Joe

I agree with this. Not to expound too much but I feel the better songs on LB are infinitely stronger, and the downsides are roughly on par, except Sirens. But Sirens is a disaster because Eddie had a great idea for some lyrics, and Mike had some great ideas for music, but they belong to different songs. Sirens music needed more opaque lyrics and a more hypnotic vocal delivery (no balladeering), and Sirens lyrics needed nice ballad-like music or just something else. The two don’t even come close to meshing.

Edit: maybe not infinitely better as album, but I do prefer it.

Well if it’s infinitely better it would be exactly the same. Infinity implies it exists at all points simultaneously

For such a smart guy you'd think you'd know opinions can't be objective.

I know. I just prefer backspacer. ST pained me. Still does. A band trying to reach for former glory and failing embassingly and horribly. Backspacer remains a brilliant out of step unexpected development that shouldn’t be possible but after ST they clearly realized they had to mix it up. Glad they did

I have a very different take on it. I love S/T because it was a refreshing change to something straightforward for the first time since Yield. I also think that they were assisted dynamically by including Mike McCready more and the songs were thematically cohesive. The production was not so great but for me the songs were.

Backspacer felt like a slide backwards. The songs seemed rushed and almost incomplete, and while they come out of the gate with a bunch of punchy numbers, the rest of the album can’t seem to find its identity. There are anthems that don’t quite get to what they are reaching for, a few acoustic ballads, and mid tempo songs that just don’t live up to their other mid tempo songs.

Lightning Bolt seems somewhere between the two, and there are some great successes (Pendulum, My Father’s Son, Mind Your Manners, Yellow Moon) mixed with epic failures (Future Days and Sirens specifically). I’ll take the mixed bag because I actually like way more than I dislike on this album. I do think they were trying to find the balance between the prior two albums on this one but it just didn’t end up as good as it could have been.

I wouldn’t call S/T embarrassing. More like their last decent album. It’s better than BS and LB.

You can be as wrong as you like. It’s a free world.

Who cares which one is better? Neither is worth listening to.

Every record has been a noticeable step down from the one before it for quite some time. The consistency of that trajectory is a greater source of my pessimism towards the band than any individual work they’ve delivered.

I listened to both Backspacer and Lightning Bolt in the last 2 days. They are both good albums.

These last two posts give me realism and hope.

Just Breathe, Amongst the Waves, Speed of Sound, Got Some.. all among my favorite PJ tracks. Backspacer might be my least favorite album by them but it's hardly a dud.

If for quite some time began with Binaural to Riot Act I'm 100% on board with this statement.

The last great Pearl Jam album was Yield.

Because Jack was on it, I’m assuming.

This guy gets it. this is 100% fact.

NO

Absolutely not. 100% untrue.

This is the kind of bullshit that makes me WANT to dislike and undervalue Yield.