Exactly. Taking risks doesn't automatically equate with goodness.
Here is does. Sorry you don't like the new album. Maybe next time.
Its not that I don't like it, its just that's I don't think its nearly as good as everyone else, but that's fine, that's why its my opinion and not fact.
And I don't think that risks ever inherently guarantee success.
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Anyone out there who doesn't completely adore the album?
Let's see. I adore my wife, my new puppy, etc. An album? I don't think so. There are some great PJ songs on this album, some great Eddie Vedder solo songs and some good songs. As I continue to listen we'll see how/if it grows on me. But adore, NOT.
..correct..i adore woman too especially ..Redheads
"...Dimitri...He talks to me...'.."The Ghost of Greece..".
"..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
“..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
I'm with you guys... I remember well when Ten/Vs/Vitalogy came out, and they immediately grabbed you and shook you awake with their energy and urgency. Ten had dark brooding lyrics, but big choruses that gave you a sense of optimism and euphoria. Vs had a raw power and rage coursing through it that took it to a whole other level. Vitalogy was just a musical explosion. They got experimental on No Code, but it was still fresh, cool, and new - just like Ten sounded like nothing else when it came out, No Code sounded like nothing else when it came out. The Eastern-influenced drumming on In My Tree and Who You Are was pretty badass, Lukin is a killer song for being so short, and Present Tense showed that sometimes, instrumentally, less is more.
And I haven't "loved" an album of theirs since.
Ed still has the patented Eddie anger in his voice, but it sounds forced, like he got old and rich and happy (imagine that!) - it's like it used to be rage, and now it's just been downgraded to anger lol. The band is tighter and technically better, but it's come at the expense of pure emotion. I got into them because they sounded like they had dirt under their fingernails, they were rough around the edges and real. Now they sound like they have manicures and clean nails, and they've sanded away the rough edges. I remember an ooooold (mid-90s I think) interview with Stone where he said he loved the spaces between the notes - but those spaces have long since disappeared. What made them "Pearl Jam" left the building a long time ago - now they sound like a Ramones/The Who hybrid. The problem with that is you can't play punk if you're going to polish it and make it shiny. PJ used to have Stone playing killer riffs (that weren't just variations of scales), Mike playing screaming solos, and Jeff working the fretboard like a madman. Now the solos have gone, and they've been replaced by power chords in 4/4 time, while Jeff just bangs out quarter notes (unless it's a Matt song - that man knows more time signatures and beats than I ever thought possible). Lyrics like "On the edge of a Christmas-clean love, young virgin from heaven visiting hell, to the man above her she just ain't nothing, and she doesn't like the view, but he sinks himself deep" have been replaced by "When something's broke I wanna put a little fixin' on it."
It's cool that a lot of people on this board like Backspacer, but there are also a lot of people who will like them on principle because it's Pearl Jam. Eddie could burp into a mic and they'd swoon. It's like the story about why Dave Chappelle quit the industry - people were coming to his shows and going crazy because IT WAS DAVE CHAPPELLE, and he found he couldn't tell if his jokes were still funny or not - he could've told "knock knock" jokes and people would've laughed and cheered because IT WAS DAVE CHAPPELLE.
That being said, I also don't doubt that there are a lot of people who do genuinely love this album, just as there are people who count Riot Act, Binaural, and self-titled as their favorite albums by PJ - and that's awesome, there's something for everyone. I'd like to know though, at what point did those people start listening to Pearl Jam? Did the Binaural crowd start getting into them when Binaural came out? How many people old enough to have gotten into them when Ten came out are in the subset that thinks Riot Act is a masterpiece and their best work?
I've been there since day one, and while they're by far and away my favorite band, I haven't "loved" anything they've done since No Code (apologies to the majority of the people on this board - I'm actually kinda indifferent to Yield). Habit is the last rock song they wrote where it sounds like they were really trying to tear the roof off the room - everything since then may have started off sounding like that, but once the track was laid it was then polished until it sounded like Pearl Jam covering Pearl Jam, instead of Pearl Jam being Pearl Jam. I think that's why so many people prefer to see them live - you get the Pearl Jam presence that their albums have been missing for the last ten years. Listen to Do The Evolution on CD, then go and see them in concert and hear them do it live - consider that Exhibits A-Y. Exhibit Z is Mike playing Even Flow - it's on the set list every night because he loves to play it... it has a killer riff, and he can solo his ass off. Call me skeptical, but with the amount of talent that man has, it's hard to imagine him getting giddy with excitement over yet another 3-minute-long punk song with no solo.
