Pearl Jam Releases New Album 'Backspacer' Through Own Music Label

Seattle grunge music scene pioneer Pearl Jam recently released their ninth studio album Backspacer through their own music label Monkeywrench.

Backspacer debuted at no.1 on the Billboard 200 Chart and has stayed on its top 20 albums for the past three weeks since it was first released in the US on September 20, 2009, according to Billboard.com. This is the Seattle-based quintet’s first studio release in three years after 2006’s self-titled album Pearl Jam, and reunites them with long-time friend and Producer Brendan O’Brien who produced four of the band’s previous eight albums: 1993’s Vs, 1994’s Vitalogy, 1996’s No Code, and 1998’s Yield. The album consists of eleven tightly-laid tracks that end in a rather brief 37 minutes. Evan Sawdey of PopMatters.com writes: “Backspacer is its own unique entity: a scrappy little rock record that barely lasts 37 minutes, making it the shortest and most up-beat album in Pearl Jam’s cluttered discography”. Backspacer opened to mostly favorable but sometimes lukewarm reviews from fans and critics alike. The mixed reviews though are nothing new for this band which has been in the spotlight for such a long time since the release of their phenomenal debut album Ten in 1991 and being reluctantly tagged as the only remaining torchbearer of the wildly popular grunge music era of the early 90’s. But even with the mixed reviews as far as the expectations are concerned, fans and critics alike are almost in unison in saying that this is Pearl Jam’s most fun album ever. Here is what some of them have to say: “Backspacer is a party record for Pearl Jam -- a party that might consist of nothing but philosophical debates till the wee hours, but a party nonetheless” - Stephen Thomas Erlewine of All Music Guide. “After toughing out the Bush years, Pearl Jam aren't in the mood for brooding; at long last, surf's up” - Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone. “Backspacer is the sound of Pearl Jam actually having fun again, and it’s hard not to picture (Pearl Jam vocalist) Vedder sporting a huge goofy grin on more than a few of these tracks” - Evan Sawdey of PopMatters.com. For this album, Pearl Jam did not re-sign with former record label J Records and opted instead to release it under their own music label Monkeywrench Records in the United States and through Universal Music Group internationally, as well as reaching a deal with Target to be its exclusive big-box store retailer for the album in the United States. Backspacer is also available through the band’s official website (www.pearljam.com), independent record stores, online retailers, and iTunes. Pearl Jam is composed of front man Eddie Vedder, guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready, bassist Jeff Ament, and drummer Matt Cameron (formerly of Soundgarden). Catch the official music video for “The Fixer”, one of their singles off the Backspacer album in this video from youtube.