The Fixer . . as told by Pitchfork

South of Seattle

Rating: 5

"The Fixer" sounds like it might have been written just a few moments before recording it, in a brief burst of inspiration. The lyrics work a pretty simple "Mad Libs" formula to good effect: "If something is [INSERT ADJECTIVE HERE], I wanna [INSERT TRANSITIVE VERB HERE] it." The chorus goes: "Yeah yeah yeah yeah." Especially after this year's Ten reissue, which recounted their earnest origins, "The Fixer" sounds like a lark-- one-third call to arms, two-thirds seasonal anthem. It's a good mix for these lifers, one they've tried to capture in the past but never with as much bravado as they do here.

But neither the band nor Brendan O'Brien has a light touch for this sort of classic rock-oriented pop. The guitars will no doubt sound great blasting from Target's P.A. (where Backspacer, from which this track is taken, will be sold exclusively), but those power chords sound a bit gaudy behind that hesitant central riff, and the piano and flange are wind-resistant lumps in a song that should be more streamlined. Vedder, whose default is tortured defiance, can't help but add too much gravity to these lyrics, as if fixin' things was an obligation instead of a calling. They work too hard here trying to have fun.

12345AGNST1

5 out of?

I guess its ten?

South of Seattle

12345AGNST1 wrote:

5 out of?

I guess its ten?

You would be correct. That might their highest rating from them in a while.

Kilgore_Trout

South of Seattle wrote:

will no doubt sound great blasting from Target's P.A. (where Backspacer, from which this track is taken, will be sold exclusively)

hipsters :roll:

regardless of anyones opinion of this song i hope we can all agree that this is pitchforks usual fucktard "indie" shit... go drop another $1000 at your local mom and pop american apparel dickweed

HeavyHands

Sincerely, thanks for posting that review. I wouldn't have seen it otherwise.

I gave up on Pitchfork a few months ago. I'm just not able to stomach their attitude or inconsistency of writing/reviewing any more. I won't be going to their website ever again.

asgoodased

I still read pitchfork every day, but I know that any major band is going to get panned.

I find the review kind of ironic...he says the band is trying to hard to have fun...it sounds like his review is trying REALLY hard to have something bad to say about the song. A hiss? Vedder is usually angry? Sure.

jwillmo

That was better than I was expecting from Pitchfork. Though in true, poorly researched fashion, the reviewer says Backspacer will only be available from Target (then includes a link to their OWN STORY which refutes this!) I still read pitchfork for their news, but their reviews are generally atrocious and poorly written. They tend to play the how-many-other-bands-can-i-reference game in their reviews, which is just lazy. But I have gotten into a lot of bands I would have never heard of, so that's something.

YieldToNothing

i expected the hipsters shmucks at pitchfork to shit all over it, thats a pretty tame review.

Gonzo1977

Surprisingly tame review from chumps over at Bitchfork. Must have caught them on an off day.

I do love how they tossed the whole "Exclusive to Target" bit in there though-That was pretty funny-

Naturally, it wouldn't be the Pitchfork we all know and love if they didn't distort the facts, slant the story, and mislead their readers now would it ?

I must say, they boys are lucky to come out of that review relatively unscathed.

far more favorable than I would have thought.

Electric Feel

South of Seattle wrote:

Rating: 5

"The Fixer" sounds like it might have been written just a few moments before recording it, in a brief burst of inspiration. The lyrics work a pretty simple "Mad Libs" formula to good effect: "If something is [INSERT ADJECTIVE HERE], I wanna [INSERT TRANSITIVE VERB HERE] it." The chorus goes: "Yeah yeah yeah yeah." Especially after this year's Ten reissue, which recounted their earnest origins, "The Fixer" sounds like a lark-- one-third call to arms, two-thirds seasonal anthem. It's a good mix for these lifers, one they've tried to capture in the past but never with as much bravado as they do here.

But neither the band nor Brendan O'Brien has a light touch for this sort of classic rock-oriented pop. The guitars will no doubt sound great blasting from Target's P.A. (where Backspacer, from which this track is taken, will be sold exclusively), but those power chords sound a bit gaudy behind that hesitant central riff, and the piano and flange are wind-resistant lumps in a song that should be more streamlined. Vedder, whose default is tortured defiance, can't help but add too much gravity to these lyrics, as if fixin' things was an obligation instead of a calling. They work too hard here trying to have fun.