The old Pearl Jam was innovative and new, they were taking risks and reinventing the game. New Pearl Jam is just a shiny, polished, 70s-era punk band. They may be better than almost every other band out there, but they're a far cry from the band they used to be. I'm not disappointed in Backspacer by any means, but that's only because I saw it coming... When I heard they were remixing Ten and going through old material, I thought it might inspire them to come out with a throwback album with dark lyrics, soaring choruses, and dirty killer riffs. Then they started giving interviews describing the songs as short, punk/new wave-ish, and happy. Backspacer isn't a "return to form" at all, because their albums have all been good - there are ones you like more than others, but there aren't any real clunkers in the mix (at least not for me) - but what it is, is the next step in their progression from being an angry, edgy, hungry young rock band with a message, to an old, well-fed, content band that goes back and forth between 70s-style punk songs about pimps on album covers to crooning Into The Wild leftovers (full disclosure: I do, in fact, love the Into The Wild soundtrack - it's the first thing PJ-related in years that not only blew me away from the first listen, but also holds up perfectly and stirs the same warm memories each time I revisit it). They're not "returning" to anything - they're just continuing their march forward, and I'm personally not excited about the direction they chose to head in.
That being said, at the end of the day they're still a really good band, and there are plenty of people who love their sound these days, and that makes me happy. This album will bring in new fans, who will get to discover 20 years worth of solid music, and I'm always stoked to see new fans getting into Pearl Jam (I don't like the Last Kiss cover, but I give it a pass for that reason - it got new people interested in the band lol).
I'll continue to get excited every spring when talk of a summer tour comes around, and I'll continue to wait with baited breath to see if that tour comes anywhere near me (hopefully at some point soon it will so I can stop bitching about how long it's been since I last saw them in concert), but I learned long ago to not get too carried away with anticipation over a new studio album. To each his own, I guess.
Damn was that a long-winded rambling old man post...
you're wrong about so many things in what you said that I don't even know where to begin...
It's his opinion and he's entitled to it weather you agreee with him or not . I actually like the album but I can see where he is coming from especially in his first paragraph.
There's alot of good ideas and thoughts here. And as I sit here and listen to the album for only the fourth time since I got it. (oh know) I know that this like all the rest will grow on not just me but everyone. Now Im not a fan from the beginning. I probably been a fan for six years or so and have only been there for Riot Act and PJ. Having said that I remember the first time I popped in self titled. And after word was left with this feeling of "should I listen to it again" Each album is a staple of where they are at as a band as a people. Do I think that Mike Def should have had more Mike time, yes. Having said that I think Force of Nature is on par with the rest of his work maybe even better. I had heard the leaked versions of Speed of SOund and was much surprised upon hearing the entire band jump in. Like the Gone, I liked the demo much better, much more intimate. I don't think Ed and Co just sits down and says "lets right hits. Lets appeal to the Target crowd". They walked out on that long ago. And for those still wanting Pearl Jam to be angry. Life is to short to be pissed off all the time. They've grown as a band as people.
Having said that I would have liked to have seem more collaboration with the songs. Stones stuff is always solid and is always a treat to hear a Matt Cam piece but I honestly don't want it to be a thing of Ed writing songs. They were songs that I feel it was just Ed and everyone else kinda just jumped in without their own input. Ed is not the only one in Pearl Jam. Pearl Jam is a band not Ed Vedder. And while I might be damned for that by some, its true. Ed is part of the process but is by no means the mecha of the creativity in Pearl Jam. Mike Def could've used some more room to breath, that was one of the first things I remember thinking. But then listen to Force of Nature, probably my favorite right now, total Mike. Those are my thoughts and ramblings. Cool to read everyone else's perspectives.
I'm with you guys... I remember well when Ten/Vs/Vitalogy came out, and they immediately grabbed you and shook you awake with their energy and urgency. Ten had dark brooding lyrics, but big choruses that gave you a sense of optimism and euphoria. Vs had a raw power and rage coursing through it that took it to a whole other level. Vitalogy was just a musical explosion. They got experimental on No Code, but it was still fresh, cool, and new - just like Ten sounded like nothing else when it came out, No Code sounded like nothing else when it came out. The Eastern-influenced drumming on In My Tree and Who You Are was pretty badass, Lukin is a killer song for being so short, and Present Tense showed that sometimes, instrumentally, less is more.
And I haven't "loved" an album of theirs since.
