And even though I'd prefer more PJ, I think he'd be perfectly justified in saying no way to that idea.

Aren't we agreeing with each other here?

stip wrote:

theplatypus wrote:

stip wrote: If I ever got to ask the band a question in an interview I would love to know how the proliferation of side projects impacts the band

"Well it's a bit like... choosing different boards for different types of waves. Every wave is different. Same as songs. Some boards work great with some waves. Some don't. So you shop them around. Internally. You start thinking of what works for this particular combination of... words and music. For small but punchy waves, you use a groveler or... a hybrid board. When you've got decent waves that are rolling, you go with a longboard, you know? When they're large and pitching, you use a tow board. And on and on. Every wave is a new experience. Boy, I love waves. I'd fuck a wave. Would you fuck a wave? I mean, if you were another wave. Would you fuck a wave if you were another wave? That's what I meant. I'm not some pervert who goes in the ocean and has sex with waves. Jesus. What kind of a freak do you think I am, anyway?"
- Eddie Vedder, Esquire Magazine, 9/10/09

bravo

Don't.

PJMosquito wrote:Pearl Jam- Tides (Release Date: October 8th, 2013)

1. Revolution Reruns (3:36)
2. Kickstop (2:14)
3. Vivid Futures (3:58)
4. Mind Your Manners (3:08)
5. The Undertow (4:04)
6. Red (3:23)
7. Of The Earth (6:15)
8. Tracking Change (4:21)
9. Uncharted Terrain (3:59)
10. Foliage (2:16)
11. Derision (3:32)
12. Sans Finis (7:12)

Oh, okay, good.

All the sideprojects wouldnt be so frustrating if they were good. To me Pearl Jam is a perfect example of a band where everybody (maybe except for Matt) depends on each other. They are not a group of musical masterminds (again: maybe except for Matt) but together they make some incredible music. Stone for example: He is a great, groovy sometimes weird guitarplayer. But he needs a voice like Eddie`s to compose outstanding songs. I like some songs of Bayleaf or Moonlander. But I dont genuinely enjoy them. It`s more something like respect. Or Mike: a technically good guitarplayer. But he needs a bit of Stone`s weirdness as a basis in order not to become boring. And even Eddie: Although I like Into The Wild and Ukulele Songs I`m not 100% convinced that he is able to go the singer/songwriter route. I cant see him releasing 2 or 3 more records that dont sound like ITW or Uke Songs.

stip wrote:

digster wrote:

stip wrote:
If I ever got to ask the band a question in an interview I would love to know how the proliferation of side projects impacts the band. Are the side projects a response to an inactive pearl jam? Or does it reflect poor scheduling and/or a desire to not step on other people's toes. Do these feed off each other?

i.e.--they lose matt for a while for soundgarden, so eddie releases his uke album and prepares to go on tour. Matt is back but eddie got hurt so he has to delay his tour. While that is happening Stone records some stuff. Eddie is good to go but do they pull the plug on whatever stone is doing. Pearl jam is more important, but who is going to be the dick who says 'you don't get to do your solo thing because everyone else is ready to go.'

I'd like to hope it is that.

I don't know about this; to use Jeff as an example (simply because he seems to, overall, be the guy working the most)...he gets tired of PJ sitting on its' ass for the third year running and gets some stuff together to work on. If I was him, I'm not sure how kindly I'd take to being told that that has to shut down cause the other four members of the band finally got their act together. And even though I'd prefer more PJ, I think he'd be perfectly justified in saying no way to that idea.

Aren't we agreeing with each other here?

Unless I'm reading wrong (very possible), I don't think Jeff or whoever should be in a position where they have to drop whatever they're doing, something that they may be inspired by, because it took Pearl Jam so long to get off its' ass. Selfishly, I guess I'd want that to happen because none of the side projects have really bowled me over, but looking at it from any individual member of the band's perspective, I'd be pretty pissed if I was expected to curtail what I was doing because everyone else decided to stop being lazy.

PJMosquito wrote:Pearl Jam- Tides (Release Date: October 8th, 2013)

1. Revolution Reruns (3:36)
2. Kickstop (2:14)
3. Vivid Futures (3:58)
4. Mind Your Manners (3:08)
5. The Undertow (4:04)
6. Red (3:23)
7. Of The Earth (6:15)
8. Tracking Change (4:21)
9. Uncharted Terrain (3:59)
10. Foliage (2:16)
11. Derision (3:32)
12. Sans Finis (7:12)

Looks legit to me