The reviewer nailed it imo. In someone else's hands the Fixer might have worked, but Eddie can't help but sound "earnest" in everything he does. His singing voice has no sense of irony or humor (ironic in and of itself, because Eddie seems very funny). He should have sang it in his "Happy When I'm Cryin" voice.

If Stone would have sang it, I would have loved it probably. Ah, but then it could not have been a single.

Flagg

Someone at my office has a "The Onion" daily calendar and he gave me a page from it the other day. The headline was "Pitchfork gives music 5 out 10" with the reviewer claiming music had "run its course."

HeavyHands

Flagg wrote:

Someone at my office has a "The Onion" daily calendar and he gave me a page from it the other day. The headline was "Pitchfork gives music 5 out 10" with the reviewer claiming music had "run its course."

Hilarious! Thanks for sharing that!

Stephen Flow

Pitchfork is very biased... Yesterday they gave the new Flaming Lips track 8 out of 10.. after listening to the song myself, I can't say it's a terrible track but 8 out of 10 seemed a bit high... I'll give it a few more listens and maybe I'll change my mind, but right now I'm not a big fan of it, it's just OK...

i am a target

sgossard3 wrote:

South of Seattle wrote:

will no doubt sound great blasting from Target's P.A. (where Backspacer, from which this track is taken, will be sold exclusively)

hipsters :roll:

regardless of anyones opinion of this song i hope we can all agree that this is pitchforks usual fucktard "indie" shit... go drop another $1000 at your local mom and pop american apparel dickweed

and that kind of elitist attitude makes you any better than a "hipster" how?

tcaporale

Well, what were you guys expecting from Pitchfork? If more than five people heard it, they trash it.

2-feign-reluctance

sgossard3 wrote:

South of Seattle wrote:

will no doubt sound great blasting from Target's P.A. (where Backspacer, from which this track is taken, will be sold exclusively)

hipsters :roll:

regardless of anyones opinion of this song i hope we can all agree that this is pitchforks usual fucktard "indie" shit... go drop another $1000 at your local mom and pop american apparel dickweed

ouch mate. very ouch. :?

soulsinging

Flagg wrote:

Someone at my office has a "The Onion" daily calendar and he gave me a page from it the other day. The headline was "Pitchfork gives music 5 out 10" with the reviewer claiming music had "run its course."

If you can find the actual article that was taken from, it's hilarious. It completely nails the weary pretentiousness of Pitchfork and its writers. I really hate that magazine, its writers, and most of its readers.

But as Gonzo said, this is a surprisingly subdued review for Pitchfork.

tcaporale

soulsinging wrote:

Flagg wrote:

Someone at my office has a "The Onion" daily calendar and he gave me a page from it the other day. The headline was "Pitchfork gives music 5 out 10" with the reviewer claiming music had "run its course."

If you can find the actual article that was taken from, it's hilarious. It completely nails the weary pretentiousness of Pitchfork and its writers. I really hate that magazine, its writers, and most of its readers.

But as Gonzo said, this is a surprisingly subdued review for Pitchfork.

I remember some other site did a spoof where they rated albums on a scale of "Radiohead" and "so not Radiohead".

TalkofCircles

2-feign-reluctance wrote:

sgossard3 wrote:

South of Seattle wrote:

will no doubt sound great blasting from Target's P.A. (where Backspacer, from which this track is taken, will be sold exclusively)

hipsters :roll:

regardless of anyones opinion of this song i hope we can all agree that this is pitchforks usual fucktard "indie" shit... go drop another $1000 at your local mom and pop american apparel dickweed

ouch mate. very ouch. :?

I dunno man...
It's hard to not to roll your eyes at PF's

How do those kids fit into those aa pants!?!? I cross sunset and I think "do you use paint thinner to take those off?"

Zidane

I almost fell off my chair this morning when I saw the 5; I thought they were going to give them a -5!!!

If it's not Wilco or Radiohead or Flaming Lips or anything done by Jack White or a band that you'll probably never hear for the rest of this planet existence, chances are they'll probably have nothing good to say. Bunch of nerds who think that "Helter Skelter" is the best song that the Beatles came up with... Loosers!

