Red Mosquito

You guys are all on drugs.

so?

Correction. The wrong kind of drugs. ST is like a bad mushroom trip. Backspacer is good pills.

This is a revised version of an earlier post where I called both albums equally bad.

I used to think Backspacer was a huge improvement on ST. Then some time passed and I started remembering ST more fondly. I listened to both albums recently and I think, with time, the things that used to bug me about each album have been magnified-- might have something to do with that effect I wrote about in the Global Citizen thread. Whatever the case, I really didn't get much pleasure from either album. "Parachutes" is the only song in the whole stinking heap that I unapologetically love.

Both albums are more or less equal for me as well, though my overall feeling towards them is certainly a good few levels above the "general dislike" Jorge describes. In the end I don't reach for either album very often, but then, I don't reach for "No Code" all that often either -- certain PJ albums feel very easy to place for me ("Yield" at the top, "LB" at the bottom, for instance), but after that they all sort of just have their place in that vague, generalized "albums by my favorite band" sort of way. I don't know. Rankings are fleeting.

dimejinky99 wrote:Correction. The wrong kind of drugs. ST is like a bad mushroom trip. Backspacer is good pills.

Both are like ass cancer.

theplatypus wrote:This is a revised version of an earlier post where I called both albums equally bad.

I used to think Backspacer was a huge improvement on ST. Then some time passed and I started remembering ST more fondly. I listened to both albums recently and I think, with time, the things that used to bug me about each album have been magnified-- might have something to do with that effect I wrote about in the Global Citizen thread. Whatever the case, I really didn't get much pleasure from either album. "Parachutes" is the only song in the whole stinking heap that I unapologetically love.

This is how I feel when I hear a Riot Act song, but Avocado has had the opposite evolution for me, maybe because I don't listen to the albums that often. It's either PJ Radio or bootlegs and I think the ST songs are still done pretty well live unlike the RA or BS songs.

It's almost like the band grew up but we didn't grow up with them.

Right ideas, too specific examples. For example, I think red dot breaks Yield up so I don't think every song is perfect but I like sleeping by myself. It's exactly the song I shouldn't like. I should be lamenting the fact that the 1st album with no real tear jerkers seemingly has love songs instead and this should be a classic example. However, for the tune alone it's now my favourite on the album. The brolos make me think of being in a massive city park on a clear summers day and the way they get wrapped up makes me think of being in an empty indoor stadium (something quintesentially American for me as we don't tend to have them). Maybe I'm missing the point and they are only intended as examples but on the other hand, maybe the vagueness of that is the author covering their arse so no matter what you say they have a get out of jail free card...

Unemployable alone makes S/T a better album than Backspacer.

tragabigzanda wrote:If their only release since 2006 had been a 3-song EP featuring The Fixer, Unemployable, and Army Reserve, I'd say this had been their best decade yet.

And you'd be an idiot.

Kevin Davis wrote:Both albums are more or less equal for me as well, though my overall feeling towards them is certainly a good few levels above the "general dislike" Jorg describes. In the end I don't reach for either album very often, but then, I don't reach for "No Code" all that often either -- certain PJ albums feel very easy to place for me ("Yield" at the top, "LB" at the bottom, for instance), but after that they all sort of just have their place in that vague, generalized "albums by my favorite band" sort of way. I don't know. Rankings are fleeting.

I reach for LB way more than I reach for BS or ST or even No Code (though ST and No Code are clearly better records). I genuinely like LB whereas BS has actually gotten worse for me over the years. I used to like it a lot more. Maybe the same will happen with LB, though I doubt it. It's been far more interesting to me from first listen. I actively like that record.

tragabigzanda wrote:If their only release since 2006 had been a 3-song EP featuring The Fixer, Unemployable, and Army Reserve, I'd say this had been their best decade yet.

Unemployable is the best. I wish they played it more.

theplatypus wrote:This is a revised version of an earlier post where I called both albums equally bad.

I used to think Backspacer was a huge improvement on ST. Then some time passed and I started remembering ST more fondly. I listened to both albums recently and I think, with time, the things that used to bug me about each album have been magnified-- might have something to do with that effect I wrote about in the Global Citizen thread. Whatever the case, I really didn't get much pleasure from either album. "Parachutes" is the only song in the whole stinking heap that I unapologetically love.

I've said before that more than anything Eddie's voice defined pearl jam. The way he sang changed from the Ten/Vs days and they lost a lot of fans. It changed again (not by design) as he's aged, and that can make it hard to stay with them. I continue to believe that a lot of the issues people have with the band is not the songwriting, or the things they say/do. It's the fact that ed's voice changed - and with it your experience of what pearl jam' music is and how it makes you feel. He can't do what he used to do. It is what it is. I still think he sounds really good on the studio albums, and the live experience is still amazing (though not necessarily listening to a live recording). The rest of the crap we bitch about is the baggage that follows along - resentment at the fact that things are different or alternative explanations that enable one to avoid having to accept that the pearl jam you once loved may never come back, other than in fits and starts.

Im annoyed at how eddie sounds -> I don't really like Pearl Jam much anymore -> I hate how they write songs/mail it in/don't care/are hypocrites/PMRAG, etc.

instead we usually flip it.

I hate how they write songs/mail it in/don't care/are hypocrites/PMRAG, etc. - > I'm annoyed at how eddie sounds -> I don't really like Pearl Jam much anymore -> I

the above post making me, for the day at least, the worst pearl jam fan you know

stip wrote:the above post making me, for the day at least, the worst pearl jam fan you know

Stip's true self is surflacing

When you realise Come Back and More than you know are basically the same song...

durdencommatyler wrote:

Kevin Davis wrote:Both albums are more or less equal for me as well, though my overall feeling towards them is certainly a good few levels above the "general dislike" Jorg describes. In the end I don't reach for either album very often, but then, I don't reach for "No Code" all that often either -- certain PJ albums feel very easy to place for me ("Yield" at the top, "LB" at the bottom, for instance), but after that they all sort of just have their place in that vague, generalized "albums by my favorite band" sort of way. I don't know. Rankings are fleeting.

I reach for LB way more than I reach for BS or ST or even No Code (though ST and No Code are clearly better records). I genuinely like LB whereas BS has actually gotten worse for me over the years. I used to like it a lot more. Maybe the same will happen with LB, though I doubt it. It's been far more interesting to me from first listen. I actively like that record.

I can see where one would prefer "LB," I just personally have no connection to it at all. Plus it has more PJ songs that I just flat out fucking hate than any of their other albums.

For all its weaknesses, some of the songs on "Backspacer" at least struck a chord with me personally.