Any new music put out will have production shortcuts, average performances and no real experimentation, they just want to write songs that will easily translate to a stadium show, and let BOB flesh the sound out in stale way. I don’t think I want a new album. Even the artwork is terrible now.

Do you guys even want a new album? Like, stop and think about it. Think about the quality of their last couple records. Think about “Can’t Deny Me”. Do you really, truly care about this? Deep down?

The problem is not creativity but creative direction. Stone and Jeff make it clear that they want to record more and that there are plenty of songs, or song ideas. Jeff released excellent side-projects the last decade. But somehow this band became less collaborative over the years, it's really Ed who has all the creative control. Basically Stone and Jeff are waiting for him to put a little fixin' on it. So, the band should take a different creative direction, Ed needs to give some creative control back to the guys. I have no problem with Stone and Jeff having more control at this point. I remember reading in 2008 that the band had some writing sessions without Ed in Montana, even BO'B was present. Whatever they wrote Ed did not like it, cause I believe 'Amongst the Wave' (or supersonic...cant remember) was the only used song from that session. So the guys had a two week session, and nothing was used. So why bother?

It's also interesting that after 'No Code' Ed asked to guys to help writing lyrics. The Yield-Binaural-Riot Act stretch proved to be the most fruitfull era for the band. But when the 'S/T' record came out Ed fully grasped control over the lyrics again. Ed was on some sort of mission back then. 'S/T' was released in 2006, 'Into the Wild' in 2007. On ITW he proved that he was still growing as a musician, all of sudden he was playing all the instruments and fingerpicking guitars. 'Backspacer' came on the shoulder of that creative spur. And that was 10 years ago!! The last decade we saw Ed repeating himself on LB and releasing another solo-record (one that was written in 2001!!).

Yeah the artwork sucks. Didn’t LB win a grammy for packaging? WTF.

It is interesting that during No Code and 3 albums after, Ed did not seem to have any issue going off the reservation with musical styles, and as you noted, even delegating songwriting. Was his approach from S/T beyond taken out of possible fear the band was starting to head towards irrelevancy, their live successes notwithstanding? Was he maybe looking to cement their legacy/RRHOF credentials and also connect to the next generation of fans? Now that those things are accomplished, they really *should* be playing with house money and willing to explore all avenues once again.

Now, Pearl Jam are in the process of reclaiming their long-abandoned place at rock’s forefront. “They’re fresh, they’re hungry and they’re loaded for bear,” says BMG chief Clive Davis, who recently signed them to the second major-label deal of their career. In May, they released Pearl Jam, an album bristling with anti-Bush, punk-rock energy. It is, by universal acclaim, their best work since 1994’s Vitalogy – and the first one since their debut, 1991’s Ten, to demand attention with unabashed anthems. “I feel like we’ve been handing in our work on time, and we’ve been getting A’s and B’s, but we haven’t really raised our hand and spoken out in class,” says Vedder. “This record is us speaking out in class.”