AR: Backspacer

Pearl Jam - Backspacer (2009)

PJ's latest is problematic for me. Amongst the critics, it invokes predictable terms: "workmanlike," "professional," "mature," a "return to form." And I'm hard-pressed to disagree that this is a tight, compact and varied-enough performance that demonstrates nothing but this band's utter musical competence. It's got energy and exuberance, and some trademark pensive slow numbers that execute familiar tricks. But Vedder et al. - especially for this guy, who hung with this band straight through all of their seeming attempts to alienate their mainstream audience - are so ground into the consciousness of your average '90s alt rock listener that any new material at this point runs the risk of being more echo than latest statement. And Backspacer, with a title that maybe jokingly / overtly alludes to the band's back catalog (and that "return to form"), also constantly musically alludes to the past. The experience is a repeated, "Huh, this song X sounds like song Y from album Z." It stays in the PJ domain for the most part, but some moments - notably the borderline silly Ramones rip-off, "Supersonic" - stray into easily recognizable classic rock domains and start infringing on copyrights. So while pulling off the trick of drumming up bar jukebox nostalgia, it's doing so in a self-defeating manner; after all, I can hit the back arrow on my keyboard to get to PJ's past albums, so I don't really need a Backspacer.

Late career rock albums of largely intact rock bands sit in an odd space generally, of course. Unless there's radical reinvention, a complete left turn or a general "something new to say" - see, e.g., The Flaming Lips (which may seem an illicit comparison, but these guys are roughly the same age) - it's not always clear that there's a real point to churning them out. Sometimes you get, for lack of a better term, adult-contemporary versions of the band's musical style, with the ragged edges of youth trimmed and the product rendered gem-like. Those can be *great,* and Phish's Joy is a disc that pops to mind in that category - nothing really new going on there, but it's still some really clean, engaging rock-pop, and wholly worthwhile. You also, though, get boring retreads at times. And that brings the purpose of the endeavor into question.

While I'm not sure that Backspacer should be described as "boring," particularly not with a rip-into-it pop-punk first few tracks, it does seem to retread quite a bit. This is funny, as the album is definitely brighter and less Seattle-broody than all of PJ's albums, particularly their recent politically-affected ones. I.e., in tone, it is anything but a retread, and seems like the music of content rockers kicking it on their porch*. But 1, contentedness is really not why I ever listened to these guys, and 2, again, way too many moments - the saccharine "Just Breathe," (No Code?) the anthemic "Amongst the Waves" or "Unthought Known" (Yield?), the obligatory punk blast-ahead "Gonna See My Friend" (Vitalogy?), the slinky Police-esque "The Fixer" (Vs.?), or , you know, practically the entire album - were better in their original incarnations. So while I appreciate seeing one of my favorite bands continue to pull off solid rock into their forties, something about it is failing to speak to me.

* - This is a five point sentence, imho. I have to give the self high-fives if y'all aren't going to comment.

In a vacuum, I would probably just rec (solid) this and let it go*. This is a "good" disc, and a bump up from some of their other post-Yield work. Plus moments glisten - "The Fixer" rocks, and "Supersonic" features a funky guitar breakdown at the halfway point that almost makes its derivative verses/chorus excusable. But there's enough annoying about it - the melodrama of "The End," the forced piano-banging on "Unthought Known" - that I balk, and am left writing a negative-side-of-neutral, noncommittal review. It doesn't help that the one track that I've heard get radio-play, the aforementioned "Just Breathe," does nothing for me with its Fleetwood Mac-esque folk-country rock tone. I do enjoy those first tracks, sure, as I am sure all die-hard PJ fans do, but the album as a whole falls at the bottom end of their catalog. So I'm left thinking that while long-time fans will gladly nod at this one and put it in the solid bin, it really is not PJ's best stuff and should take a backseat to the rest of their work.

* Then again, in a vacuum, all albums sound pretty similar. See, I told you the physics jokes wouldn't stop.

Status: Not Recommended

Nyet's Fave: "The Fixer"