Recently with a friend of mine we’ve talked about how serene, sunny, light and vivid the new album of Pearl Jam is. Both sedate and energetic rock, as one could expect from people near to their fifties. “Yet closer to Bruce Springsteen than to the riot of the 90’s”, he said, gathered in one sentence the main impression of “Backspacer”. It seems that the fans of Pearl Jam we are getting older because I like the album very much. Do you remember the beginging of that mad, mad video in which some long-haired guys are raging across the stage and their frenetic vocalist, just before letting himself down the emotion, growls in the microphone: “Josh, turn these lights out! This is a fucking rock concert”? Well, there is nothing like this here. The adequate video now would show the grown up boys who stand calmly and just do what they can and love – sincere and inspiring rock. The headbanging on the stage is replaced by devotion to the instrument, the climbing on the staging – by concentration in themselves, the wild stare – by a calm and wise gaze forward. The Aggression and the riot had yield to realization and personal maturing which appears from the expression in the music, as well as from the honest and personal lyrics by Eddie that no longer judge but search consequence in the slow songs (“The End”, “Just Breathe”) or tell happy-end stories in the energetic songs. Straight rock and roll songs with almost party breath blow up the boredom since the very beginning of the CD with “Gonna See My Friend” – rhythmical-jolly tune with such a load that the volume button seems to turn full right by itself. And before you know what is happening, a second portion of audio-warmth gets you with “Got Some” – a song for a dealer who actually sells heavy infectious rock’n’roll to the dependents. And, damn it, I am buying all that he has! And he has enough – 11 doses for less than 40 minutes. Plain to the very minimum, the songs in the album rarely pass more than 3 minutes totally in the spirits of the classic rock and roll melodies. Looking backwards, “Backspacer” is closer to the self-titled CD of Pearl Jam but it also have a solid dose of the wonderful soundtrack of “Into The Wild” for which Eddie played and sung the melodies do pure and emotionally two years ago. In short, if you like “Pearl Jam” and the songs of “Into The Wild”, there is no way “Backspacer” not to catch you. However, if you still wear your shirt on the waist, your sneakers have a star at their side and your hair is uncontrollable, you probably remember where you hold that CD with the risen high hands, don’t you?