NOW my judgement on Backspacer-

jr19

instead of making a quick review on the album. i let the album sink in. now my first thought was that is was incredible, but i think some of the awesomeness was due to the fact that pearl jam had a new album out. now i think this album reflects differently for me now. its good but too much of a pop, happy feeling for me in general. the song writing is great and i love some of the songs (got some, force of nature) but all in all i think the album is slightly above average. dont get me wrong i like it very much but imo i thought avocado and even riot act were better PEARL JAM ALBUMS than Backspacer.

Flagg

Interesting. I still love it but a little less than I did at first.

If you are used to angry Pearl Jam then I can definitely see where you are coming from because Got Some is the only "angry" song on there. But I still think it is amazing and a fresh change of pace.

Avocado better? I can see that argument. Riot Act better? Sorry, can't see that for 100 miles.

rigneyclan

Backspacer is Pearl Jam's worst album, followed closely by Avocado.

jr19

i love riot act. its great

PJFAN_seattle

I wasn't so sure of it at first but now I love it it is probably my second favorite album after maybe no code.
I like how its not as angry as their older albums and how it has a new feel to it, that is a part of why its so great, i prefer the less grungey pearl jam sound.
Also I really like the into the wild songwriting a couple of them have.
Overall I'd rate it a 9/10.

djjazzy276

I posted a review when I first got the album and it was obviously also very influenced by "new Pearl Jam album-itis." But what I have found is that, after having fully absorbed it, I still really love it. It's hard for me to compare it to past albums. I like it more than Riot Act, but mostly because I thought Riot Act was too long. I felt there was a lot of filler in Riot Act and could have been a really solid 11 song album, rather than a decent, rambling 15 song album. It's also hard for me to decide how much I like it compared to my other favorite Pearl Jam albums because my "favorite" Pearl Jam album tends to fluctuate. Sometimes it's No Code, sometimes it's Yield, even Binaural or Vs. at times.

So with Backspacer, I'm taking it for what it is, Pearl Jam where they are musically and in their lives at this moment. I think the production is incredible. The songwriting is tight and catchy and the second half of the album has continued to grow on me. I wonder if the vinyl experience of this album is interesting. Actually having a physical action of putting on the second half of the album, making it more of a stark difference from the first half.

After over a month of listening, my ONLY real problem with it is maybe the first 60-90 seconds of Speed of Sound. Too cheesy for me, but after that it picks up and is a lot more enjoyable. I can see why they wanted to flesh out that song, already having two very solo-ish Eddie songs is enough. Having a very stripped down Speed of Sound may have made the album seem more of an Eddie solo album and less a Pearl Jam album, but I wish they'd have taken more time fleshing that one out. The core of it though is a great song and that's why I'm happy with it by the end.

I'm very curious to see where they go from here. You see a lot of bands put out a new album and talk about how great the process was, then years down the road when it comes time to make another one, they talk about the past album in a way that's not as positive. Talking about how good it is to make this new album differently than the last. I don't doubt the next will have a longer running time. I'd like to see Brendan back and maybe have them try out a lot of far out things, with him working the controls. But I guess that's a discussion for a different thread.

All in all, Backspacer has survived the "new Pearl Jam album-itis" and still stands as a great record for me. Great, short songs that grab you and then transform into something more when played live.

Better Dan

I still enjoy Backspacer quite a bit. Defintiely 100 times better than Avacado for me, which is the only PJ album I don't like. After seeing 4 shows this year I listened to Backspacer a few times and it still hasn't really gotten old. The only song I don't like is Gonna See My Friend.

I would rank it fifth after Vitalogy, No Code, Yield, and Binaural

jr19

DS114969 wrote:

I still enjoy Backspacer quite a bit. Defintiely 100 times better than Avacado for me, which is the only PJ album I don't like. After seeing 4 shows this year I listened to Backspacer a few times and it still hasn't really gotten old. The only song I don't like is Gonna See My Friend.

I would rank it fifth after Vitalogy, No Code, Yield, and Binaural

i really like your top four. speaks for me as well. just switch no code and vitalogy!!

Wobbie

I probably don't like it as much as I did at first.

When I listen to boots and hear songs like Porch, SOLAT, RVM, etc., I'm thinking "the Fixer??? WTF???" :wtf:

I would imagine that, on future tours, Backspacer will be much less represented.....I hope.

