Backspacer vs Avocado

pdalowsky

DewieCox wrote:

pdalowsky wrote:

yep backspacer is awesome

i like Advocado - it contains one of my fave Pj moments - top 3 song even.

But BS is just so consistant whereas advocado wasnt quite as cohesive.

I will agree that BS is probably their most consistent album. It's consistently average.

Every other album seemingly has so much more thought out into the music and arrangements.

every one has their view I guess, i enjoy it, and to me thats all that is important.

Worrying for a few though Backspacer is an album they are immensely proud of. Mike was only saying the other day on facebook how its his favourite.

slightofjeff

Suziemay wrote:

slightofjeff wrote:

manutd3581 wrote:

Avocado, hands down. I cannot see how Pearl Jam fans think that Backspacer is better! I just cant, Im sorry.

There's this thing called taste, and another thing called opinions. Some people like vanilla ice cream, some people prefer chocolate.

I love vanilla ice cream. I'm sorry but folks who prefer chocolate need to get their tastebuds checked. Sorry, I could not resist

Back to the original post.. I prefer Avocado. Lyrics more thoughtful and more nuances to the songs. I agree with another poster about Just Breathe and The End. Can't stand either one, they are up there with Last Kiss in terms of songs I'd prefer not to hear at a concert and yet I've heard them so many times that I can probably sing them in my sleep :shock:

I will say the one thing I do appreciate about Backspacer is when the boys sing The Fixer and it comes to the part where it goes "yea yea yea", I love seeing Mike, Jeff, Ed and Stone all lined up at the microphones.

I tend to gravitate more toward singer/songwriter stuff these days. I'm kind of over the part of my life where everything just has to RAWK!

Some of my favorite moments at a PJ show are when Ed does a solo pre-set, or the occasions when he'll come out alone before an encore and play a cover by himself.

So, Just Breathe and The End are two of my favorite songs on any album. They're kind of right in my wheelhouse at this point in my life.

Speed of Sound, too ... though, naturally, I tend to lean toward the demo version.

AtlantaJammer

Love the band obviously.... But, I can't stand ANYTHING off Backspacer. That album sucks. Avacado is pretty good. Still somewhere near the bottom for me though. I hope they are done promoting Backspacer this upcoming tour. Need to make some room for some older stuff that doesn't get played much these days. Also, would like to hear some stuff off the new album for sure. Of The Earth!! That song is fucking awesome.

slightofjeff

AtlantaJammer wrote:

Love the band obviously.... But, I can't stand ANYTHING off Backspacer. That album sucks.

Wow. That just floors me. In the end, Pearl Jam is Pearl Jam, and every Pearl Jam album has merit. To me, at least.

shadowcast

slightofjeff wrote:

boyo79 wrote:

DewieCox wrote:

I would expect the lyrics from UK to be written by Brandon Boyd of Incubus.....just generic as it gets.

You're spot on there. Everytime I hear the 'gems and rhinestones' bit I always think of Incubus' "Diamonds And Coals"

I think you guys are getting too fixated on three words. It's just a poetic way of saying "stars."

I was thinking the same thing. Oh literal fans.

AtlantaJammer

slightofjeff wrote:

AtlantaJammer wrote:

Love the band obviously.... But, I can't stand ANYTHING off Backspacer. That album sucks.

Wow. That just floors me. In the end, Pearl Jam is Pearl Jam, and every Pearl Jam album has merit. To me, at least.

Just my opinion. I can see why the females like it for sure. And I don't judge anyone for liking BS. Just can't stand the ENTIRE album...

White Discussion

Love Avocado so it wins for me

Suziemay

slightofjeff wrote:

Suziemay wrote:

I love vanilla ice cream. I'm sorry but folks who prefer chocolate need to get their tastebuds checked. Sorry, I could not resist

Back to the original post.. I prefer Avocado. Lyrics more thoughtful and more nuances to the songs. I agree with another poster about Just Breathe and The End. Can't stand either one, they are up there with Last Kiss in terms of songs I'd prefer not to hear at a concert and yet I've heard them so many times that I can probably sing them in my sleep :shock:

I will say the one thing I do appreciate about Backspacer is when the boys sing The Fixer and it comes to the part where it goes "yea yea yea", I love seeing Mike, Jeff, Ed and Stone all lined up at the microphones.

I tend to gravitate more toward singer/songwriter stuff these days. I'm kind of over the part of my life where everything just has to RAWK!

Some of my favorite moments at a PJ show are when Ed does a solo pre-set, or the occasions when he'll come out alone before an encore and play a cover by himself.

So, Just Breathe and The End are two of my favorite songs on any album. They're kind of right in my wheelhouse at this point in my life.

Speed of Sound, too ... though, naturally, I tend to lean toward the demo version.

