Meet Eddie Ramone
4 Out of 5 Stars
I guess getting Bush out of the White House has calmed Eddie Vedder down a little. "Backspacer
" is an open and airy slice of rocking - dare I say it - fun from Pearl Jam, whose righteous rage has clouded many of their albums for the last ten years or so. This time, they take a cue from one of their influences by making a short (barely 35 minutes) album with tightly wound songs, the longest of which sprints to the four minute mark. Just call it "Rocket To Seattle."The lead single, "The Fixer," sounds like "Wishlist" on speed-dial. Complete with an "Uh huh huh huh" intro and some super power chords, Eddie enunciates (!!) the manners in which he'd like to save a little love in his life. (Curiously, it is also one of the numbers Vedder didn't write.) Like much of their self-titled 2006 album, "The Fixer" and songs like "Got Some" and "Supersonic" are the sound of Pearl Jam openly embracing classic and classicist rock, with guitarist Stone Gossard banging out muscular riffs in almost gleeful abandon.
Vedder has also broken into a sensitive place. With songs like "Just Breathe," which sounds like a leftover from his soundtrack for "Into The Wild," he and the band touch a nerve that their younger selves would have only been able to stab a claw hammer into. It's their best ballad to date.Their age is kind of showing on "Backspacer." "Ten" has reached its 20th anniversary, and "Backspacer" reunites the band with producer Brendan O'Brien to excellent results. The difference is that all parties are now OK with just being a terrific rock band without forcing embellishments or drawing out the proceedings. The band still treats Rock as the means to deliver a message (as "Got Some" and "Unknown Thought" still show); just now the message is delivered with a firm handshake instead of the shaken fist.
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