Mad Mohab

Speed of Sound, Amongst the Waves, Gonna See my Friend and Unthought Known, and the first 20 seconds of The End are as good as thier best stuff for me. They can all stand in the 100 or so strong pool of A -Sides in my opinion. The rest is still really good and well worth having. I hope they keep going strong, I thought 8 was their best since my favourite of theirs - Binaural, and this one keeps up the plateau. All good stuff! Agreed on the fixer though, one of their very, very few bad tunes.

Cool vinyl, but thier earlier album covers did a lot more for me. I really like some of it though and the best of it is on that spin poster which is cool. I liked the kid photos too, pretty neat. I like that it fits on one vinyl but I could go four a double cd with a lot more musical interludes (huge fan of instrumentals ie. Aye and the bands jam output, as well as gossards work in particular). All in all, a blessing.

kiljoythemerciful

djjazzy276 wrote:

I'm very curious to see where they go from here. You see a lot of bands put out a new album and talk about how great the process was, then years down the road when it comes time to make another one, they talk about the past album in a way that's not as positive. Talking about how good it is to make this new album differently than the last. I don't doubt the next will have a longer running time. I'd like to see Brendan back and maybe have them try out a lot of far out things, with him working the controls. But I guess that's a discussion for a different thread.

All in all, Backspacer has survived the "new Pearl Jam album-itis" and still stands as a great record for me. Great, short songs that grab you and then transform into something more when played live.

I agree with all your sentiments.

I'm very interested to see how the next album sounds as well. I am a big Backspacer fan, at the same time I fear that they will make two or three albums that sound similar. My hope is that this album stands out as unique when looking at their catalogue, much like my other favorite records Vitalogy, No Code, Yield.

It's just nice to be excited, really really excited, about hearing what they do next. That wasn't the case, for me, for a while there.

MayDay10

i still cant get enough of it

Better Dan

imalive wrote:

I probably don't like it as much as I did at first.

When I listen to boots and hear songs like Porch, SOLAT, RVM, etc., I'm thinking "the Fixer??? WTF???" :wtf:

I would imagine that, on future tours, Backspacer will be much less represented.....I hope.

Maybe I'm in the minority but I think The Fixer sounds great live! Maybe I wouldn't like to hear it more than the songs you mentioned but I would definitely take it over WWS, Life Wasted, Severed Hand, and even Comatose.

JonnyPistachio

imalive wrote:

I probably don't like it as much as I did at first.

When I listen to boots and hear songs like Porch, SOLAT, RVM, etc., I'm thinking "the Fixer??? WTF???" :wtf:

I would imagine that, on future tours, Backspacer will be much less represented.....I hope.

I agree man...i've been saying the same thing. I think most of it will fall to the wayside. Half the songs on Backspacer havent seemed to been played live much already, whereas when Avocado came out, almost all of those songs were on heavy rotation on the tours.

inlet13

I'd put it at number 1... seriously. Followed very very closely by Yield.

soulsinging

jr19 wrote:

instead of making a quick review on the album. i let the album sink in. now my first thought was that is was incredible, but i think some of the awesomeness was due to the fact that pearl jam had a new album out. now i think this album reflects differently for me now. its good but too much of a pop, happy feeling for me in general. the song writing is great and i love some of the songs (got some, force of nature) but all in all i think the album is slightly above average. dont get me wrong i like it very much but imo i thought avocado and even riot act were better PEARL JAM ALBUMS than Backspacer.

i'm the opposite. i liked it, but didn't think it was anything special at first. but it gets better every time i hear it and now i think i enjoy it more than any album they've released since binaural (or lost dogs if you count that). it's certainly light years ahead of RA and s/t. it's also the first time since matt came on board that the band seemed comfortable on an album.

jr19

seems you either love or hate it. not many have this in the middle of the road as far as pj albums are concerned. i think backspacer will eventually just have a few songs on a playlist for me. cant see listing to entire album in 5yrs. but then again.... who knows

The Champ

It's refreshing to put an album on and actually not have to skip any songs/fillers...which I cannot successfully accomplish with Riot Act, Avocado, or Binaural..

TouringFan2000

long live backspacer! i hope force of nature, got some, unthought known, johnny guitar and amongst the waves all become show staples. and i wouldn't mind if gonna see my friend was in there too.

joebot

I love it.
Makes my top 5 PJ albums (at # 5).

Wobbie

joebot wrote:

I love it.
Makes my top 5 PJ albums (at # 5).

it's in my top 9!