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Backspacer is pretty bad

luke.luke. Posts: 190
edited February 2012 in The Porch
I think it's such a boring bunch of radio friendly tunes. No substance, just noise. Sorry but I felt the need to say that. Anyone get anything from it? I mean I like force of nature but that's really it. The rest seems so empty of any pj soul.
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  • Illridethewave20Illridethewave20 Posts: 491
    bite your tounge!
  • pjradiopjradio Posts: 6,704
    guessing you're in the minority here, & thats all good, to each their own. However, I loved it...along with tons of reviewers...(not that that means anything)
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  • PillowPantsPillowPants Posts: 4,877
    yeah... it was a smash on the radio
  • F5F5 Posts: 794
    Why do people insist on creating totally lame and subjective threads like this?
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  • DewieCoxDewieCox Posts: 11,432
    It's ok, but way below PJ's standard's imo. Mostly middle of the road tunes and some that are just downright boring or cheesy.
  • Mamasan23Mamasan23 Posts: 16,390
    PillowPants wrote:
    yeah... it was a smash on the radio

    :lol:
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  • benjsbenjs Toronto, ON Posts: 9,350
    luke. wrote:
    I think it's such a boring bunch of radio friendly tunes. No substance, just noise. Sorry but I felt the need to say that. Anyone get anything from it? I mean I like force of nature but that's really it. The rest seems so empty of any pj soul.
    1. Radio-friendly ≠ bad
    2. If Pearl Jam kept trying to play with their fan's description of "PJ Soul", we would likely have three albums that sounded like Ten, and they would've called it quits years ago after receiving no record sales due to a derivative and repetitive sound.
    3. Yes, I got a lot from it. The album flows beautifully once you replace Speed of Sound with the demo (in my opinion). Speed of Sound and The End to me are full of real gut-wrenching soul, Gonna See My Friend and Got Some kick my ass in a good way every time, Unthought Known and Amongst the Waves are extremely well-designed songs that crescendo in ways not dissimilar to Given to Fly (which is great).. Just some more personal opinions on specifics.
    4.To say this is 'just noise' shows a weak understanding of pop music - this is a well-crafted pop album, and I think it is a refreshing deviation from what the typical Pearl Jam fan may have expected.
    5. Although this is a pop album, I don't see how "Gonna See My Friend", "Got Some", "Supersonic", "Speed of Sound", "Force of Nature", or "The End" are remotely radio-friendly. Oh - and that's over half the album.
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  • iOnlyownMymindiOnlyownMymind Posts: 2,945
    DewieCox wrote:
    It's ok, but way below PJ's standard's imo. Mostly middle of the road tunes and some that are just downright boring or cheesy.

    I agree. Its ok.
  • iamdirtyfrankiamdirtyfrank Posts: 207
    It took me years to really fall in love with no code, I'm hoping in 5/6 years time you'll think "yep, I finally get Backspacer"
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  • HamauryHamaury Posts: 189
    iamdirtyfrank wrote:
    It took me years to really fall in love with no code, I'm hoping in 5/6 years time you'll think "yep, I finally get Backspacer"

    That happens! Samething happened to me with No Code and Binaural. I love'em nowadays.
    Luckily i really liked backspacer!
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  • F Me In The BrainF Me In The Brain this knows everybody from other commets Posts: 31,737
    I love b/s, think it is a great record. Different, as many of the albums are...are certainly more mainstream, but I love it nonetheless.
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  • RW8297RW8297 Posts: 1,617
    luke. wrote:
    I think it's such a boring bunch of radio friendly tunes. No substance, just noise. Sorry but I felt the need to say that. Anyone get anything from it? I mean I like force of nature but that's really it. The rest seems so empty of any pj soul.


