Backspacer: Official Album Thread

[Strat]

Also, other than your admiration or distaste for Getaway, what was wrong with that performance? That seemed pretty tight.

[dimejinky99]

I'm totally confused about getaway. It's a stand out track on the album and while I haven't heard it live, It seems like it should be easy.
Doesn't seem to work though. It's not dirty enough. Bit too defined on the staccato for the guitars and not loose enough.

Or something.

[harmless]

Also, other than your admiration or distaste for Getaway, what was wrong with that performance? That seemed pretty tight.

Matt simplifies the intro to fuckery. The guitars are way down-tuned, sound sloppy, and are too clean. Ed sounds terrible, even in spite of the fact they've down-tuned it so that he should be able to sing it. He still can't.

[VinylGuy]

It needs crunchier guitars live...and they should also jam a little. Ed is lost.

But there are a good performance in leg 1.

[McParadigm]

Ed is lost.

[WaitingForBluey]

A strange thing happened to me today. I listened to Backspacer... and I think I enjoyed it.

I'm calling my therapist now. I'll keep you posted.

[WaitingForBluey]

A strange thing happened to me today. I listened to Backspacer... and I think I enjoyed it.

I'm calling my therapist now. I'll keep you posted.

However, I should add... when brother-in-law unexpectedly dropped by the house I was quick to jump off the couch and turn the volume down to an inaudible level.

[Release_Me]

Haven't listened to many live versions of Getaway but the one on the album promo video was definitely the best. The video only showed a part of the performance though. In shows, the down-tuning takes away a lot from the song. I don't even think it's one of the more difficult songs for Ed to sing off LB. However, it does leave very little time for him to breathe in between the verses and choruses. Maybe that adds to the difficulty of doing it in a live show where it's just one of many songs they perform.

[Sgt. Crackpot]

Haven't listened to many live versions of Getaway but the one on the album promo video was definitely the best. The video only showed a part of the performance though. In shows, the down-tuning takes away a lot from the song. I don't even think it's one of the more difficult songs for Ed to sing off LB. However, it does leave very little time for him to breathe in between the verses and choruses. Maybe that adds to the difficulty of doing it in a live show where it's just one of many songs they perform.

Getaway was on Backspacer?

[Release_Me]

There was a discussion going on over why it isn't that good live, if you look at the last few posts. Not the right thread for it, but still.

[LikeLukin]

Well, after listening to S/T for the first time in years last week and enjoying it way more than I thought I would, I decided to give Backspacer a go while driving in my Jeep last night. Unfortunately the results were not the same. I think I dislike Backspacer more now than I ever did. There were very few points on the album where I thought "Man, that's pretty awesome" but there were too many instances to count where I actually cringed.

As much as I dislike Lightning Bolt, it is way better than Backspacer. Hopefully we have seen and survived the trough and are on the upswing...

[stip]

happy birthday Backspacer! Someday everyone will love you for who you are.

[stip]

In honor of backspacer everyone should listen to the album and rank the songs. I'll go bump that thread to encourage you to do it.

[joostone]

01-Got Some
02-Speed of Sound
03-Johnny Guitar
04-Just Breathe
05-The Fixer
06-Gonna see my friend
07-Unthought Known
08-Force of Nature
09-Amongst the waves
10-The End
11-Supersonic

[Kalevi]

happy birthday Backspacer! Someday everyone will love you for who you are.

I dont think i will ever be able to get behind: the end, amongst the waves, supersonic, gonna see my friends, and maybe never the album version of speed of sound. Too many songs that are not endearing to me and that have no esthetic value for me to appreciate. (Speed of sound has some level of artistic value but it is ruined in the execution)

[stip]

Every pearl jam album since Vitalogy has had songs that felt like throwaways or misfires. So inconsistency is nothing new for me--though in Backspacer's case I happen to really like the vast majority of the songs.


Even songs that aren't their best almost always have worthwhile moments. That's why I've always had trouble understanding the 'everything is shit' attitude towards some recent records. It's still a collection of songs written by musicians that have written what is presumably some of your favorite music. There's almost always flashes of something in a song to make at least parts of it worth your time, and if you stay with it it can usually serve as a gateway into the song itself--the part that, years later, illuminates the whole

[VinylGuy]

It will always be a special album for me....i went to see them to ACL that tour, amazing show..Perry Farrell show up...went with my ex honey and the whole trip was amazing...and the band was in a good moment, lots of press, tv appareances...

As for the album itself, i really appreciate what they were trying to do. I dont think they entirely succedeed but most of the songs are pretty good. I dont quite like the production, but still, its a very good effort.

And i fuckin love The Fixer.

[PHATJ]

Full disclosure, I didn't listen to Backspacer today because the best songs on this album are near the middle (or maybe even the bottom half) of PJ's cannon. My favorite moment on the album is the bridge in Supersonic. It's badass. Too bad the rest of the song sucks. I kind of like the top 3-4 songs on my list, but I honestly wouldn't care if I never heard a song from Backspacer ever again.

01. Amongst the waves
02. Johnny Guitar
03. Speed of Sound
04. Force of Nature
05. The Fixer
06. The End
07. Unthought Known
08. Got Some
09. Supersonic
10. Gonna See My Friend
11. Just Breathe

[Kalevi]

Unthought known
Got some
Johnny guitar
Force of nature

Just breathe
Fixer



Gonna see my friend
Speed of sound
Amongst the waves
Supersonic
The end

Im sure this is close to the same rankings as i would have given 4 years ago.

[Tuolumne]

An album where, if it didn't exist, would make the PJ catalogue incomplete. It fulfills the years long promise that all of their fun punchy b-sides over the years made, going all the way back to dirty frank or yellow ledbetter to leaving here and leatherman. I can't imagine it not existing and their career is all the better for it. Suck on that.