I used to read their news but even now, their news suck! They always have a link to explain the news somewher else... Overhyped. Can't believe I'd say that but I'd rather read Spin than Pitchfork.

bone

I must say though, their review of Jet's album "Shine On" is pretty damn funny review for what was an awful album.

Smarter_Than_U

These pussies act like Eddie Vedder personally shit out Scott Stapp just to torture the world. Fuck these frustrated musicians posing as writers.

springsteenfan

pitchfork sucks. i love the way they had to squeeze the target reference in there. I don't see the target thing as selling out, but you know whoever wrote that review probably does. When I saw Wilco in Athens a few months ago, Jeff told a story about how Pat went into Wuxtry records (the shop peter buck worked at and where he met Michael Stipe) and overheard a conversation between the clerk and a customer. The customer asked the clerk if he was going to see Wilco, and the clerk said "I'm going, but not to see Wilco, I'm going to see A Hawk and a Hacksaw then I'm leaving." A Hawk and a Hacksaw was the shitty opening band. The story perfectly demonstrates the type of music snobbery that is a vital part of pitchfork's writing staff.

kiljoythemerciful

Sometimes I wonder how many times they listen to a track or album before they review it. There have been many reviews were it seems like everything but the music is analyzed.

In this review it seems like they actually like this song, but things like target, eddie's anger, and power chords ruined it. WTF?!

On a side note, I read a review of the fixer similar to this and one of the main reasons the reviewer didn't like it was because of the "showboating guitars"...?! It's rock and roll, guitars should be boated and showed.

tcaporale

I'm hoping someone writes a good review of it so when people look at the wikipedia page of the song they don't just see P4K's review there and assume the song sucks!

soulsinging

kiljoythemerciful wrote:

Sometimes I wonder how many times they listen to a track or album before they review it. There have been many reviews were it seems like everything but the music is analyzed.

In this review it seems like they actually like this song, but things like target, eddie's anger, and power chords ruined it. WTF?!

This is the most important aspect of a given piece of music to pitchfork (and a few people around here recently it seems)... the actual song or music or musicianship means nothing, what matters is whether or not the things going on around that are cool enough to keep their hipster cred intact if they admit to liking it.

kiljoythemerciful

soulsinging wrote:

kiljoythemerciful wrote:

Sometimes I wonder how many times they listen to a track or album before they review it. There have been many reviews were it seems like everything but the music is analyzed.

In this review it seems like they actually like this song, but things like target, eddie's anger, and power chords ruined it. WTF?!

This is the most important aspect of a given piece of music to pitchfork (and a few people around here recently it seems)... the actual song or music or musicianship means nothing, what matters is whether or not the things going on around that are cool enough to keep their hipster cred intact if they admit to liking it.

You hit the nail on the head. They seem to put a lot of pretense, forethought into "what are our target readers going to think about this" when it comes to established bands. I still think they do a decent job with new bands, i guess.

There also is a lot of irony in their growth into a corporation, and their artistic values.

heather_honey

soulsinging wrote:

Flagg wrote:

Someone at my office has a "The Onion" daily calendar and he gave me a page from it the other day. The headline was "Pitchfork gives music 5 out 10" with the reviewer claiming music had "run its course."

If you can find the actual article that was taken from, it's hilarious. It completely nails the weary pretentiousness of Pitchfork and its writers. I really hate that magazine, its writers, and most of its readers.

But as Gonzo said, this is a surprisingly subdued review for Pitchfork.

This might be it.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/pi ... _music_6_8

Easties

The Pitchfork review.....as told by Me.

Wankers.

vedder_soup

meh!
it is pitchfork, the majority of their reader base would not give 2 fucks about pearl jam
they have sold 10's of millions too many albums to be respected on there
a 5 is actually a good result

Smarter_Than_U

South of Seattle wrote:

Rating: 5

"The Fixer" sounds like it might have been written just a few moments before recording it, in a brief burst of inspiration...

They work too hard here trying to have fun.

Just went back and re-read the bitchfork review and realized that the shmuck who wrote this flatly contradicts himself/herself if you look at the first sentence and the last sentence together. So which is it-- a rush job or working too hard?