Time between Pearl Jam albums

bigbadbill

This might have been a topic before, but I've noticed a trend with Pearl Jam with their albums becoming more spaced apart timewise (especially with their last few albums, including up-and-coming Backspacer).

Ten - Vs. 2 years, 2 months 8/27/1991-10/19/1993
Vs. - Vitalogy 1 year, 2 months 10/19/1993-12/6/1994
Vitalogy - No Code 1 year, 8 months 12/6/1994-8/27/1996
No Code - Yield 1 year, 6 months 8/27/1996-2/3/1998
Yield - Binaural 2 years, 3 months 2/3/1998-5/16/2000
Binaural - Riot Act 2 years, 6 months 5/16/2000-11/12/2002
Riot Act - Pearl Jam 3 years, 6 months 11/12/2002-5/2/2006
Pearl Jam - Backspacer 3 years, 4 months 5/2/2006-9/20/2009

They put together their first 6 albums in 10 years, but the last 3 in about 9 years

Along with getting older, having families, and not being under contract with Sony, why do you think the gap between albums have gotten longer?

aNiMaL

Wow, I cannot believe that there is only a two month difference in time span between the release of Riot Act to Pearl Jam compared to Pearl Jam to Backspacer.

Mookie-10

I think you have about covered all the reasons, but I think the main one is no longer being signed with Sony.

i shit and i stink

Demand is a factor. They are not as popular as they were in 1993. I doubt they would sell any more by making that many albums at this stage.

Also, there was a lot of tension in the band around the time of Vs and Vitalogy. I guess that a relationship that intensive is difficult to maintain. Maybe if they spent so much time together making albums the whole pack of cards would come down.

Wilds

They have also explored, more so than in the past, their own side projects.

I think age, and families is the main reason. Sony is a reason, less desire for $$$ is a reason.

This new time table seems to suit them better than the one from 1991 to 1995 when they were stressed out and ready to break up and/or kill each other.

dimitrispearljam

i think make music isnt like buy a beer from a store,,have to be crative,,be in the mood,have time,and make thing that u like them and as the band gets more fame,the steps are getting more carefull,,is normal the time issue between albums..

cannotstaylong

I think it's just as other people have noted, they are no longer signed with Sony. This is huge, because it allows them to make albums when they want to and, more importantly, when they have music to record.

Ed spoke back in the Binaural days of having writing's block. There is nothing worse than being pressured into the studio when you don't have much in the way of material. Everything is forced. Even though I love Binaural, you can tell from Ed's interviews that the recording process from that album felt forced.

There is no worse feeling in music than having to force songs to come together. In my experience, if the writing process isn't flowing you should step back and take a break. They couldn't do this when they were signed with Sony. Back in day when they would release an album and finish a tour they would be left with little more than a year to produce the next album. That puts constant pressure on a band, and although they produced great albums early on over a very short period of time, it was going to become increasingly difficult under that arrangement.

The way we have it now, we wait longer between releases, but it's going to be music that the band is more comfortable releasing. In the end, I think we've got a better arrangement now.

the wolf

I was thinking about this yesterday. I have a feeling that *IF* they dont tour much in 2010 like some have suggested, that the time between Backspacer and the next album will only be about 2 years.

I just cant see them wanting to stay inactive that long. thats just me though.

100 Pacer

cannotstaylong wrote:

I think it's just as other people have noted, they are no longer signed with Sony. This is huge, because it allows them to make albums when they want to and, more importantly, when they have music to record.

Ed spoke back in the Binaural days of having writing's block. There is nothing worse than being pressured into the studio when you don't have much in the way of material. Everything is forced. Even though I love Binaural, you can tell from Ed's interviews that the recording process from that album felt forced.

There is no worse feeling in music than having to force songs to come together. In my experience, if the writing process isn't flowing you should step back and take a break. They couldn't do this when they were signed with Sony. Back in day when they would release an album and finish a tour they would be left with little more than a year to produce the next album. That puts constant pressure on a band, and although they produced great albums early on over a very short period of time, it was going to become increasingly difficult under that arrangement.

The way we have it now, we wait longer between releases, but it's going to be music that the band is more comfortable releasing. In the end, I think we've got a better arrangement now.

