What took so long?..

STT757

Why did Pearl Jam go 11-12 years without working with Brendan O'Brien, I'm being honest and not just riding the wave of excitement surrounding the new album's release. Backspacer is the best album since Yield, it's the first album since Yield that everything "fits". And the album flows in such a way that it encourages the listener to listen from start to finish, I feel the last 3 albums have been more compiliations of various studio recordings than a complete album.

Backspacer has a flow and a theme throughout, something the earlier albums had and something the last three lacked. The best Pearl Jam tell stories, they have themes.

2-feign-reluctance

IMO they were just exploring different options. i'm glad they did too because records like Binaural and Riot Act have a moodiness that wouldn't have been there if BOB were involved.

cannotstaylong

I think there was the lapse because they simply wanted to try doing it all more themselves. There's an interview with Brendan somewhere where he even says that. They went through a phase where they really wanted to control the direction of each record, and that meant taking a more direct role in the production of each. That's not to say that they didn't like what Brendan did (they obviously did, and do), but they just wanted to try something different. You can say a lot of things about Pearl Jam, but they've never been a band to sit tight and be comfortable with where they are or what they are doing. They wanted to mix things up.

That said, I'm excited as all get out that they brought Brendan back. In that interview he mentioned he'd love to work with them again, and I think the feeling is mutual. I sure hope they keep having him produce. his influence is so obvious and I for one think he made some really excellent contributions to this album in terms of arrangement and instrumentation. Keep Brendan around!

mach271

Adam Kasper was on scene and had his hands on with almost EVERY other PJ album.....

He wasnt tht far of a departure from BoB....Tchad Blake, now him they pulled out of left field

Im curious to see how they would sound with someone like RICK REUBEN behind the helm.....

cannotstaylong

mach271 wrote:

Adam Kasper was on scene and had his hands on with almost EVERY other PJ album.....

He wasnt tht far of a departure from BoB....Tchad Blake, now him they pulled out of left field

Im curious to see how they would sound with someone like RICK REUBEN behind the helm.....

That is true about Adam, but he only did two records. Though I agree that he was not a drastic change from Brendan.

Rick is great and has produced some amazing albums, but I have a hard time picturing him doing a PJ album. But who knows, maybe he'd kill it and it would be great. Who knows?

imissyoualready

RIck Ruben? I dont think so. I'd love to hear a PJ album produced by Jeff Lynn.