Liner Notes- 22.Sept.2022
Backspacer, Bellingham, and Built to Spill
Note: Pearl Jam’s Backspacer turned 13 on Tuesday. I thought it might be interesting to take a look back at it through a 2022 lens. This week’s other reviews are below the jump.
Pearl Jam- Backspacer
On Pearl Jam’s “The Fixer,” Eddie Vedder declares, “If something’s old , I wanna put a shine on it.”
For Backspacer, the band’s ninth record, “old” could be interpreted in any number of different ways.
Were they trying to outrun a looming Dinosaurs Of Rock label? Maybe a “kings of grunge” shackle? Perhaps this was a final declarative statement to the “play the hits” crowd that the days of Ten really weren’t coming back and to plan your ticket buying accordingly.
##
After taking a break with 06’s self-titled (“Avocado”) record, producer Brendan O’Brien was back behind the boards. With Backspacer, he does well to keep the band on a mission, the end result being a tight, fast-paced record that delivers a lot in less than 40 minutes.
Openers “Gonna See My Friend” and “Get Some” charge hard out of the gate. The band seems to be trying to set a new bar for pace…or outrun their past. This historically has been a mixed bag for the group. It fits this time around.
The aforementioned “The Fixer” sees them at their most optimistic. It’s a great track and one of my top 5 for the band.
PJ has always been a band at risk of delivering overwrought tracks. Sometimes they stay on the right side and sometimes trip over the line. On Backspacer, the up-tempo songs are compact and on time. The ballads–usually where the band takes a walk into the weeds of self-indulgence- are spare.
Given the record’s overall tone, I don’t know that there’s a need for any kind of introspection, but they don’t take away from the overall energy of the record.
After Ten, Vs., and Vitalogy, it would’ve been easy for the group to go on autopilot and churn out more of the same. It could’ve been lucrative but likely would’ve condemned them to a life of arena tours and playing the same setlist night after night (or worse, a career spent on the state fair circuit). Instead, they made increasingly inaccessible records and experimented with sounds and recording techniques.
Making a creative pivot isn’t without risk, and it wasn’t smooth sailing for the band during the period leading up to this record (Yield? Great. Riot Act? Not so much. Binaural? Somewhere in the middle. ). But rewards can also be worth the risk, as Backspacer demonstrates.
For those missing “Alive,” the anthemic “Amongst The Waves” is here to help. If Vedder was only just “still alive” back then, he’s riding high here.
Love ain't love until you feel it
Up riding high amongst the waves
I can feel like I
Have a soul that has been saved
I can see the light
Coming through the clouds in rays
I gotta say it now
Better loud than too late
I gotta say it now
Better loud than too late
Recorded not too long after Barack Obama was elected, the nation’s mood was hopeful, optimistic, and forward-looking. Backspacer reflects the time it was recorded in.
Bottom Line: On “The Fixer,” Vedder also sings “When something’s gone, I wanna fight to get it back again.” That, too, could be interpreted in any number of ways. In this case, I think it’s safe to say that they’d fought to regain momentum and were successful.
Top Tracks: The Fixer, Amongst The waves, Supersonic
Below the jump for paid subscribers
Indie rock from Houston
Shoegaze from…Bellingham Washington?!
Music made from loops
Trying to distill Built Top Spill down to 10 tracks
A classic record turns 45 this week
All of that & more. Check it out!
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to On Repeat Records to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.