Uh-oh, I think this means we can't be friends :shock: Like you said, matter of taste. I do appreciate slower, more lyrical songs from time to time, for some reason Just Breathe and The End don't do it for me. I LOVE Long Road, and bawl everytime I hear Black. And acoustic Everlong by the Foo (but I know, wrong board).

mcameronrocks

I would have to vote Avocado. It was a return to rock for PJ to me. After Riot Act(which I am not a hater, but is my least favorite album) this is exactly what I was hoping for from the fellas.

LIfe Wasted, WWS, Severed Hand(the best track on the album and INCREDIBLE live), Unemployable, Inside Job, Comatose, Marker, Big Wave Gone. The only track I am not interested in is Parachutes(and Im a big Beatles fan too!!). This is one of their heaviest records. I have always preferred the boys pissed off(great time for a VS. reference) and with all of the external pressures in the world at the time, this record pissed them off....

dr0ptheleash

Self Titled wins by a mile for me. Just fits me better than Backspacer. To each his own.

Johnny Abruzzo

As I have in about 14 other "Backspacer vs. Avocado" threads, I vote for Avocado.

I completely agree with OP's assessment of Avocado. It sounds more like a Pearl Jam album than anything else from the 00's.

I still Backspacer is pretty good. I went back and listened to it after some time away and really enjoyed it. But it doesn't stack up to Avocado. The songs don't really get to breathe enough.

Juan Godoy

Grandmas Jam wrote:

Just too much EV for me on this album and not enough Pearl Jam.

really true..

but i thing song's like Come Back or Gone are the beginning of all this..

i can't choose, they are too differents and i love them both, sorry

jamminpearls

Avacado by a landslide,Backspacer fell way behind Binaural for my least fav album.

Ledbetterdays

I think the two albums frame the times they were recorded. Avocado was during the Bush administration, a lot of angsty anti-war sentiment scattered throughout the album both directly and indirectly. The second half of this album really drags it down from the five star potential of the first half. Backspacer was written after Into the Wild and with the backdrop of a new era of "hope" and "change." So some of that positivity rubbed off on the album. It benefits and suffers from its averageness. Good songs are scattered across the album. If I were to put the albums head to head, song by song Avocado wins a close one.

My ranking of the songs:
Marker in the Sand
Comatose
Unthought Known
Force of Nature
Severed Hand
Got Some
World Wide Suicide
Life Wasted
The Fixer
Army Reserve
Gonna See My Friend
Inside Job
Amongst The Waves
Johnny Guitar
Just Breathe
Come Back
Big Wave
Supersonic
Gone
The End
Speed of Sound
Parachutes
Unemployable

Cool Face Ryan

Johnny Abruzzo wrote:

As I have in about 14 other "Backspacer vs. Avocado" threads, I vote for Avocado.

I completely agree with OP's assessment of Avocado. It sounds more like a Pearl Jam album than anything else from the 00's.

I still Backspacer is pretty good. I went back and listened to it after some time away and really enjoyed it. But it doesn't stack up to Avocado. The songs don't really get to breathe enough.

agreed

LikeAnOcean

Backspacer easily.



I like it because it's optimistic and upbeat. It may not be as interesting as Avocado, but I'm tired of the debbie downer war songs.. Backspacer just fits into my life better. I can relate to it better and the songs are funner to sing and dance to.

Johnny Abruzzo

It really amazes me that people don't like Inside Job. I think it's one of the greatest songs Pearl Jam have ever made.

boyo79

Johnny Abruzzo wrote:

It really amazes me that people don't like Inside Job. I think it's one of the greatest songs Pearl Jam have ever made.

Yep

jamminpearls

Johnny Abruzzo wrote:

It really amazes me that people don't like Inside Job. I think it's one of the greatest songs Pearl Jam have ever made.

Agree Inside job opening up the 1st encore is a must here. Easily a top 5 PJ song for me,Mccready is god!!!

butte1

Ledbetterdays wrote:

I think the two albums frame the times they were recorded. Avocado was during the Bush administration, a lot of angsty anti-war sentiment scattered throughout the album both directly and indirectly. The second half of this album really drags it down from the five star potential of the first half. Backspacer was written after Into the Wild and with the backdrop of a new era of "hope" and "change." So some of that positivity rubbed off on the album. It benefits and suffers from its averageness. Good songs are scattered across the album. If I were to put the albums head to head, song by song Avocado wins a close one.

