Pearl Jam - Backspacer

Pearl Jam
Backspacer
2009 Monkeywrench

Pearl Jam is in a bit of an odd situation because they’ve released pretty much nothing but strong albums for their entire career, but yet people are clamoring for a “comeback” from them; essentially asking them to make another Ten. People have yearned for a “return to form” from Pearl Jam since Vitalogy was released in 1994, and though they have been a bit further out of the public eye than they were in their heyday, they never really got “worse”. Granted, their previous record, Pearl Jam (2006), left a bit to be desired, but Pearl Jam is not a band that completely lost it or fell by the wayside.

It’s into this rather bizarre atmosphere that Pearl Jam released Backspacer. Like Pearl Jam before it, many early press clippings either heralded it as a return to the band’s roots or lambasted it as inferior to their classic albums. People, critics and fans alike, don’t seem content to let this band’s albums stand on their own as they had done through Riot Act (2002). Their memory of the band and its music has collapsed on itself. It’s as if the prevailing attitude is, “OK, this is all well and good, but where’s ‘Even Flow’?” This attitude is allowed to fester not because Pearl Jam didn’t go out of their way to do something they’ve already done, but because the songs on both Backspacer and Pearl Jam aren’t all that good and aren’t convincing the audience that their direction is something to be interested in.

Backspacer starts with two conventional but solid hard rock tunes, “Gonna See My Friend” and “Get Some”. Both move along quickly, feature engaging melodies and strong guitar work, and they play to a great strength of the band; fast-paced, 2-3 minute memorable bursts of energy. These are the kinds of songs that become the band’s concert staples. “The Fixer”, the lead single, follows and is absolutely the best song on the album. The song features a commanding, powerful riff combined with impeccable vocals (and inflection) from singer Eddie Vedder. “The Fixer” leaves an impression in a way only a great Pearl Jam song can, with a kickass melody that stands out and truly makes itself known. “Johnny Guitar” continues the good work by giving us one of the band’s signature melodic breakdowns before turning around back into the opening riff. The best Pearl Jam songs are those where Vedder’s vocals and the guitar work intertwine and feed off each other, which happens here and in “The Fixer”. So far, so good.

“Just Breathe” follows, and serves to ruin much of the momentum the album had. It sounds nice enough, but it’s a little too sappy to immediately follow the previous songs, and it just sounds like they’re trying a bit too hard to make another “Last Kiss”. Pearl Jam has written a lot of very good “sentimental” songs (“Off He Goes”, “Thumbing My Way”) but this one rings a bit hollow.

Most previous Pearl Jam releases often had big-sounding, grandiose rock songs which lent those albums weight and strength. “Against the Waves” provides Backspacer with that much needed quality, and is quickly followed by “Unthought Known” which continues the big sound laid forth on the previous track. These two songs re-establish the album’s momentum and add some much needed importance to the proceedings; after all, this is a new Pearl Jam album, for fuck’s sake!

It’s unfortunate that the album starts off so well only to fizzle down the stretch. “Supersonic” is another 2 ½ minute speed-burst that doesn’t do anything too memorable, and “Speed of Sound” is simply puzzling; it sounds like something Marc Cohn might record. Despite the good songs that came before, Backspacer truly is a disjointed record. Things don’t fit together very well, and though the best songs do manage to rise above some of the filler on the album, the contrast of sounds from track to track is often jarring. It almost sounds like they took their best or favorite eleven songs and jumbled them together without rhyme or reason. The album is closed by “Force of Nature” and “The End”; the first a rather bland, uncomplicated rock song and the latter another soft number that serves as an adequate ending for the album.

Backspacer is a mixed bag. I don’t care that they didn’t remake Ten, but there’s no immediacy here. There are some good songs, sure, but there’s nothing here that demands my attention (save “The Fixer”). Backspacer has no real flow or steady tempo, instead moving from one place to another without cause or justification. I used to think there was a sonic largeness to some of the older songs, an importance. But maybe, all the while, I was just younger and hearing things differently.

C+

John Lacey