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.
:wave: I had to double check the date on your post luke :?
did you just get Backspacer?
maybe you need a little more time to delve into it
I loved it early on and now a couple of the songs are lifelong PJ favorites of mine
I think I take the package of Pearl Jam though, and see where they were where they are going
and then I see my own life and the changes in the last 20 years
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.
Get off your high horse pal, you don't have to defend the album like it's yours. I never said radio friendly equals bad. But pearl jam is better than that. Stop twisting words
I quite like Backspacer. Is it different from Ten, Vs. and the early stuff to middle stuff? Yes, it is. But that is sort of the point: to make new music. Not to rehash what they have already done.
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.
Yeah, exactly! all of 17 minutes!
sorry, had to say it.
I've always said I love the album up until Unthought Known...the rest im not so fond of.
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.
Get off your high horse pal, you don't have to defend the album like it's yours. I never said radio friendly equals bad. But pearl jam is better than that. Stop twisting words
What high horse? This is a forum for discussions and I find his discussion to be more articulate than yours. Although you didn't explicitly state that radio friendly equates to bad, it is an adjective you used to describe the album as weak. Easily inferred...
Benjs, good points. Good writing, as always. Keep it up.
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.
Really? Force of Nature could have been the biggest most radio friendly hit Pearl Jam ever had since the Ten days. It is a very generic sounding song, musically, but actually works pretty good. It is pop if there ever was pop by them. It's shocking they didn't release it as a single and push to get some more of those CDs out of the Targets before they $5 markdowns.
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It's a pretty bland album and I agree with a previous poster that the recording schedules really bore this out. The album lacks that Pearl Jam essence that prevails through the other records. Got Some is the only song which registers a pulse with me. The others are a bit too mid-tempo or pedestrian. The band is its own worst enemy most of the time. I can almost GUARANTEE you that the ONLY reason they like Supersonic is because of the bridge. The rest of the song is utter shit and Amongst the Waves barely even gets off of the ground. If the next album has the same feel (and if Ole is on it), then I fear this band's time has finally come to a close creatively speaking.
I did not like Backspacer at first. The only song I liked was Force of Nature, but now, I love most of the record. Unthought Known has become a big crowd pleaser at shows and makes a great opener. Just Breathe is another great live tune. The Fixer and Got Some are very strong rockers. These four songs are going to be regular staples of their live shows for years to come, and will stand up with songs like DTE and Elderly Woman.
i think b/s is a solid album, its got a good flow to it. that said..nothing is really too great. unthought known is a good song but i wonder if it would still get the same praise if the rest of the songs on the album were better/more creative. i like the album ok, but if this were the 1st pj album i bought and listened to, i would of just forgotten about them to be honest.
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.
Get off your high horse pal, you don't have to defend the album like it's yours. I never said radio friendly equals bad. But pearl jam is better than that. Stop twisting words
What high horse? This is a forum for discussions and I find his discussion to be more articulate than yours. Although you didn't explicitly state that radio friendly equates to bad, it is an adjective you used to describe the album as weak. Easily inferred...
Benjs, good points. Good writing, as always. Keep it up.
Thanks, Riddled
Luke, when you stated the album was a "boring bunch of radio-friendly tunes" I thought you implied that 'radio-friendly' had negative connotations associated with it, which I would assume most would agree with when you put 'boring' immediately before it - my apologies if I took that the wrong direction; it's never my intention to twist words.
Please don't accuse me of riding a high horse because I chose to voice my opinions and they aren't in agreement with your own... I liked the album, I got (and still get) plenty of enjoyment from it, and I gave coherent explanations as to why.
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EV
Toronto Film Festival 9/11/2007, '08 - Toronto 1 & 2, '09 - Albany 1, '11 - Chicago 1
I really like Backspacer and all of the songs on it, with the exception of Gonna See My Friend which I think is just okay. I don't think it's the band's best work, but also think it is far from their worst.
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I think Riot Act was the last record they did where they were playing what came naturally to them, Avocado and Backspacer both have a forced rock sound with terrible loud production to make it seem more rockin, where it actually just takes the feeling out of the record as a whole.
I think both Avocado and Backspacer both have great songs on them, but they dont have "Can't keeps"/"sleight of hands" or "present tenses" that all the other albums have. Speed of sound comes the closest to having the feeling that pearl jam songs are meant to have, although i think its to do with production as well as song writing. I think pearl jam have had problems making a good sounding album for awhile now. Riot act sounds amazing though.
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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.
Get off your high horse pal, you don't have to defend the album like it's yours. I never said radio friendly equals bad. But pearl jam is better than that. Stop twisting words
I feel the need to say something too. The subject and content of the OP is as insulting as you intended it to be, so you cannot try for the high road when someone else takes issue with it. If you feel the band's music is noise, just don't listen. There's a right way and a wrong way to express criticism and you missed the mark on the right way. This thread is done.
Comments
did you just get Backspacer?
maybe you need a little more time to delve into it
I loved it early on and now a couple of the songs are lifelong PJ favorites of mine
I think I take the package of Pearl Jam though, and see where they were where they are going
and then I see my own life and the changes in the last 20 years
it all fits and I get it
The meaningfulness of the music is there
Get off your high horse pal, you don't have to defend the album like it's yours. I never said radio friendly equals bad. But pearl jam is better than that. Stop twisting words
I think it is a good record.
Yeah, exactly! all of 17 minutes!
sorry, had to say it.
I've always said I love the album up until Unthought Known...the rest im not so fond of.
What high horse? This is a forum for discussions and I find his discussion to be more articulate than yours. Although you didn't explicitly state that radio friendly equates to bad, it is an adjective you used to describe the album as weak. Easily inferred...
Benjs, good points. Good writing, as always. Keep it up.
Really? Force of Nature could have been the biggest most radio friendly hit Pearl Jam ever had since the Ten days. It is a very generic sounding song, musically, but actually works pretty good. It is pop if there ever was pop by them. It's shocking they didn't release it as a single and push to get some more of those CDs out of the Targets before they $5 markdowns.
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Luke, when you stated the album was a "boring bunch of radio-friendly tunes" I thought you implied that 'radio-friendly' had negative connotations associated with it, which I would assume most would agree with when you put 'boring' immediately before it - my apologies if I took that the wrong direction; it's never my intention to twist words.
Please don't accuse me of riding a high horse because I chose to voice my opinions and they aren't in agreement with your own... I liked the album, I got (and still get) plenty of enjoyment from it, and I gave coherent explanations as to why.
EV
Toronto Film Festival 9/11/2007, '08 - Toronto 1 & 2, '09 - Albany 1, '11 - Chicago 1
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I think both Avocado and Backspacer both have great songs on them, but they dont have "Can't keeps"/"sleight of hands" or "present tenses" that all the other albums have. Speed of sound comes the closest to having the feeling that pearl jam songs are meant to have, although i think its to do with production as well as song writing. I think pearl jam have had problems making a good sounding album for awhile now. Riot act sounds amazing though.
I feel the need to say something too. The subject and content of the OP is as insulting as you intended it to be, so you cannot try for the high road when someone else takes issue with it. If you feel the band's music is noise, just don't listen. There's a right way and a wrong way to express criticism and you missed the mark on the right way. This thread is done.