PJ was never under any time constraints and/or undue pressure from Epic/Sony to release albums, and the band was always in control in terms of their recording schedule and output of new material,...

cannotstaylong

The other thing to note, which I forgot to include before, is that Ed released Into the Wild during that period inbetween Pearl Jam and Backspacer. While this didn't include the other guys, we all know that he is the main creative influence on PJ's music. Writing, recording and touring for that album took up a substantial amount of his time from 2007 until recently, so it would have been harder to get the entire band together to write, rehearse and record.

cannotstaylong

100 Pacer wrote:

cannotstaylong wrote:

I think it's just as other people have noted, they are no longer signed with Sony. This is huge, because it allows them to make albums when they want to and, more importantly, when they have music to record.

Ed spoke back in the Binaural days of having writing's block. There is nothing worse than being pressured into the studio when you don't have much in the way of material. Everything is forced. Even though I love Binaural, you can tell from Ed's interviews that the recording process from that album felt forced.

There is no worse feeling in music than having to force songs to come together. In my experience, if the writing process isn't flowing you should step back and take a break. They couldn't do this when they were signed with Sony. Back in day when they would release an album and finish a tour they would be left with little more than a year to produce the next album. That puts constant pressure on a band, and although they produced great albums early on over a very short period of time, it was going to become increasingly difficult under that arrangement.

The way we have it now, we wait longer between releases, but it's going to be music that the band is more comfortable releasing. In the end, I think we've got a better arrangement now.

PJ was never under any time constraints and/or undue pressure from Epic/Sony to release albums, and the band was always in control in terms of their recording schedule and output of new material,...

That doesn't mean there isn't pressure from the company to continue releasing new material. When a band has the popularity that Pearl Jam did back in the early - mid '90s, there are always people who try and cash in on the success. They want one successful album to be followed closely by another. It doesn't matter if they were contractually required to release material every so many years, companies can exert pressure in other ways.

And at that time the band easily could have put plenty of pressure on themselves to keep releasing as well. The point is that they no longer have that pressure. I think it's a combination of cutting things off with Sony and the passage of time. But I don't think we should downplay the influence on Sony back in the '90s.

I'm not saying the band didn't enjoy what they were doing under Sony. God knows they wouldn't still be around if they didn't like it. I'm just saying there is far less pressure these days being away from Sony.

100 Pacer

cannotstaylong wrote:

100 Pacer wrote:

cannotstaylong wrote:

I think it's just as other people have noted, they are no longer signed with Sony. This is huge, because it allows them to make albums when they want to and, more importantly, when they have music to record.

Ed spoke back in the Binaural days of having writing's block. There is nothing worse than being pressured into the studio when you don't have much in the way of material. Everything is forced. Even though I love Binaural, you can tell from Ed's interviews that the recording process from that album felt forced.

There is no worse feeling in music than having to force songs to come together. In my experience, if the writing process isn't flowing you should step back and take a break. They couldn't do this when they were signed with Sony. Back in day when they would release an album and finish a tour they would be left with little more than a year to produce the next album. That puts constant pressure on a band, and although they produced great albums early on over a very short period of time, it was going to become increasingly difficult under that arrangement.

The way we have it now, we wait longer between releases, but it's going to be music that the band is more comfortable releasing. In the end, I think we've got a better arrangement now.

PJ was never under any time constraints and/or undue pressure from Epic/Sony to release albums, and the band was always in control in terms of their recording schedule and output of new material,...

That doesn't mean there isn't pressure from the company to continue releasing new material. When a band has the popularity that Pearl Jam did back in the early - mid '90s, there are always people who try and cash in on the success. They want one successful album to be followed closely by another. It doesn't matter if they were contractually required to release material every so many years, companies can exert pressure in other ways.

And at that time the band easily could have put plenty of pressure on themselves to keep releasing as well. The point is that they no longer have that pressure. I think it's a combination of cutting things off with Sony and the passage of time. But I don't think we should downplay the influence on Sony back in the '90s.

I'm not saying the band didn't enjoy what they were doing under Sony. God knows they wouldn't still be around if they didn't like it. I'm just saying there is far less pressure these days being away from Sony.

the band successfully brushed off "pressure" in terms of requests from the label for videos, radio single-friendly songs, and for more accessibility to the media (read: Not For You). everyone from the label to the band to management cashed in on PJ's success, but the band simply chose to pull back on the rapid success. not to mention, the band enjoyed many luxuries afforded to them while with their former label they otherwise don't enjoy today. essentially the main reason PJ didn't sign a contract with a major label after their contract with Epic/Sony finished was due to the band's desire to own their material,...