Review: Pearl Jam - Backspacer

Pearl Jam aren't nearly as relevant as they used to be. But then again when your first album sells over 9 million copies and spawns 5 radio mainstays I suppose that sets the bar rather high for the rest of your career. Nevertheless you can't fault them for constantly trying to expand beyond their glory days.

Backspacer, in stores September 20th, finds the band at a crossroads. It marks the first time that Eddie Vedder and company find themselves without a major label backing them. The album is just another experiment where bands, such as Radiohead and Nince Inch Nails have marketing control their own music. It will be sold exclusively through big retailer Target, as well as through the band's official website, iTunes and independent record stores.

Brednan O'Brien, who recently worked with Mastodon, AC/DC and Bruce Springsteen, produced the album along with Pearl Jam themselves.

Backspacer is the Seattle band's most concise album to date. Spanning only 11 songs, and a very short 36 minutes, every song is perfectly put in place and precisely constructed for maximum effect (although only a select few achieve it). Each arrives and fades in an instant. It's almost as if Vedder took his blueprint from 2007's Into The Wild soundtrack and gave it to the rest of his band mates and simply told them to put more crunch to it.

The first 4 songs blast by so rapidly that you have to hold on to every word and note pummeling your ears or else the song looses it's intended impact. In fact it's probably one of the best opening sets of music the band have put together since their debut album Ten. The album opener "Gonna See My Friend" rattles and rolls in a way that would only make Chuck Berry proud. "Got Some" hops along its beat like some of the best Hives songs. The current single, "The Fixer", is the best song on the album that perfectly balances power and fragility that hearkens back to some of Pearl Jam's better known songs.

Yet for however promising the first third of the album is, the rest of the album desperately tries to live up to the challenge. The quiet log cabin tune "Just Breathe" sounds so awkwardly out of place following the first 4 hell raising songs. Some songs, such as "Supersonic" and "Amongst the Waves"are just simply forgettable and uninspired. Only oober radio friendly "Unthought Known" truly stands out in the mediocrity of the later songs on Backspacer. Just imagine if Pearl Jam became a Cheap Trick cover band.

Mr. Vedder's grungish growl, though not as powerful, is still in tact and used for every bit of what it's worth. The rest of band simply play back up on the rest of the album. Gone are the two minute outros featuring epic guitar solos and thundering drums rolls that show off the often faceless and under rated musicians that deserve just as much credit as their front man.

Backspacer is an album that was almost certainly designed for the stage more than anything. Pearl Jam aren't looking to expand their base anymore - nor should they be. They remain content with simply trying to appease what fans have stuck around all of these years. However this plan of attack can often lead to hit or miss albums. Backspacer is no exception.

Grade: B-