Where does PJ go with the next record?

mbeagin110

IMO, the band has been lacking on the last two efforts. Sure, there are some great songs, but overall it kind of just leaves me at "okay this is a rock band." Say what you will about Avocado, but the songwriting/energy beats mostly anything on Backspacer and a lot of LB. Pearl Jam is clearly at their best when they're politically charged and have something to say (as they've mentioned before). "Can't Deny Me" is an okay song, (I like it probably more than a lot of others, but I see its flaws) but I actually think that that leaves them in a pretty good place even if thats not one of the best songs. What do y'all think?
(Also, I remember Stone saying something in one of the LB interviews that they were going in the direction of Pendulum and Infallible, and I like Pendulum enough for the atmosphere, but Infallible is meh.)

KN219077

Pendulum and Infallible are my two favorite from the last record so I’d really like that direction 

drakeheuer14

I like Backspacer and LB. So I am okay with anything they want to give us. Infallible is a top 5 song for me between the two albums, heard it the first time and I was hooked. 

The Avocado Album

Backspacer and LB have a more popish feel to it, which is why a lot of people don't put them in their top 5 - it's just not exactly the genre they're expecting when they sit down to listen to Pearl Jam.
That being said, I love the middle albums (NC-RA) because of how experimental they feel. Binaural is a masterpiece, and I think that it stands as one of the greatest albums they've ever put together. I'd like to see something artsy like that again, kind of taking from the vibe of pendulum and infallible and expanding on them.
However that's also very unlikely. I'm expecting them to return to a more rockish feel, based off how Can't Deny turned out and the mood they've been taking towards shows recently. It'll definitely be high-energy to say the least. Also, the experimental conditions of the middle albums were pretty much a result of them finally being free to fuck around with their music after the public eye turned away from them following the ticketmaster affair. Since Avocado came out they've had a pretty continuous following of lifetime fans and nostalgic gen-x kids who came back to them a decade after they stopped showing up on the radio. So the conditions will likely warrant something that's different from what we've seen in both the early in middle records. As I said before, I'm expecting a lot of political rockers. Maybe bordering on the classification of pop punk, who knows.

danny

just like to here a new album

2-feign-reluctance

danny said:

just like to here a new album

I don't think I'm that desperate, but I also don't have any expectations. Who knows if they're even working on an album. The amount of communication through the bands 'main channel' is horrid when it comes to that. Sick of "oh but Mike said on Instagram," or "Dimi said on Facebook", or "did you catch Sirius" or my  ALL TIME favorite is when someone catches one of the band in person and we hear about something that way. For fucks sake, I get the band's ethos to a certain point, but then when it comes to new music, let's get some updates, let's get us a few photos from in the studio.

2-feign-reluctance

Oh shit, what will it sound like? It will sound like Parquet Courts.

PJ_Soul

Is there anywhere to go but up?

Spiritual_Chaos

I hope they go somewhere creative. Some songs on LB showed some great promise in the atmosphere department (Pendulum etc) but most of it sounds like it's lacking identity. You can mix and match between the songs on Backspacer and LB and no one could tell it was on the wrong album. 

I don't care if they do a record with a symphony orchestra, or record every song in one live take in Stones garage. Just do something that give the album an identity.

And PLEASE don't have a "my first tutorial in an Adobe software" illustrated cover. Give it some depth, texture, analoge feel. 

tempo_n_groove

Spiritual_Chaos said:

I hope they go somewhere creative. Some songs on LB showed some great promise in the atmosphere department (Pendulum etc) but most of it sounds like it's lacking identity. You can mix and match between the songs on Backspacer and LB and no one could tell it was on the wrong album. 

I don't care if they do a record with a symphony orchestra, or record every song in one live take in Stones garage. Just do something that give the album an identity.

And PLEASE don't have a "my first tutorial in an Adobe software" illustrated cover. Give it some depth, texture, analoge feel. 

They won a grammy for the last albums artwork...  Go Don Pendleton!

Spiritual_Chaos

tempo_n_groove said:

Spiritual_Chaos said:

I hope they go somewhere creative. Some songs on LB showed some great promise in the atmosphere department (Pendulum etc) but most of it sounds like it's lacking identity. You can mix and match between the songs on Backspacer and LB and no one could tell it was on the wrong album. 

I don't care if they do a record with a symphony orchestra, or record every song in one live take in Stones garage. Just do something that give the album an identity.

And PLEASE don't have a "my first tutorial in an Adobe software" illustrated cover. Give it some depth, texture, analoge feel. 

They won a grammy for the last albums artwork...  Go Don Pendleton!

