come on people, time to come out. this is your chance. whatever you disliked about backspacer, this is your chance to vent. here we are safe from the happy campers. just let it all out.

i will be posting a song by song thing at some point (i know you guys can't wait ), but for now i gotta say this album REALLY let me down. i didn't have high expectations to start with, but wow, i think this one is actually worse than riot act. i mean, riot act at least has fucking half full, which kicks all sorts of ass. but backspacer? where's the beef? the rockers have no cool melodies or riffs, they're completely sterile, they're like chickens with their heads cut off and stuck up their asses. seriously, i'm gonna see my friend? eddie, what have you been smoking? has he been born again? and please spare me the "eddie didn't write that", "that's mike's/stone's/jeff's/hawaiian dude's song", "the lyrics are about eddie's dead dog" comments, as i really don't care. all i care about is that these guys with their incomprehensible desire to keep writing "rockers" have become a really lame who/ramones hybrid cover band. they're definitely reaching with those songs. just grow up already. age gracefully guys. your heros have done it, you can do it too.

i can say with absolute certainty that absolutely ZERO of the backspacer songs will ever crack my personal top 25 pj songs ever.

your turn. remember this thread is for those that are disappointed in backspacer. any attempts in this thread to defend the band for putting out this abomination of an "album" will be ridiculed and laughed at, if by no one else, then by me alone. happy campers, get out now.


thanks stip.

So Trolls, this is where you post. Thanks.

i dont know what i was thinking.

i realize that. still, that's why it's a dedicated thread, as to not purposefully evoke the rage of the rest of the pj fanbase.

non-haters shouldn't even be clicking on this. it's like saying you're a vegetarian and then touring a slaughterhouse.

remember, keep it negative!

So, I didnt find it bad, just boring, flat, none of it will become a top 25 for me for sure.. And as I said before, Ed's voice is lacking that fundamental low that gave his voice that special ressonance ( easily heard on Release, Stranges Tribe, I Am Mine)

so having a negative opinion makes them trolls?

yep. that too. i really think it's because they're trying to do stuff they really shouldn't be doing. it's no surprise that the more subdued songs (the end, unthought, ...) are the "standouts" on backspacer. and they sound like stuff that didn't make the cut for into the wild. what does that say about pj's ability to come up with new stuff?

i just hate that their songs just don't take you anywhere anymore. songs like given to fly, faithful, present tense, insignificance,... with those songs, you start somewhere and they take you through places and you end up in a totally different place, and it was quite a trip. but these new ones, you don't get that feeling at all. it's formulaic, flat, forced.

amongst the waves is the only one that kinda gives me that feeling. the rest is just meh.

This thread sucks. If you put some thought into a negative review then I'd be interested in reading it, but everything you've written thus far is surface level bullshit. Go ahead and hate on the album, but back it up with some substance.

Hmm. see I feel that Amongst the Waves is the only song that doesn't take me anywhere. t takes me to the same place at the end of the song as it does in the middle of the song.

To each their own! I just think some people are "over" pearl jam

i barely noticed if they had a chord change on the album. the progressions were quite weak, chords often staying the same when the melody was begging for a change. i definitely think this effort was their weakest. eddie forgot what a metaphor was sometime around avocado and i've been waiting for some decent lyrics since. if the rest of the band played on this album i didn't notice. i don't think the playing of any member really reached out and grabbed me. i liked unthought known the best, but it's probably a 3/5 at best on my scale. i've listened between 2 and 3 times. but sounds like an album of cropdusters and ghosts to me. i really don't get what people are hanging their hats on here.

The Fixer sucks

GSMF is arguably the angriest song lyrically on the entire album.

Funny you mentioned Faithful, I've always loved it for the roller coaster vibe I get from it.

The impression I got it's that Ed is going on an uphill battle against aging. I mean, why is he trying to sing in a higher pitch than usual? It shouldn't be the very opposite? I mean, grave voices like Lanegan and Cash have the gift of not suffering with age, even getting more charming/chilling. I wrote this post while listening to Light Years, there is no verse in Backspacer where he sounds as good as when he sings "With heavy breath, awakened regrets..."

to each his own. I feel like the songs here achieve what they were trying and failing to pull off in stuff like light years, in hiding, and faithful

Well, I commented Light Years just vocal wise, but I will now also claim that Light Years chord progressions tops anything of Backspacer too.

like i said, i'll be writing a song by song thing at some point.

i'm not trying to be cute by starting a thread like this. i really disliked backspacer. the overall reason is it sounds uninspired, forced, uncreative. in summary, they're trying to sound like something they are not.

you're welcome to pitch in anytime you want. some others are starting to already. i never claimed to be lester bangs for fucks sakes, so why don't you chill? since when can't we just use the internetz to vent viscerally?

thats a given

Cant wait for Angus to arrive here.

thats what their last three albums sounded like to me. not that they failed every time.

his voice isnt quite as good as it used to be, and not as low, but at least he doesnt sound like he asleep like RA or as raspy as S/T. on this album he's letting it all hang out like he used to, and his voice is good enough to do it.

i have to agree. many times in the last three, they sound out of it. but imo riot act and avocado have some very redeeming moments.

the highs on backspacer are fewer and of lower altitude than the highs on avocado and riot act. i expected them to explore around a little more. say what you want about inside job for example, but at least it's different, it sounds like they actually put in an effort.

in backspacer, there's practically zero worthy guitar work. no cool riffs, no mike and stone playing off each other or complementing or doing anything remotely interesting. just some prefabricated half riffs and almost zero melody.

pj was never a band that was going to do groundbreaking stuff, but at least they were creative with their song structures, and melodies, and the guitar work. this new album lacks all of those things.