Ed still has the patented Eddie anger in his voice, but it sounds forced, like he got old and rich and happy (imagine that!) - it's like it used to be rage, and now it's just been downgraded to anger lol. The band is tighter and technically better, but it's come at the expense of pure emotion. I got into them because they sounded like they had dirt under their fingernails, they were rough around the edges and real. Now they sound like they have manicures and clean nails, and they've sanded away the rough edges. I remember an ooooold (mid-90s I think) interview with Stone where he said he loved the spaces between the notes - but those spaces have long since disappeared. What made them "Pearl Jam" left the building a long time ago - now they sound like a Ramones/The Who hybrid. The problem with that is you can't play punk if you're going to polish it and make it shiny. PJ used to have Stone playing killer riffs (that weren't just variations of scales), Mike playing screaming solos, and Jeff working the fretboard like a madman. Now the solos have gone, and they've been replaced by power chords in 4/4 time, while Jeff just bangs out quarter notes (unless it's a Matt song - that man knows more time signatures and beats than I ever thought possible). Lyrics like "On the edge of a Christmas-clean love, young virgin from heaven visiting hell, to the man above her she just ain't nothing, and she doesn't like the view, but he sinks himself deep" have been replaced by "When something's broke I wanna put a little fixin' on it."
It's cool that a lot of people on this board like Backspacer, but there are also a lot of people who will like them on principle because it's Pearl Jam. Eddie could burp into a mic and they'd swoon. It's like the story about why Dave Chappelle quit the industry - people were coming to his shows and going crazy because IT WAS DAVE CHAPPELLE, and he found he couldn't tell if his jokes were still funny or not - he could've told "knock knock" jokes and people would've laughed and cheered because IT WAS DAVE CHAPPELLE.
That being said, I also don't doubt that there are a lot of people who do genuinely love this album, just as there are people who count Riot Act, Binaural, and self-titled as their favorite albums by PJ - and that's awesome, there's something for everyone. I'd like to know though, at what point did those people start listening to Pearl Jam? Did the Binaural crowd start getting into them when Binaural came out? How many people old enough to have gotten into them when Ten came out are in the subset that thinks Riot Act is a masterpiece and their best work?
I've been there since day one, and while they're by far and away my favorite band, I haven't "loved" anything they've done since No Code (apologies to the majority of the people on this board - I'm actually kinda indifferent to Yield). Habit is the last rock song they wrote where it sounds like they were really trying to tear the roof off the room - everything since then may have started off sounding like that, but once the track was laid it was then polished until it sounded like Pearl Jam covering Pearl Jam, instead of Pearl Jam being Pearl Jam. I think that's why so many people prefer to see them live - you get the Pearl Jam presence that their albums have been missing for the last ten years. Listen to Do The Evolution on CD, then go and see them in concert and hear them do it live - consider that Exhibits A-Y. Exhibit Z is Mike playing Even Flow - it's on the set list every night because he loves to play it... it has a killer riff, and he can solo his ass off. Call me skeptical, but with the amount of talent that man has, it's hard to imagine him getting giddy with excitement over yet another 3-minute-long punk song with no solo.
The old Pearl Jam was innovative and new, they were taking risks and reinventing the game. New Pearl Jam is just a shiny, polished, 70s-era punk band. They may be better than almost every other band out there, but they're a far cry from the band they used to be. I'm not disappointed in Backspacer by any means, but that's only because I saw it coming... When I heard they were remixing Ten and going through old material, I thought it might inspire them to come out with a throwback album with dark lyrics, soaring choruses, and dirty killer riffs. Then they started giving interviews describing the songs as short, punk/new wave-ish, and happy. Backspacer isn't a "return to form" at all, because their albums have all been good - there are ones you like more than others, but there aren't any real clunkers in the mix (at least not for me) - but what it is, is the next step in their progression from being an angry, edgy, hungry young rock band with a message, to an old, well-fed, content band that goes back and forth between 70s-style punk songs about pimps on album covers to crooning Into The Wild leftovers (full disclosure: I do, in fact, love the Into The Wild soundtrack - it's the first thing PJ-related in years that not only blew me away from the first listen, but also holds up perfectly and stirs the same warm memories each time I revisit it). They're not "returning" to anything - they're just continuing their march forward, and I'm personally not excited about the direction they chose to head in.
That being said, at the end of the day they're still a really good band, and there are plenty of people who love their sound these days, and that makes me happy. This album will bring in new fans, who will get to discover 20 years worth of solid music, and I'm always stoked to see new fans getting into Pearl Jam (I don't like the Last Kiss cover, but I give it a pass for that reason - it got new people interested in the band lol).
