Pearl Jam - Backspacer (2009)

Review by Ben Slattery

Pearl Jam Backspacer Tracks 1. Gonna See My Friend 2. Got Some 3. The Fixer 4. Johnny Guitar 5. Just Breathe 6. Amongst The Waves 7. Unthought Known 8. Supersonic 9. Speed Of Sound 10. Force Of Nature 11. The End

When I was thirteen I had some pocket money to splash around, so I asked a friend at school for some advice. He said "Get the new Pearl Jam album. It is gnarly".

Looking back on that time, 1995, I realised a few things.

One was that "gnarly" never really made it into the new millennium in the same way "awesome" or "rad" have.

Another was that I am actually too young to be, what most would consider, a dinky-dye “I was there at the start” Pearl Jam fan.

The album was "Vitalogy", the bands third. The really alarming thing about this is that the recent announcement of the 20 year Anniversary of The Pixies seminal album "Dolittle".

I have always liked The Pixies but I am astounded to learn that I was only seven when they were doing their best work. My mum would tell you I was a very discerning seven year old, but I think getting on the reefer and blowing circles to Gouge Away was still a few years off.

Seven! Can you believe that - they must be f**king old!

I digress. Based on said friends advice I not only purchased said Pearl Jam album but also became a dedicated fan of the aforementioned band (said, said, aforementioned. I know).

I would spend the rest of High School hanging off every word printed and pressed about Eddie Vedder and his band. I lined up for concert tickets, I justified mediocre albums to friends, I scorned cover bands who massacred Betterman and I convinced myself that Sean Penn was really beaten to the 1996 Oscar by the soundtrack to Dead Man Walking! Basically, I was in.

And then, darkness.

The advent of Indie and the adoption of my band by the “wrong type of rock n’ roll fan” was the end of the road for us. A memory. A phase. Why couldn'’t they be more refined? Why are they still trying to attract new audiences? Was I not good enough?

Grunge really meant something when I was thirteen. One thing was for sure, I was done. Out.

Come 2009 I had not looked back. Creedance, now that is a band that knew what they were doing (similar to The Pixies, I would have been negative fifteen when they were doing their best work). I really can not explain why I woke up on the weekend with the neon sign that guides my brain flashing “NEW PEARL JAM ALBUM OUT TODAY. HURRY UP AND BUY!”.

And so my trip back to 1995 began.

The bike ride to the shops certainly cleared some cobwebs. Thirteen year old Ben was not accustomed to hangovers. 27 year old Ben is not accustomed to A.M. physical activity. Turns out I am also not accustomed to buying CDs.

Shit, how long has it been?

The internet has all the CDs on it and requires no peddling. After the peddling, where do I look? P? Where did the Alternative section go? No? Maybe I will ask - nope, fourteen years on and the guys in JB Hi-Fi are still angry.

And I know why too. But that is another story.

On getting home I did something shocking. I bypassed the laptop and put the "Backspacer" CD into the CD player. Yes people. THE CD PLAYER. The big dusty tray come out and corralled the disk into its belly. After chewing on it for a bit, it blinked at me that “Track 1” was about to begin.

Excited? I was.

The next 33 minutes was like running into an old friend at the pub. Trepidation was followed by small talk. By the third song, The Fixer, we were having a solid chat. Then tracks 7 through 9 were all laughs.

The final song, The End - a Vedder acoustic ballad was lament that it had been so long and the promise not to let it happen again.

Pearl Jam are back in my life. Maybe not like it was before. More of a reassuring nod than a high five. I guess I would say that "Backspacer" is, well, gnarly.

RATING: 4 out of 5