Any band that's fortunate enough to last until its members are well seated in middle age is due a midlife crisis of its own, a time when the band pulls back from its everyday artistic cycle and attempts to figure out what made it so great when it was young. Figuring that out's a lot harder than just mimicking that debut record, though, and a lot of mid-career meltdowns get snared by a phoned-in rendition of that long-lost glory album.

Pearl Jam's at one of those career nexuses on its ninth studio album, Backspacer. That effort's already been preceded by the act's patently clear attempt to ditch those mature trappings that never weighed so well on it through the late '90s with Pearl Jam (2006, J Records). For most intents, that album was simply a matter of pulling the flannel and clunky boots out of the attic, trying them on and stomping around like it was recording Ten (1991, Epic) once more. It was one of those superficial return-to-our-roots albums that fans profess to love, but cringe a little whenever it's held up to the original formula.

On Backspacer -- the band's album exclusive with Target stores -- Pearl Jam finally gets past the gruff guitar tones and leftover grunge that formed its previous effort, and takes a good, long look at what used to drive it. Low and behold, it realized it wasn't the hard-rock guitar tones or the mad-at-the-world angst. It was songs; rock songs; rock songs with pop hooks drilled and bolted straight to the bedrock upon which they're anchored. Backspacer has plenty of all that.

"The Fixer" is a classic rock tune that screams of wind in your hair and an open road before you, the sort of song that promises of better things over the horizon. It can't possibly deliver on those promises, we know, but for about three minutes, we'll suspend disbelief and run with it. "Gonna See My Friend" dips into those hot-and-sweaty R&B licks that everyone from Chuck Berry to Sex Pistol Steve Jones slapped around with impunity, finding rock's sweet spot where faint familiarity is a boon and not a burden. "Supersonic" is a pedal-to-the-metal cruiser full of punky, garagey urgency while keeping a firm hand on the reigns. It never threatens to roll into the pits of uncontrolled, gasping spasms of garage bands. "Force of Nature" dusts off hard-rock radio anthems for another go that doesn't sound nearly as cheesy as it does here.

Those are strong moments, but what separates Pearl Jam's 2009 effort from its last "rediscover our youth" album is production values that are darn near sunny. Working with producer Brendan O'Brien, Pearl Jam rediscovers its love for hard rock without the hard rock trappings. Backspacer is a big, pop rock record that doesn't need all the muscle. The band's found what made it so intriguing so many years ago, and, lo and behold, it has nothing to do with the elements that landed it on hard-rock radio, but the songs themselves.

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