Backspacer: Official Album Thread

[PHATJ]

Amongst the Waves has been my favorite song on Backspacer since I heard the 30 second clip on iTunes before the album was released. I can somewhat understand the reasons why people don’t like it, but I’ve never had those issues. I love it.

[Monkey_Driven]

Amongst the Waves has been my favorite song on Backspacer since I heard the 30 second clip on iTunes before the album was released. I can somewhat understand the reasons why people don’t like it, but I’ve never had those issues. I love it.

And this is why you and I will never work together.

[chewm]

I don't mind AtW. I don't really care much about it though.

[Anders]

AtW really shows what is wrong with Backspacer. It's the kind of songs that would be amazing if it was made for Yield, and yet on Backspacer it's just meh. Nothing really special about it.

[Strat]

AtW really shows what is wrong with Backspacer. It's the kind of songs that would be amazing if it was made for Yield, and yet on Backspacer it's just meh. Nothing really special about it.

Eh? expand on this.

It doesnt fit backspacer for the opposite reasons. backspacer was a specific attempt at "cutting the fat" and making more palatable songs without excess. Most songs succeed at that, no matter if you like them or not. A song like ATW feels like a classic latter day pearl jam song as an attempt to not sway the boat too much. "oh shit, this is a little different, so we need our anthemic song so as to keep the fans in line".

it was them backtracking and putting on a song that ultimately feels like filler to me because its a standard issue attempt at anthemic rock. Which feels shallow on an album where they legit attempted to be somewhat different. And is also a let down because they have written these songs before with much more success and interesting guitar parts.

ATW would fit beautiful on LIghtning Bolt in the sense that Lightning Bolt was everything Amongst the Waves was a poster child for.


Also, im super buzzed so everything written above is "read at your own risk"

[Norris]

ATW is fucking dog shit.

[coptheriotact]

AtW really shows what is wrong with Backspacer. It's the kind of songs that would be amazing if it was made for Yield, and yet on Backspacer it's just meh. Nothing really special about it.

I agree with this. Basically because with ATW, the band tried so hard to achieve what multiple tracks on Yield do so effortlessly, but the track turned out clunky and awkward instead.

ATW is fucking dog shit.

also agree with this.

[Anders]

AtW really shows what is wrong with Backspacer. It's the kind of songs that would be amazing if it was made for Yield, and yet on Backspacer it's just meh. Nothing really special about it.

I agree with this. Basically because with ATW, the band tried so hard to achieve what multiple tracks on Yield do so effortlessly, but the track turned out clunky and awkward instead.

Eloquently put.

[stip]

I would take Amongst the Waves over In Hiding (its closest analogue) 7 days a week and twice on Sundays

[digster]

I don't know if Waves is the worst song on that album, but it's up there. It's striking how much the record never recovers after it. It's a bit similar to S/T, in that an interesting front half is torpedoed by songs on the back half of the record. I much prefer the front half of S/T to the first few songs of Backspacer, but at least the beginning of that record has a bit of that "PJ does new wave" thing they were going for.

[epilogue]

You're all nuts. Even Stip.

[chewm]

I would take Amongst the Waves over In Hiding (its closest analogue) 7 days a week and twice on Sundays

I don't hate Amongst the Waves but I do hate this post.

[evenslow]

ATW is Stone writing in his sleep.

Strat's right that it actually fits better on LB.

[Tuolumne]

ATW is Stone writing in his sleep.

Strat's right that it actually fits better on LB.

ATW is PJ doing 'classic' PJ, but Backspacer-izing it. Unthought Known also accomplishes that as well. They establish the sound on the first 4 tracks, and then they take a couple of 'classic' sounding paths but put it into this cool Backspacer vortex, where no song has a wasted note, every kick and snare crackles, every melody leads to a quick resolution, with the mix sparkly and shiny and inviting.

I see some here thinking there wasn't much effort here, I personally see the complete opposite. I see the band scrutinizing every note, cutting down the fat, pullout any excess weight and making it the lean machine this album is. I certainly can see if a fan was waiting for a headphone masterpiece, something to reveal something unheard of an new on each listen to be disappointed, because this certainly isn't that. Oh well.

There's very little about this record I don't like. Like alot of good records, it pisses off all of the right people. The same way back in the day Vitalogy pissed off the fans that needed to get a kick in the ass, Backspacer accomplishes that but in a different manner. I probably can't play and listen to this with a dude that's been to 115 shows, has analyzed every bootleg and pulled up every demo, but I sure as hell can spin this with a whole other side of PJ fandom. I play this one for different people, and they almost always come away impressed, sometimes asking "what is this? sounds good." Or, just by the 2nd or 3rd listen they're already humming along or bouncing around to it. So glad they made this one, I'm always gonna be spinning it.

Last edited by Tuolumne on Tue December 12, 2017 6:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[dimejinky99]

Man gets an idea for a song while on toilet. Amongst the waves is born.

[stip]

the chorus of Amongst the Waves is guilty of the pearl jam by numbers critique (but, if we're honest, so is In Hiding and most post corduroy anthems with the exception of perhaps GTF). The verses create such a compelling pensive end of the rain tableau that is perfect for the lyrical content. It doesn't achieve everything it needs to, but what it does get right it gets really right. And Pearl Jam by numbers is still Pearl Jam by numbers. It's a standard design, but it's a pretty good one.

[dimejinky99]

You don’t get accused of pearl jam by numbers three or even five albums into your career. That doesn’t stick. Their first five albums are radically different to one another and all within only 8 years of being a band.

The accusation sticks when it happens in the later half of the second decade of being a band and trying too hard and failing to conjure past glories.
Numerous songs on Avocado and backspacer are obviously guilty of this.

Lightning bolt at least didn’t contain any. Rather it tries with Sirens to do a similar thing but in an entirely new way. And look how that was received.

[bodysnatcher]

I don’t care what the naysayers say, I fucking love this song.

that video fits the song perfectly......






.....both lazy as fuck.

[MattA75]

I would take Amongst the Waves over In Hiding (its closest analogue) 7 days a week and twice on Sundays

GTFO

[ledvedderman]

You don’t get accused of pearl jam by numbers three or even five albums into your career. That doesn’t stick. Their first five albums are radically different to one another and all within only 8 years of being a band.

The accusation sticks when it happens in the later half of the second decade of being a band and trying too hard and failing to conjure past glories.
Numerous songs on Avocado and backspacer are obviously guilty of this.

Lightning bolt at least didn’t contain any. Rather it tries with Sirens to do a similar thing but in an entirely new way. And look how that was received.

You don’t think the song Lightning Bolt isn’t guilty of PJ by numbers?