Doing something to look good on on itunes thumbnails is just sad. 

But them handdrawing the vinyl cover was a nice touch. 

Gern Blansten

I fear that we have a splintered band.  They seem to all be doing their own things and then they get together to put out an album.  

I am not sure that a great album can be done this way.  I hope I'm wrong....it just seems like they need to be together for a decent amount of time to create something and I don't think that is on their schedule.

PB11041

I am not big into reruns, and I am a bit of an outlier in that I liked Lightning Bolt a lot.  I have no interest in wanting to hear Pearl Jam try to repeat themselves, so whatever it is I prefer it is music that inspires them (which is generally what they have always done) than any attempt to reach back to some godforsaken glory day.  

evenflow82

Middle of the road adult contemporary rock. A good lead single, a couple Ramones rip offs, a sappy Ed ballad and some forgettable mid tempo rockers that will only be played for one tour.

Wma31394

^^^ I have no expectations..the days of putting out a great album are long gone..

KN219077

evenflow82 said:

Middle of the road adult contemporary rock. A good lead single, a couple Ramones rip offs, a sappy Ed ballad and some forgettable mid tempo rockers that will only be played for one tour.

Sadly this

Spiritual_Chaos

Wma31394 said:

^^^ I have no expectations..the days of putting out a great album are long gone..

I bet people said this about Neil Young in the mid 80s too.

But Neil is another beast ofc.

cincybearcat

I just want them to put out a new record. It’s been way too long.

H.Chinaski

To me. Both Backspacer and Lighting Bolt had a similar vibe. I would love to see them really branch out and do something different ala No Code. When it does come out i'd imagine it being a emotionally heavy record considering recent events...

mbeagin110

evenflow82 said:

Middle of the road adult contemporary rock. A good lead single, a couple Ramones rip offs, a sappy Ed ballad and some forgettable mid tempo rockers that will only be played for one tour.

ouch. thats a little too much truth. especially the mid-tempo stuff... ugh. PB11041 said:

I am not big into reruns, and I am a bit of an outlier in that I liked Lightning Bolt a lot.  I have no interest in wanting to hear Pearl Jam try to repeat themselves, so whatever it is I prefer it is music that inspires them (which is generally what they have always done) than any attempt to reach back to some godforsaken glory day.  

I also enjoy LB to an extent (when listening to the entire thing straight through on vinyl I mean). And I do like that they do a lot of different things, but are they really being "different" if all their music is "rock" that they don't even play live and leave it to the old stuff to fill 2 1/2 hour setlists and make money off rereleases?

IDK I just don't want Pearl Jam to be confused with Foo Fighters garbage. 

HesCalledDyer

PB11041 said:

I am not big into reruns, and I am a bit of an outlier in that I liked Lightning Bolt a lot.  I have no interest in wanting to hear Pearl Jam try to repeat themselves, so whatever it is I prefer it is music that inspires them (which is generally what they have always done) than any attempt to reach back to some godforsaken glory day.  

  Thank you!  Some of these comments here make me wonder why some people are even still fans.  Always longing for the next No Code or Vitalogy, claiming the last 2-4 albums aren't good, or that the band lost their creativity or have become uninspired.  It's a good thing these guys aren't as snarky as Billy Corgan.  It's no wonder he gets pissed off at fans when they keep asking him to make Siamese & Mellon Collie 2.

Wma31394

HesCalledDyer said:

PB11041 said:

I am not big into reruns, and I am a bit of an outlier in that I liked Lightning Bolt a lot.  I have no interest in wanting to hear Pearl Jam try to repeat themselves, so whatever it is I prefer it is music that inspires them (which is generally what they have always done) than any attempt to reach back to some godforsaken glory day.  

  Thank you!  Some of these comments here make me wonder why some people are even still fans.  Always longing for the next No Code or Vitalogy, claiming the last 2-4 albums aren't good, or that the band lost their creativity or have become uninspired.  It's a good thing these guys aren't as snarky as Billy Corgan.  It's no wonder he gets pissed off at fans when they keep asking him to make Siamese & Mellon Collie 2.

You can still be a fan while saying the past few albums haven't been that good..it has nothing to do with repeating themselves, it's just about the quality of work on recent albums.

rummy

Spiritual_Chaos said:

Wma31394 said:

^^^ I have no expectations..the days of putting out a great album are long gone..

I bet people said this about Neil Young in the mid 80s too.

But Neil is another beast ofc.

They also said this about The Stones, unfortunately. The side projects might be killing this band's creative output. It'd be nice if some of these fresher ideas went to a PJ album.

