Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt

In the run up to the release of Lightning Bolt, Pearl Jam’s tenth studio album, bassist Jeff Ament explained in an interview that the reason why fans have had to wait four years for a follow up to Backspacer was because they were “waiting until they had something to say.” It’s a disappointment then to have to report that the 12-track LP – produced by their long-serving partner in crime Brendan O’Brien – is a record that sees Pearl Jam embrace their current status as elder statesmen of rock a little too comfortably for my tastes.
That’s not to say it’s a bad record: far from it. When PJ get it right (especially on the punk-ified stomper ‘Mind Your Manners’) they sound exciting and fired up, but those moments just don’t happen frequently enough. ‘Sirens’ is an MOR ballad, while the cowpunk stylings of ‘Let The Records Play’ and the Beatles-y ‘Infallible’ simply wouldn’t have made the cut on earlier albums. ‘Pendulum’ is a welcome walk on the weird side though and it’s a dark, brooding and interesting oddity that pushes their boundaries a little. Maybe I’m misjudging them, but for the most part Lightning Bolt comes across as the sound of a mainstream rock band going through the motions.

Key Track: 'Mind Your Manners'