anyone else worried that the band is starting to get too old to make solid records?

don't get me wrong, i though the last album was really good... but i was thinking about this when i was listening to 'love reign o'er me' and i first heard this on the overdramatic intro to 'inside job'... not sure what it is, but there is a little too much cheesy, 80's epic rock band in some of their recent material, which happens to bands that start to show their age... they're pushing mid-40's and we only have 8 studio albums... how many more do you think they have in them? i would love to see at least 4 or 5 more solid albums from the band followed by an endless solo career by Eddie (ala Young, Dylan, etc.), but they can't spend 4 years on each one like they did with the self-titled, or else we'll all be ancient before they hit the 10+ album mark...

i know this has been talked about before on here, but what are your thoughts on this?
how many more good albums do you think they have in them?
what are your thoughts on 'love, reign o'er me' and does this mark a trend for musical styles to come?
are they going to age like a fine wine a la Neil Young, Bob Dylan, etc... or get scary, nasty and lame a la Rolling Stones, Robert Plant/Jimmy Page, etc.

Well if they are the next Grateful Dead, as many seem to say, I can see them making albums for a long time to come, with the occasional side project here & there.

must keep in mind that this was a cover.. and in my mind was very well done.

true... i would agree with that...

I know what you mean...unfortunately you're right.
But as long as it doesn't dominate (self-titled isn't that cheesy in my opinion) I'm fine with them making more records.
And anyways their live shows rock and that's what counts really.

and it is a cover of a 70's anthem that is saturated with 70's excess. If you listen to the original and than PJ's cover they did a nice job toning it down too.

And the long builds to Severed Hand and Inside Job are something new, but as long as they are well done I don't much care. And those are still off set with 2 minute scorchers like comatose so it isn't like this was indicitive of the direction of the entire album, or even the the general direction they are heading in as a band

Either way, there will always be a sense of importance and grandeur around most PJ anthems, and they really pull that from their 70's influences. As long as they offset the excess with their punk sensibilites it should be fine

They're just Pearl Jam. They're just gonna keep doin' what they're doing. An album every 2 or 3 years, and they'll keep touring. Maybe one day they'lll get to the point where they don't feel like they have anything original to record, but i definitely think they'll keep touring.

And i'm more than happy with it.

i recognize the point of this thread, and i agree with a lot of the opinions/ideas that people have posted, but i think the band members are constantly writing new stuff (words and music) as well as listening to new stuff (contemporary, classic or underground) so I find it hard to believe that they'll ever reach a point where they don't have something to add to the music world. how good it will be when they do compile enough for new albums? i don't know, i'm pretty sure they'll never be creed or staind and just do the same thing over and over so their integrity, and my place as a fan of their work, will always remain intact. i think its unbelievable for a band to have an album as good as riot act as their floor (just my opinion) and an album like no code to be their best work (again my opinion)... i will always be happy to buy new albums and my disapointments in their work has (will hopefully) never matched that of all the other bands i've ever listened to.

It's all about live shows with pj

the bottom line is that I just want to still be cool when my kids are teenagers and i'm still rockin' out to PJ...

In my opinion their newest album is their best one. It is the one that made me a fan, and my 14-year-old daughter is the one who introduced me to it.

neil young does what neil young wants to do.

that is what I was thinking

Hell yes!

This is kinda cool.

Neil Young and Bob Dylan have made bad albums, which Pearl Jam probably can't be indicted of, though the bad/"cheesy" song(s)-- yes.

I agree with the perspectives/defenses/responses that have been provided more or less.

And I even think this last album gained them positive exposure from the mainstream media.

If they follow up Avocado with an album with all of the best+classic PJ elements, AND trim the fat, you could see PJ gain the critical+commercial success which Green Day did with 'American Idiot'

Not to be formulaic, but some Stone-Ed-songs will be essential (Alive, Daughter, DTE, Life Wasted) as well as Mike-Ed-(Jeff) songs (Present Tense, Given to Fly, Faithful, Down), and of course the non-political Ed songs (RVM, Corduroy, Betterman, Wishlist). If politics make it into the album, they need go no further than Grievance, Insignifiance, WWS or Comatose. Though each with their fans, songs like Bushleaguer, 1/2 Full, or Gone compromise part of the audience and thereby lessen their general appeal.

The band is VERY talented, and their age is not hindering their abilities--and in fact they are still positively growing. They only need to exercise a little more reflexivity when it comes to their next album and consider which of their many excellent songs will have the widest appeal AND THEN sequence the album into one coherent AND continuous piece of work--not even with the "A side/B side" approach because CD is the current form. It's hard work, but the band worked their ass off on the last album and reaped the benefits of the positive review, plus they gave an INCREDIBLE tour.

I think their future is as bright as their dedication to this next album, and I for one am EXCITED to get to hear it, whenever they are able to produce it. If they choose to push the envelope, it will be at the expense of wrecking the mainstream momentum they've regained from their last studio effort, and possibly even some members of the fanbase. Though I might not agree with a lot of their decisions, I will support them, for how much they've meant to me since their first album.

Ever heard Riot Act?

it's the favorite whipping boy of most, but when next to the actual bad albums of N. Young or B. Dylan, the difference between their "badness" is apparent. What's considered relatively lower in quality for PJ is still objectively better than most everyone's "bad".

AND, it should be said, I like both of the mentioned artists more than PJ

I agree with you. Pearl Jam have never produced anything actually "bad." Maybe that's the problem. As a fan, you learn a lot from the bad, including how much the "bad" outweighs the "good."

Riot Act's main problem seems to be that it's not Ten, but that seems to be a problem with every album since Ten.