Pearl Jam - Backspacer

Rating

: * * * *

Verdict

:

They've been patchy in the past, but this one's a hit.

You can just imagine the back-slapping that went on after Pearl Jam recorded the song

Johnny Guitar

, the unassuming belter off the band's ninth album,

Backspacer

.

And too right they should be pleased with themselves, because the song has everything - a steely and angular riff, a wild and gravelly Eddie Vedder vocal, and a hot chick as his muse.

This might sound terribly cheesy, but

Backspacer

is the sound of a band having fun making music - not bad considering it's 18 years since their classic debut

Ten

came out in the sweaty heyday of grunge.

At just over 36 minutes,

Backspacer

is all over pretty quickly. But there's not a lumbering moment on it, which has tended to happen on some Pearl Jam albums in the past, like 1998's

Yield

and 2000's often-lifeless

Binaural

.

It helps that there's an 80s new wave mood throughout, with the frantic and panicky

Got Some

, a nod to The Cars, being the best example. It also borrows from Mudhoney, one of Pearl Jam's more rough and sloppy contemporaries, for opening track

Gonna See My Friend,

with Vedder sounding more grungy than he has in years.

But on songs like the slower, almost ballad-like

Just Breathe

, which has french horns and a cute whimsical keyboard through it, and the beautiful

Amongst the Waves

, the subtlety and depth of the sound comes through. Then again, two-and-a-half minutes into the latter, they crank back into it, making for the heaviest moment of the record.

It also has some of Vedder's most freakish singing yet, as he croaks, cracks and serenades. On

Unthought Known

he shreds his voice to bits with the line "Dream the dreams of other men, and you will be no one's rival"; and on

Got Some

he has the urgency of Paul Weller in his Jam days. It's that urgency and some outrageous wailing guitar moments that sum up the energy Pearl Jam conjure up on

Backspacer

- and while it's hard to match the passion of their debut album, it still sounds like a band at the top of their game.

As an extra, the digital and CD versions of

Backspacer

come with an Ebridge allowing fans to download their choice of two Pearl Jam concerts from a selection of 11 of the band's past US shows.

These days, Pearl Jam are a solid rock 'n' roll band - plain and simple. And let's face it, they don't make them like that much any more.

Scott Kara