Pearl Jam
Backspacer
(Universal)
A short history of Pearl Jam: they’ve been famous, celebrated rock musicians since the slow-burning success of their very first album Ten. Having risen quickly, the band panicked, second guessed and played hard-to-get until finally settling on a direction and genre (i.e. classic rock) with their third album Vitalogy. The quality of ensuing albums varied, then dwindled. Their last album had a photoshoped image of a avocado on the cover and I can remember absolutely nothing else about it.
Now that we’re all caught up, let us consider the present moment of Pearl Jam: new album Backspacer. Reportedly the shortest Pearl Jam album to date, the album clocks in at a swift thirty-six minutes; half of which is spent on textbook rocking, the remainder on creamy torch songs.
The album opens with a volley of what some other critics (Rob Sheffield at Rolling Stone) are calling ‘punk rock’ and I’ll politely describe as ‘faster material’. Guitarist Mike McCready begins a painfully histrionic guitar lead on the very first beat of the very first song and then repeats the pattern on subsequent 'Got Some' which, intro aside, is a far more pleasing and anthemic romp. Following on is first single 'The Fixer' which seems to be about vocalist Eddie Vedder’s ability to fix things; not something I’d be boasting about here but an affable and likeable pop song none-the-less.
From there on in it’s ballads and more of the same. The quieter 'Just Breath' bounces along on an unusual mix of Vedder’s overwrought delivery and a slight nod to sixties folk-pop, flourishes that are no doubt the handiwork of long time uber-producer Brendan O’Brien. Elsewhere O’Brien introduces pianos and slay bells but precious little else in the way of reinvigoration and new ideas.
Much has been made of the ‘return-to-form’ nature of Backspacer but I don’t hear it. Instead I hear a band at the end of its tether; unable to meet the impossible expectations their mega-success engendered and no longer interested in trying. Hardly the late-era renaissance some celebrate this as, Backspacer is instead the sound of Pearl Jam struggling. Late into their careers, they are in that uncomfortable moment where what was once highly contested (talent, the future, ethos) becomes surer to judge. As it plays out on this album, they fail to innovate or inspire.
Ian Rogers