My ranking of the songs:
Marker in the Sand
Comatose
Unthought Known
Force of Nature
Severed Hand
Got Some
World Wide Suicide
Life Wasted
The Fixer
Army Reserve
Gonna See My Friend
Inside Job
Amongst The Waves
Johnny Guitar
Just Breathe
Come Back
Big Wave
Supersonic
Gone
The End
Speed of Sound
Parachutes
Unemployable

I like the way yo have done this. here is how I would rank them:

My ranking of the songs:
Unthought Known
Force of Nature
Just Breathe
Unemployable
The End
Comatose
Amongst The Waves
The Fixer
Got Some
World Wide Suicide
Life Wasted
Supersonic
Gone
Speed of Sound
Come Back
Big Wave
Inside Job
Marker in the Sand
Severed Hand
Army Reserve
Gonna See My Friend
Parachutes
Johnny Guitar

So interestingly for me Backspacer has my three favorite songs of the two albums but it also has my least favorite song of the two albums but Backspacer still has the edge overall

butte1

Jamminonthe1 wrote:

I dislike Avocado as a studio album (the only one I do not like), but love it live. Go figure. For me I think Backspacer is great, but at the same time it seems more like an EV solo effort holdover album, especially the second half of the record.

I always think this is sort of funny, Especially since songs like Supersonic are in the second half of teh album and there has never been a more "Stone" song than Supersonic. As soon as I heard the first riff, without even reading the cover I knew Stone had clearl written that song. Also, Amongst the Waves and Force of Nature ar eboth the second half of the album and neither are an "Eddie" song, though he may have contributed lyrcs. FON of is a Mike song all the way and ATW's is a PJ song if there ever was one. I also find Unthought Known a very PJ song and not an Eddie song. I'll give you The End and Speed of Sound but that si two out of 6 songs and Just Breathe is definitely an Eddie song but that is first half of the album..... The rest is PJ doing what they do and that is ever evolving, it's how a band stays relevant for 20+ years Can't just do the same thing all the time

CROJAM95

Which is better

Avocado or avacado??

Maybe that's why pj just left it titled pearl jam... Even with all their $$, and resources they couldn't get to the bottom of it's correct spelling

I'm no spelling police, but Jesus Christ you would think after 5 years we would know how to spell one of the 9 studio albums our beloved pj has put out

It's Avocado folks

teeman

I gotta go with Avocado. Except for Unemployable, I really enjoy everything on the album. I love how it starts off rocking out for the first 5 songs, reminds me a lot of a live setlist.

Backspacer is a really good album, but after being in my possession for almost 2 years, I've listened to it a lot less than Avocado.

There are certainly individual songs on Backspacer that I love (Unthought Known, Just Breathe, Got Some) but others that I like less over time (ATW, FON, The Fixah).

Nothingbetter

"Unthought Known" is one of the best songs they have ever made, which instantly gives BS some firepower, but overall I think Avocado is a better album. That album, IMO, shows off how versatile and amazing of musicians these guys really are.

slightofjeff

Juan Godoy wrote:

Grandmas Jam wrote:

Just too much EV for me on this album and not enough Pearl Jam.

really true..

but i thing song's like Come Back or Gone are the beginning of all this..

The beginning? You realize Ed pretty much wrote every note and every word of Vitalogy, with only a few exceptions, right?

I would argue that the albums started to slip when other band members got too much control over the songs. To me, it's no coincidence that Binaural and Riot Act are generally considered the two weakest albums. I like them both, and some songs on each are fucking stellar, but I think if most of us were ranking the albums, they'd be in the bottom two.

Not enough Ed on either. Too much delegating. At least for my taste. I prefer Ed songs.

danny

i love them both!

jwagner

They're both great, but Backspacer remains one of my total favorite PJ albums. The self-titled took a long time to grow on me, yet I was totally into Backspacer from listen #2. (I was a bit "???" on first listen)

boyo79

slightofjeff wrote:

Juan Godoy wrote:

Grandmas Jam wrote:

Just too much EV for me on this album and not enough Pearl Jam.

really true..

but i thing song's like Come Back or Gone are the beginning of all this..

The beginning? You realize Ed pretty much wrote every note and every word of Vitalogy, with only a few exceptions, right?

I would argue that the albums started to slip when other band members got too much control over the songs. To me, it's no coincidence that Binaural and Riot Act are generally considered the two weakest albums. I like them both, and some songs on each are fucking stellar, but I think if most of us were ranking the albums, they'd be in the bottom two.

Not enough Ed on either. Too much delegating. At least for my taste. I prefer Ed songs.

Riot Act is my favourite album! And Binaural is up there as well. I put Lost Dogs ahead of Backspacer

Someone mentioned Supersonic - I forgot about that song, I think that is probably the worst 'full' song they've ever done (when I say 'full' song its because I don't include stuff like FoxyMop or Bugs)

P23J

Johnny Abruzzo wrote:

It really amazes me that people don't like Inside Job. I think it's one of the greatest songs Pearl Jam have ever made.

+1

boyo79

P23J wrote:

Johnny Abruzzo wrote:

It really amazes me that people don't like Inside Job. I think it's one of the greatest songs Pearl Jam have ever made.

+1

They opened Dublin '06 with Inside Job. My jaw dropped, it was amazing!