Pearl Jam:
Backspacer

Austin L. Ray obviously has no understanding about what great rock-n-roll really is, and his shallow, thoughtless, ignorant review proves this to be true.

Actually, I think this review is spot on.

Wow, don't break your back there now....it's nice to see you managed to write ONE whole paragraph (just five sentences) for a "review"....sure, the album is their shortest, but that doesn't mean there should be no effort made for a critique...

Wow... Where does the review actually begin? This can't be it...

I'd have to disagree with the review. Though Pearl Jam's 2006 eponymous release was their strongest effort in years, Backspacer is even better. In fact, the vitality and crispness of this record makes it the group's best since the phenomenal Yield in 1998. For PJ diehards, I would liken Backspacer to be a mix between Vitalogy and the aforementioned Yield. Every single track has merit and certain gems on the second half of the record, namely Amongst the Waves and Unknown Thought, are classic PJ songs destined to become great live versions.

I guess if you can make a website look cool, you don't have to learn how to write. Is that how it works? Love how the last 2 sentences start with "but." This band deserves better. I would love to see this guy get together with Stephen Thomas Erlewine and have a whole mag of music reviews that don't name any actual songs.

Sorry...but the "introspective tunes" are the best tunes on the album!!

And if this is Pearl Jam falling flat...i hope they fall flat more often.

Take away the first two sentences of fluff and this is a three-sentence review. What does he mean by the last half of the album? I count 2-3 upbeat tracks toward the end and only a couple of slower songs. Other PJ albums have more slow stuff than this. Has this guy heard any other Pearl Jam albums? Or is that why the review is so short?

And if this is a "60" why does it warrant a "Pearl Jam Takeover" on the Paste site?

Would it be unprecedented to rewrite this review? If you don't like the album, that's fine -- you wouldn't be the first person to not like a Pearl Jam album -- but at least spend some time explaining why, and have your facts straight.

I'm sorry SPIN but this is not even near to an album review. Is poor, short, and inconsistent. I thought it continued down here, but I kept scrolling down, down, and down...
If it's true that the review is a very poor review, it is also true that the album is not Pearl Jam's best.
I started to listen to PJ when I was 16 years old. Outside America the grunge movement was perceived in a different way. When you speak a different language is more the sounds than the lyrics what makes you pay particular attention to a band. That was me and Pearl Jam.
Later came the booting of Dave Abbruzzese, the ticketmaster fight, the no interviews-no videos, etc. Pearl Jam was the band I like to hear because they apparently thought the same way I did.
After they released Binaural I was a bit disappointed, but later came Riot Act and our guys seemed to be back in track for a while. The self titled album was a good accomplishment with great lyrics (Come Back, Inside Job), and great riffs (Comatose, World Wide Suicide), however I started to notice that the band was more media friendly, and, don't get me wrong, but when you follow something since the beginning and see how it changes with time into something different, you have to options: 1-Change with it. 2-End up not liking it anymore.
That is what brings me to the conclusion that in this comment box we have people who took option 1, and we have some others that picked option 2.
I can say that me personally, I think I'm in 1 1/2. Due to the fact that I'm not dying about this new album (which I pre-ordered like I did every other previous one) but not for that I'm re-selling my tickets to the Austin City Limits on October 4th.
I'm dying to see them again, and if they decide to play the whole entire new album, well, I'll be singing every song as well.
The fact is that if you are a true fan, everything after Binaural might not have you TEN-VS-YIELD crazy, but hell you are excited to listen to their new stuff.
Trust me, after a while you end up singing all of it.
Long live Pearl Jam! Old, and new!

This half ass review is why my Paste subscription expired months ago and I didn't think twice about renewing. If Paste expects to keep their customers and avoid having to do another campaign to "save paste" then they need to hire some writers who know what they are doing. I like Pearl Jam but have not heard the new album. All this review did for me was let me know I need to start looking elsewhere if I actually want to read thoughtful music reviews.

This is a review.
I don't disagree with the score (I do think that Pearl Jam have done better albums and 60/100 isn't "bad"). But this score is almost completely useless because it isn't validated with a critical review. I don't even see a fucking song title mentioned anywhere. The review is about 95% setup: how old the band is and that Vedder did a soundtrack a couple of years ago. OK maybe there's a sentence and a half devoted to Backspacer. But without any song titles present in the review (a standard convention)I find myself asking "can we even trust that the reviewer even listened to the album?"