I'll continue to get excited every spring when talk of a summer tour comes around, and I'll continue to wait with baited breath to see if that tour comes anywhere near me (hopefully at some point soon it will so I can stop bitching about how long it's been since I last saw them in concert), but I learned long ago to not get too carried away with anticipation over a new studio album. To each his own, I guess.
Damn was that a long-winded rambling old man post...
you're wrong about so many things in what you said that I don't even know where to begin...
got bored in the second paragraph, the guy was just waffling along
And for those still wanting Pearl Jam to be angry. Life is to short to be pissed off all the time. They've grown as a band as people.
its not so much anger as it is pure relentless emotion... higher highs, lower lows... PJ has had some pretty romantic songs in the past that werent the least bit cheesy or insincere... there are still hints of those emotions on some of eds vocals on backspacer... but theyre lacking... or maybe its just a more mature kindof emotion that i cant appreciate at my age... vitalogy is the pinnacle of that kindof song writing for them... and i think the last real highlights for me are "save you" and "LBC" just cause theyre so personally important to the band/ed... im glad they havent had any personal tragedy to inspire a song like that but they need a muse that powerful to make powerful music these days... i just think of someone like trent reznor who has finally gotten clean and found love and is still capable of channeling something darker and true to his sound... but i guess maybe thats why NIN is no more
sorry... thats quite the ramble... i just add thoughts as they come to me
Anybody that has been around these forums for the last 3 or 4 records that have been released will know that there are always threads like this where people that don't like the new album vent their frustration. There is always the comparison back to the "good old days" of Ten, Vs, and Vitalogy. My question is, have you even listened to the albums that followed Vitalogy? I mean seriously, do you not hear the progression from album to album and realize that 6 albums after Vitalogy that they will NEVER make another album that sounds like Ten, Vs, and Vitalogy? Those albums, while they are great, represent a completely different time in the world and in the band's life. The things the band cared about back then aren't what they are passionate about now, it's called growing up. Don't get me wrong, I'm fine if Backspacer doesn't speak to some of you and you don't like it. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and I acknowledge that music is a very subjective thing. However, stop hoping for another Ten, Vs, or Vitalogy sounding album to come out of this band. It's just never going to happen.
“May you live to be 100 and may the last voice you hear be mine.” - Frank Sinatra
Anybody that has been around these forums for the last 3 or 4 records that have been released will know that there are always threads like this where people that don't like the new album vent their frustration. There is always the comparison back to the "good old days" of Ten, Vs, and Vitalogy. My question is, have you even listened to the albums that followed Vitalogy? I mean seriously, do you not hear the progression from album to album and realize that 6 albums after Vitalogy that they will NEVER make another album that sounds like Ten, Vs, and Vitalogy? Those albums, while they are great, represent a completely different time in the world and in the band's life. The things the band cared about back then aren't what they are passionate about now, it's called growing up. Don't get me wrong, I'm fine if Backspacer doesn't speak to some of you and you don't like it. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and I acknowledge that music is a very subjective thing. However, stop hoping for another Ten, Vs, or Vitalogy sounding album to come out of this band. It's just never going to happen.
I actually would prefer another album more similar to Binaural/Riot Act.
you couldn't swing if you were hangin' from a palm tree in a hurricane
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2 Chappelle show references in one thread. Score!
"..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
“..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
It's his opinion and he's entitled to it weather you agreee with him or not . I actually like the album but I can see where he is coming from especially in his first paragraph.
Having said that I would have liked to have seem more collaboration with the songs. Stones stuff is always solid and is always a treat to hear a Matt Cam piece but I honestly don't want it to be a thing of Ed writing songs. They were songs that I feel it was just Ed and everyone else kinda just jumped in without their own input. Ed is not the only one in Pearl Jam. Pearl Jam is a band not Ed Vedder. And while I might be damned for that by some, its true. Ed is part of the process but is by no means the mecha of the creativity in Pearl Jam. Mike Def could've used some more room to breath, that was one of the first things I remember thinking. But then listen to Force of Nature, probably my favorite right now, total Mike. Those are my thoughts and ramblings. Cool to read everyone else's perspectives.
got bored in the second paragraph, the guy was just waffling along
sorry... thats quite the ramble... i just add thoughts as they come to me
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I actually would prefer another album more similar to Binaural/Riot Act.