![]() What made his solo work so great on “Into the Wild” was the barebones approach, no string section necessary, which are relied upon heavily in both songs. But even these diamonds in the rough seem a bit too produced. “Unthought Known” is the pick of the litter while “Just Breathe” and “The End” sound like they were written alongside his work for the “Into the Wild” soundtrack. There are a few highlights on “Backspacer”, and they just so happen to be the songs solely written by Eddie himself. (I could be wrong on this point, although I doubt anyone wants to take the time to scour the collection of over 200 concert albums to prove it). The majority of the songs on “Backspacer” would fit nicely on a concert playlist, while you’ll never hear a concert performance of such arty classics as “Bugs” and “Push Me, Pull Me”. But maybe that’s the type of music they need at this juncture in their career where filling arenas takes precedence over filling their albums with sincerity and soul. Instead we get arena rock anthems with paint by numbers guitar hooks that sound contrived and forced. That’s where we sit today with “Backspacer”, a collection of milk-toast songs with little, to no attempt to push the boundaries of their sound. Unfortunately, the process that once worked so well didn’t yield the same results on mediocre releases like “Riot Act” and “Binaural”. From that point forward, the songwriting continued to be equal opportunity. Their collaborative approach, beautifully captured on the documentary “Single Video Theory”, resulted in one of their finest albums to date, “Yield”. ![]() After “No Code”, the band almost had a falling out, and Eddie realized he needed to pull back and let the whole group take part in the creative process. ![]() On “Vitalogy” and “No Code”, Eddie Vedder became the godhead of the group, writing the majority of the songs and taking their sound into more experimental territories. The band that once blurred the lines of style and genre have transformed into a distinct, predictable caricature of their former selves. The same comparison can be made about the music on the two albums. The big difference of course is that “No Code” featured blurry photographs while the new release displays well defined comic style drawings. The cover to Pearl Jam’s latest album “Backspacer” is reminiscent of their 1996 release “No Code” with its collage of random images. Pearl Jam “Backspacer” Monkeywrench Records Rating: 5.5 ![]()
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