PB11041

HesCalledDyer said:

PB11041 said:

I am not big into reruns, and I am a bit of an outlier in that I liked Lightning Bolt a lot.  I have no interest in wanting to hear Pearl Jam try to repeat themselves, so whatever it is I prefer it is music that inspires them (which is generally what they have always done) than any attempt to reach back to some godforsaken glory day.  

  Thank you!  Some of these comments here make me wonder why some people are even still fans.  Always longing for the next No Code or Vitalogy, claiming the last 2-4 albums aren't good, or that the band lost their creativity or have become uninspired.  It's a good thing these guys aren't as snarky as Billy Corgan.  It's no wonder he gets pissed off at fans when they keep asking him to make Siamese & Mellon Collie 2.

It is a thing I simply do not understand.  But honestly it was something I learned big time a long while ago with Vitalogy and No Code, sometimes fans really do just want things to be version 2.0.   Not my cup of tea.  

Spiritual_Chaos

I don't see anyone in here screaming about getting another Vitalogy or No Code?

PB11041

Wma31394 said:

HesCalledDyer said:

PB11041 said:

I am not big into reruns, and I am a bit of an outlier in that I liked Lightning Bolt a lot.  I have no interest in wanting to hear Pearl Jam try to repeat themselves, so whatever it is I prefer it is music that inspires them (which is generally what they have always done) than any attempt to reach back to some godforsaken glory day.  

  Thank you!  Some of these comments here make me wonder why some people are even still fans.  Always longing for the next No Code or Vitalogy, claiming the last 2-4 albums aren't good, or that the band lost their creativity or have become uninspired.  It's a good thing these guys aren't as snarky as Billy Corgan.  It's no wonder he gets pissed off at fans when they keep asking him to make Siamese & Mellon Collie 2.

You can still be a fan while saying the past few albums haven't been that good..it has nothing to do with repeating themselves, it's just about the quality of work on recent albums.

https://youtu.be/1LTiKJlB62g

HesCalledDyer

I also get a kick out of the crowd that, just because PJ did a 4-city stadium tour this summer, think that they are only ever going to play baseball stadiums in the US now.  Calm down, folks.

Jbarker

The "Realist" side of me says...
Pearl Jam had a marvelous run. Gave us (10) amazing albums, a heap of worthy B-Sides and a well built live catalog. Their creative arc burned like magnesium at its peak, and continues to shine in the distance like the trail of a falling star. Yet it still fades and they have deservedly earned a graceful retirement. I am more than satisfied with their current catalog, especially if it means they not dilute it further with manufactured offerings. Studio appearances that have to be encouraged and forced, or cumbersome lyrics rammed into a song because the fans need an album. Be a band, enjoy being in a band and do it like a band or don't do it.

The "Optimist" side of me says...
Of course send out another album. I never really considered LB to be a follow-up to BS, and as soon as I heard Can't Deny Me, I immediately thought LB was more of a pre-cursor to the next batch of material. Bring it on. Experimental, adult-contemp, fucking whatever... If Ed has the words and Stone has a groove, then I'm all in. if it takes four years to schedule enough studio time to lay down all the tracks than fine. If its PJ, its golden to my ears because as a fan I won't really 'compare' it, I won't really 'rank' it and I won't really 'critique' it. Like everyone in here, I will have an emotional connection to some degree and let it settle on my soul like swirling stardust.

But to answer the OP:

Getaway-esque rockers for the bulk sprinkled with a few insightful ballads.

PJ_Soul

HesCalledDyer said:

I also get a kick out of the crowd that, just because PJ did a 4-city stadium tour this summer, think that they are only ever going to play baseball stadiums in the US now.  Calm down, folks.

Agreed.

rummy

Spiritual_Chaos said:

I don't see anyone in here screaming about getting another Vitalogy or No Code?

That'd be A LOT to ask/wish for. 

Wma31394

mbeagin110 said:

IMO, the band has been lacking on the last two efforts. Sure, there are some great songs, but overall it kind of just leaves me at "okay this is a rock band." Say what you will about Avocado, but the songwriting/energy beats mostly anything on Backspacer and a lot of LB. Pearl Jam is clearly at their best when they're politically charged and have something to say (as they've mentioned before). "Can't Deny Me" is an okay song, (I like it probably more than a lot of others, but I see its flaws) but I actually think that that leaves them in a pretty good place even if thats not one of the best songs. What do y'all think?
(Also, I remember Stone saying something in one of the LB interviews that they were going in the direction of Pendulum and Infallible, and I like Pendulum enough for the atmosphere, but Infallible is meh.)

I would say the band is at their worst when politically charged..