Pearl Jam's Backspacer: Quick, catchy, and still going strong

I got an advanced, actually leaked, copy of the new Pearl Jam album, Backspacer. After nearly 20 years in the business and millions of records sold, Pearl Jam continues to make music and good music at that. For many casual listeners. they know the songs from their debut, "Jeremy", "Black", "Alive", and "Evenflow", and after that they don't feel a need to find out the rest of the band's catalog. After their debut, they skyrocketed into fame and released 7 albums between 1993 and 2006. The latest, number 9 overall, is a strong effort. The album is short album, about 33 and a half minutes. This was the first surprise to me, usually they are clocking in around 50 minutes. The songs are short, with only 2 of them over 4 minutes. Now, some might find this as a positive and some see it as a negative. The positive is that they have a bunch of songs that are radio ready, no need to make an radio edit that cuts parts out. The negative is that some might feel ripped off to only get 33 minutes for a CD that costs $17. I at first was hesitant to this idea, but after listening to the whole album, I saw it is as a positive, there are no long drawn out guitar parts that sometimes hinder their albums and if you have gotten any of their live shows on CD, there are almost always one disc that features 8 songs that clock in at 65 minutes.

Sonically, not much is different than previous works. Obviously, this albums alot like their last album, Eddie's voice sounds strong, the rest of the band is strong as well. The first single 'The Fixer' is pretty pop sounding, not the traditional Pearl Jam sound. Many of the songs are like this, no heavy riffs, no grunge. After thinking of which album it sounds like, I concluded that "Yield" may be close, along with the last album. There is not much of the experimental sound that was present on No Code, Vitalogy, and it is not slow like Riot Act. It is not 'Ten' Part II, and it is not the aggression that was present on Vs. I compare it to 'Yield' because that album had many songs that were somewhat 70s rock in feel 'In Hiding' and 'Given to Fly', they remind some of Led Zeppelin, and I think that 'Brain of J." is somewhat Ramones, as several of their album openers are, loud and fast. This album starts off with "Gonna See My Friend", fast and punchy, probably the meanest on the album, similar to 'Last Exit'. "Got Some' another strong song, as is 'Johnny Guitar', then the band slows down with 'Just Breathe', a nice balladesque song. "Amongst the Waves' starts slow then picks up, like 'Pilate' on Yield. "Unthought Known' is pretty good, "Supersonic" is quite enjoyable, very fast, sounds like Pearl Jam attempting to do Ramones. "Speed of Sound" slows things down again, sounds like something off of 'Pearl Jam'. "Force of Nature" is alright, faster pace than its predecessor. "The End" is a very interesting final track, somewhat like 'Just Breathe", bare bones, and shows the great voice of Eddie Vedder. Overall, the album is strong in my opinion, Pearl Jam has spent every album after 'Ten' trying to make music that is not mainstream, they make music they want to make. The album is probably not the best place to start one's Pearl Jam's collection, but it is overall a strong album, it is a quick, catchy, and shows that this band can continue to make new and different music long into their career.