In the spirit of Backspacer, this one’s gonna be quick:

Backspacer: Gonna See My Friend, Got Some, The Fixer, Johnny Guitar, Just Breathe, Amongst the Waves, Unthought Known, Supersonic, Speed of Sound, Force of Nature, The End

B-sides: Walk With Me, Need to Know, Be Like Wind, Ole

Live: Betterman (live)

have fun!

Listening to this again this morning for the first time in a while, I’m really figuring out what’s nagging at me here. I don’t have an objection to the songs themselves - even Supersonic! The issue is the lack of cohesion, of songs that carry tremendous weight, like The End, Speed of Sound, and Just Breathe existing in the same space as fun rompers like Johnny Guitar, The Fixer, and Supersonic. It’s like 2 different, albeit valuable, albums happening at the same time. Similar issues will surface with Lightning Bolt, and I reckon if you tried to take all the songs between the two and redistribute them so create two thematically consistent albums that were instead released a year apart from each other, you might have two albums on the same or similar grounding as the Self-Titled at the very least. I want to try this out.

Until I do, I will say I really enjoyed the front end and back end of this album, with the middle leaving me wishing for a bit less awkwardness, particularly with the thematic issues I raise above.

Also, Ole would fit here on a more light hearted toss off side to the album with The Fixer, Supersonic, etc.

I feel like this is the PJ album that might have best been served by being an EP; just take the first four songs and stick The End afterward.

I agree with your main argument here; when you've got light songs on an album with more weighty songs, you can't help but compare them, and one "side" will inevitably come off as silly / superficial; Pearl Jam used to be pretty good at playing around with that irony in interesting ways (eg. Red Dot or Hummus off Yield, Don't Gimme No Lip off Riot Act), but that approach just doesn't hit so well for me anymore on the poppier albums; it just feels less thought through

See, I think if you take the songs that look inward and details human relationships between a sense of mortality, you have a wonderful statement album between Backspacer and Lightning Bolt - so Just Breathe, Speed of Sound, The End - but you could make a redemptive story on this if Gonna See My Friend, Got Some, and Johnny Guitar as sort of debauchery followed by a redemptive arc, and then crash to earth on The End. Really, Sirens, My Father’s Son, Pendulum, Sirens, Sleeping By Myself, and Future Days can also fit into this arc even if not completely neatly.

If the album looked like this, it might make some sense in my over pearl jammed brain for the last few weeks:

Pendulum, Gonna See My Friend, Got Some, Johnny Guitar, Sleeping By Myself, My Father’s Son, Speed of Sound, Sirens, Just Breathe, Amongst the Waves, Future Days, The End

Then you have a whole other album left of songs that play more outward towards society and maybe slyly politics.

Lightning Bolt, Force of Nature, Mind Your Manners, Infalllible, The Fixer, Ole, Supersonic, Let the Records Play, Getaway, Swallowed Whole, Unthought Known, Yellow Moon

Just a thought…

Making a serious/less serious set of albums from Backspacer and LB is an interesting exercise. There is a little bit of whiplash in Backspacer (which is a short album to begin with). I think BS is supposed to be less 'fun' than it is 'light' and even the more serious songs on Backspacer carry less of the weight and despair and anger that categorized their sister songs on the Binaural - ST run of albums.

Think of how heartbreaking it would be to juxtapose the forward looking Future Days against the hard reality of The End…

Okay, now that I imagined it, give a listen if you wish:

Back Bolt: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5vK7w ... W4PeGKQLOA

Lightning Spacer: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0jszH ... lOwKAdRxuC

Sleeping by Myself would be a lovely fit in Backspacer, instead of Supersonic.