It's been a while since I posted last, because of two main factors - my recent purchase of "Left 4 Dead" (PC, Valve, 2008) and repeated listens of Pearl Jam's new record, "Backspacer". No, study/exams isn't one of the factors. Anyway, on the way to Sydney for Rosh Hashana on Friday night, we stopped in at JB Hi-Fi to get presents for people. Before we leave, I check W-Pedia for Backspacer's release date, and get very disappointed to find it was not for another two days. But, right at the door of the shop, a big display stand has copies of the record and I get very excited. I then get pissed off cause Backspacer's packaging is bigger than a normal CD and thus won't fit in my CD rack. Upon leaving the shop, Backspacer, to the dismay of the rest of my family, went straight into the car CD player. I then got terrified cause I read a review of the new Flaming Lips record in JB mag and thought it was out and I didn't get it. But it's okay, cause it doesn't come out until October - the reviewer just streamed it online.
Anyway, back to the review. I was very scared that Backspacer was going to be shit, as I always am when a band I love announces a new record. Upon first listen, I was disappointed, didn't really like it. However, Backspacer seems to be the kind of record that grows on you, cause I tried it another few times and became completely obsessed with it. With an album of only 36 minutes, that's alright - I can listen to it twice to one listen of "the Wall", and four times for one listen of another favourite of mine, "69 Love Songs" by the Magnetic Fields.
The record opens with a kind of power trio - "Gonna See My Friend", "Got Some", and "The Fixer". The opening track rocks as hard as anything PJ have released, and it's always nice to hear Eddie's screaming every now and then. "Got Some" is another fast, heavy rock song. "The Fixer" is the one that you know, if you know any of them. Rumour has it that this track has even got into the top 40 - by the looks of the top 40 site, it peaked at #14. Scary, hey. The song's time signatures really mess you up - we open with 4 bars of 5/4, verses are in 6/4, and chorus in the good old 4/4. Vedder's lyrics are at their best here, even with the chorus of 'yeeeeeeahhhh'. There's something about this track (another fairly fast, heavy rock song, btw) that just makes it work.
"Johnny Guitar" stands out. To a PJ fan, anyway. A PJ n00b may not be too friendly to this song. Something about it gives it a strange, weird feel. Vedder's quick, sharp vocals work, the quasi-breakdowns are brilliant, and, well, the song is goood.
And then we have the album's first ballad - well, the album's first non-hard rock song. The picking styles, chord progressions, lyrics, etc. in "Just Breathe" were obviously influenced by Eddie's solo record "Into the Wild". The track just seems like it'd fit perfectly into that solo album. Not that that's a bad thing - I loved that solo album so much.
"Amongst the Waves", "Unthought Known", "Supersonic", "Speed of Sound" and "Force of Nature" all have the same feel of a rock, grungy band sticking with what they know. Not to say they're typical rock songs - they're all uniquely Pearl Jam, through and through. The standouts would be "Unthought Known" and it's amazing vocal hook of 'nothing left', and "Speed of Sound" - no, it's not a Coldplay cover. The record then closes with aptly named "The End". And there is no better way that PJ could have ended. It is another ballad - although not quite on par with "Just Breathe", it's still brilliant. The lyrics are sublime, and Vedder's vocal performance is the best here compared to the rest of the record. He seems truly pained in this track - not pained cause he can't hit the high notes, just pained because he seems upset and like he cares, something that 95% of vocalists nowadays just can't do, especially if they don't believe the lyrics. The song is a little overproduced however; I don't really think that the strings were necessary, and I'd love an acoustic version with just Eddie and his guitar.
There are some drawbacks to this record. While the artwork is beautiful, the packaging is annoying, and, instead of being next to all the other PJ records, it's got it's own spot next to the other ones that won't fit - "The Eraser" by Thom Yorke, "Takk..." by Sigur Rós, and the double albums. The album is also a little bit too short; I like short albums, but we've waited three years and all we get is 36 minutes and a cover of a Who song? I mean, it's an awesome cover, but can't we do better than that? Also, some of the songs, especially "Johnny Guitar", seem a little forced out, like Matt and Stone just had some snippets from various uncompleted songs, and it was all mushed together.
The drawbacks are only minor, however. After all, who am I to bitch about the packaging of PJ albums - their albums are the most beautifully packaged of all the CDs I own. Overall, "Backspacer" is a breath of fresh air in the high-profile-album-releases department.
Re-playability: 19
Overall song quality: 15
Flow as an album: 17
Does what it tries to: 18
Packaging/art: 18
My mark /20: 17
Overall mark /20: 17.3
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