Backspacer is pretty bad

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Comments

  • benjs
    benjs Toronto, ON Posts: 9,448
    RiddledWithMetaphors wrote:
    luke. wrote:
    benjs wrote:
    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.
    '05 - TO, '06 - TO 1, '08 - NYC 1 & 2, '09 - TO, Chi 1 & 2, '10 - Buffalo, NYC 1 & 2, '11 - TO 1 & 2, Hamilton, '13 - Buffalo, Brooklyn 1 & 2, '15 - Global Citizen, '16 - TO 1 & 2, Chi 2

    EV
    Toronto Film Festival 9/11/2007, '08 - Toronto 1 & 2, '09 - Albany 1, '11 - Chicago 1
  • mfc2006
    mfc2006 HTOWN Posts: 37,491
    it's not my favorite album of theirs, but i really like it.
    I LOVE MUSIC.
    www.cluthelee.com
    www.cluthe.com
  • Better Dan
    Better Dan Posts: 5,684
    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.
    2003: San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Seattle; 2005: Monterrey; 2006: Chicago 1 & 2, Grand Rapids, Cleveland, Detroit; 2008: West Palm Beach, Tampa; 2009: Austin, LA 3 & 4, San Diego; 2010: Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbus, Indianapolis; 2011: PJ20 1 & 2; 2012: Missoula; 2013: Dallas, Oklahoma City, Seattle; 2014: Tulsa; 2016: Columbia, New York City 1 & 2; 2018: London, Seattle 1 & 2; 2021: Ohana; 2022: Oklahoma City
  • Dr. Delight
    Dr. Delight Posts: 11,210
    I cannot stand 'Just breathe'. And 'The End" is a phenomenal song. I cant believe that anyone would suggest that song sucked or was cheesy.
    And so you see, I have come to doubt
    All that I once held as true
    I stand alone without beliefs
    The only truth I know is you.
  • CopTheRiotAct
    CopTheRiotAct Posts: 953
    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. :D
    ...The Moon is Rollin' Round....
  • Kat
    Kat Posts: 4,987
    luke. wrote:
    benjs wrote:
    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.

    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.
    Falling down,...not staying down
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