    +1
  • Ledbetterman10Ledbetterman10 Posts: 16,973
    Like Momentary Lapse of Reason and Rocky V, Backspacer is so lame that I don't even consider it part of the cannon.
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  • Attaway77Attaway77 Posts: 3,580
    I like it just fine... I'll take any music I can get from these guys, it's my fav fkn band so I'm all in for whatever they release....
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  • pjradiopjradio Posts: 6,704
    Ledbetterman10 wrote:
    Like Momentary Lapse of Reason and Rocky V, Backspacer is so lame that I don't even consider it part of the cannon.
    wow
    aqo2t.jpg
  • uninnocent-uninnocent- Posts: 5,959
    It took me a long while to get into Backspacer, but nowadays I can listen to it end-to-end on repeat without getting bored. It's a strong album, not their strongest, but still better than the majority of music out there. In no way would I ever call this album bad.
  • zootownzootown Posts: 666
    I concur that it is the weakest album they have made. Effort=Results! This album was made hastily and in a fragmented way, with everyone except Eddie being present for the song creations, and then he threw in a few compositions and added lyrics to other people's songs, and presto! a new album. I dont have high hopes for this next record either as the recording schedule appears to again be all broken up with Eddie being absent for large parts of it while he is touring solo. I think Johnny Guitar and Unthought Known are the only keepers.
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  • spoonfulspoonful Posts: 36
    Couldn't disagree more. Love the whole album except for Force of Nature.
  • vant0037vant0037 Posts: 6,169
    On the whole, I think its an OK album. A great song or two, and some rather bland or non-starters.

    Great songs: Force of Nature, Just Breathe (yeah yeah, it was my wife and I's first dance song)
    Good songs: Gonna See My Friend, Got Some, The Fixer, Johnny Guitar, Supersonic, The End, Unthought Known
    Blah/boring (IMO): Speed of Sound, Amongst The Waves

    Try as I might, I just can't get into Speed of Sound or Amongst The Waves.

    Perhaps this thread should be titled "What do you think of Backspacer?" It might have generated more of a discussion.
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  • StillHereStillHere Posts: 7,795
    i wasn't crazy about it when it first came out
    but i like it more and more as time goes on
    i enjoy it quite a bit now
    its not on par with some of the past albums
    but everything changes
    i won't be overly excited to hear Ole! on the next one
    so hoping for some exceptionally great stuff to override that track ;)
    i still love em though...can't beat the music
    even pearl jam's worst effort is a zillion times better than 99% of the other bands out there
    now or then
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  • peacefrompaulpeacefrompaul Posts: 25,293
    It's good. Not great.
  • MayDay MaloneMayDay Malone Posts: 641
    Unthought Known.

    That is all you need to know...
  • pjradiopjradio Posts: 6,704
    peacefrompaul wrote:
    It's good. Not great.


    thats about right...still enjoy listening to it though
    aqo2t.jpg
  • Digital TwilightDigital Twilight Posts: 5,642
    Ledbetterman10 wrote:
    Like Momentary Lapse of Reason and Rocky V, Backspacer is so lame that I don't even consider it part of the cannon.

    :lol:

    There are some great songs on there, Unthought Known is one of my favourite Pearl Jam songs of all time but most of the album I can live without to be honest.
  • DewieCoxDewieCox Posts: 11,432
    MayDay Malone wrote:
    Unthought Known.

    That is all you need to know...

    Yep...It sums it up nicely....middle of the road....boring and cheesy.
  • High Fidelity 2000High Fidelity 2000 New Mexico USA Posts: 4,439
    I would say it's the worst Pearl Jam album... but that it still has a handful of fairly good songs. However, I can count them on one hand: Got Some, Force of Nature, Just Breathe, Amongst the Waves, and... Johnny Guitar (that's right I dig it after originally thinking it sucked). Unthought Known has grown on me, but I still hate the Gems and RHINEstones line. I absolutely hate a couple of songs including The End. I still can't believe they used that take of Ed's vocals which sound cringe-worthy. Hopefully the Ole' album will be better. :)
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  • NAUjackfanNAUjackfan Phoenix Posts: 2,340
    I want to see a concept album based on Johnny Guitar next :o
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  • mookieb10mookieb10 Posts: 930
    It was different but i liked it.
  • High Fidelity 2000High Fidelity 2000 New Mexico USA Posts: 4,439
    NAUjackfan wrote:
    I want to see a concept album based on Johnny Guitar next :o

    :lol: I want to see a concept album based on the GIRL from Johnny Guitar!
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  • GS4566GS4566 Posts: 69
    Other than Ten, I've bought every album the day it came out.

    Backspacer for me is their weakest album. I'm not going to expand on my reasons.

    If you like it - great.

    But for me, on when I first listened I was disappointed and that has never happened before. It still has not grabbed me.

    In defense, Unthought Known is great live. Nice Arena fueled energy. Crap lyrics.

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