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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Comments

  • Illridethewave20
    Illridethewave20 Posts: 491
    bite your tounge!
  • pjradio
    pjradio 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)
    aqo2t.jpg
  • PillowPants
    PillowPants Posts: 4,877
    yeah... it was a smash on the radio
  • F5
    F5 Posts: 794
    Why do people insist on creating totally lame and subjective threads like this?
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  • DewieCox
    DewieCox 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.
  • Mamasan23
    Mamasan23 Posts: 16,390
    PillowPants wrote:
    yeah... it was a smash on the radio

    :lol:
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  • benjs
    benjs Toronto, ON Posts: 9,448
    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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  • iOnlyownMymind
    iOnlyownMymind Posts: 2,974
    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.
  • iamdirtyfrank
    iamdirtyfrank 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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  • Hamaury
    Hamaury 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 Brain
    F Me In The Brain this knows everybody from other commets Posts: 31,998
    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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  • RW8297
    RW8297 Posts: 1,619
    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
  • Ledbetterman10
    Ledbetterman10 Posts: 17,018
    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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  • Attaway77
    Attaway77 Posts: 3,978
    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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  • pjradio
    pjradio 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.
  • zootown
    zootown 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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  • spoonful
    spoonful Posts: 36
    Couldn't disagree more. Love the whole album except for Force of Nature.
  • vant0037
    vant0037 Posts: 6,170
    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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  • StillHere
    StillHere 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
    peace,
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