JIMMY EAT WORLD
FUTURES
2004
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Jimmy Eat World are one of those bands that nobody knew for years then suddenly they have a breakthrough album and suddenly they are in everyone’s cd collection.

Well they are back again with a new album, and a bit of a new sound.

The band formed way back in 1993, and did some tours released some Ep’s and just generally gained a small fan base.
In 1994 they released their debut album, which was self titled and released on a small Indie label.
After this the band was quickly signed up to Capitol Records, and released second album ‘Static Prevails’ in 1996.
This was a very rough, quite punky affair which had its moments but ultimately was a slight let down.

On to 1999 and the bands third album ‘Clarity’, and here we see the band sounding completely different, and a lot better.
The album did quite well and gained the band a good few fans, then they were dumped by their record company, typical.
‘Clarity’ did have some very good songs on it and was well mixed and although not an instant listener it was a grower.

So label less and without a manager the band could quite easily have split up, but nope not these guys, they went on lots of tours saving as much money as they could and recorded a new album ‘Bleed America’, which was later changed to ‘Jimmy Eat World’ due to 9-11.

The band was then signed to Dreamworks and released the album, then they seemed to be everywhere, the singles from the album did well appearing on both radio and Tv.
You could check my previous review to hear about this album.

Anyway so after a 3 year gap the band are back with their fifth album.

BAND MEMBERS
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Jim Adkins - Vocals, Guitar and Percussion.
Tom Linton - Guitar and Vocals.
Rich Burch - Bass.
Zach Lind - Drums.

The album was produced by Gil Norton, who has worked on albums by Foo Fighters and the Pixies.

THE ALBUM
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The Album is 13 songs long and runs up to 58 minutes.

TRACK ONE - FUTURES

The opening title track on the album begins with quite a broody sounding bass driven riff, which makes this a fairly dark sounding tune, it also sounds like nothing from the last album.

Where the last album tended to be quite bright poppy tunes this is a much deeper darker number and on first listen went straight over my head, but over time it has grown on me and is a great way to lead you into this album.

During the course of the song the tone of the tune seems to get a bit lighter with some more instruments coming in and some well placed harmonic backing vocals.

The vocals are all sung very well, although by no means as well as this guy can sing, but they get their job done!

TRACK TWO - JUST TONIGHT

This song opens with a lot more energy than the previous song, having a fairly up-tempo tune with some very smart catchy hooks and a simple drumbeat that you can’t stop bouncing to.

The song features some great moments where the music stops just before the vocals have finished giving a gap where its just the vocalist, I have always loved this trick in music as it just gives more emphasis on the song and the vocals.

Musically the tune is quite catchy, not the sort of thing you’ll be humming all day or anything, but catchy nonetheless.
With a nice guitar riff and the usual well placed drums.

Vocally this is a good performance, having a mixture of aggression and emotion which this singer is good at.

The song reminds me of an old band called Kerbdog, who were also very good at this style of rock music.

TRACK THREE - WORK

The album slows down a bit for this song, something it does a few more times over its entire course.
I’ve always said that this band is at its best throwing out these slow ballad style tunes, basically when you have a singer that can show emotion its best to use him in an emotional song!

Musically this is a nice tune, the guitars are not too loud or too quiet, the drums don’t take over the song which is basically left pretty much for the singer to paint his words.

And paint them he does, with a lot of different tones and emotion, already three songs in he has surpassed the previous album.

TRACK FOUR - KILL

The album stays in ballad style again for this song, which is okay by me.
Because again it’s a cracker, and again its all due to the vocal performance, which really cant be faulted.

The music is good but nothing special, it’s basically a simple backing track of low guitars and various other instruments.

The song also features a nice chorus with some well placed backing vocals and a catchy vocal style.

TRACK FIVE - THE WORLD YOU LOVE

This is a slightly more upbeat tune, with the guitars playing a bit faster.
But this isn’t a rocker, it’s an upbeat ballad song, with some nice effective use of space and tone in the tune.
The music is never overstated or loud, it’s basically just a backing tune which certainly isn’t overtly catchy, but it works with the vocals.

Vocally this is still on a level with the previous ballad style songs.
Emotion drips from every word that Jim sings, which shows some great talent.

TRACK SIX - PAIN

Well we are back in rock mode now, this song, which was a single, is quite a fast loudish number, with a simple but catchy riff.

The drums are just loud enough to give this song bounce appeal, and with the shouty backing vocals I wouldn’t be too ashamed to get up at my local rock club and jump around like a buffoon to this tune.

Vocally these rock tunes are a bit of a double edged sword for the band, on one side they always seem to be catchy, but on the other the vocals always seem to loose a bit of their power and emotion during them.

During the verses the singing is as good as we’ve heard on previous songs, but when he tries to get a bit aggressive it sometimes sounds a little whiny, but it still works on the whole.

TRACK SEVEN - DRUGS OR ME

Back in planet ballad, and we have one of the best songs on the album, not a faultless perfect song, but a damn good try.

Musically this is again just a fairly plain backing track to give a bit of atmosphere, with a string section and the usual guitars and drums.

Again it’s the singer that gives this song its life in the world of music, here we have everything that is good about this singer in one song, some very emotional sounding vocals, which all hit the right notes and tones and make this a great song.

The lyrics unfortunately are a bit clichéd, they always seem to remind me of some American teen drama like Dawson’s creek or something, we all know drugs are bad but it all seems a little bit like you cant think of any lyrics so you do a song about the evil of drugs.

TRACK EIGHT - POLARIS

This is another slow burning track, opening with a dreamy bass line and some guitar, which is reminiscent of Crowded House, this is another well played ballad and in all another well played song.

The problem with reviewing ballad type tunes is that there really isn’t a lot I can tell you without hearing it yourself, musically ballads don’t tend to set the world alight with clever new ideas, and this one doesn’t either.
But it all works and that’s what matters, what you have here is a quality tune which makes you feel good/bad depending on your mood!

Again it goes without saying the vocals really lift this from being an instrumental!
Honestly though this guy can sing and has proven it time after time on this style of song.

TRACK NINE - NOTHINGWRONG

This song sounds like it would be a blast played live, it’s a semi rocking number with a crunchy guitar riff and an altogether rocky outlook on life.
With lots of shouty yet tuneful backing vocals that just seem to come at just the right times, mixed with Jims main vocals which work better here than on some of the bands other rockier output.

Unfortunately though this song is good but its not one id put on a compilation or play any other time than when im listening to the whole album, its good but not essential listening!

TRACK TEN - NIGHT DRIVE

This again takes us back into slow ballad style, by now you’d think that these would get boring, but again they pull of another masterful performance.

The music is again very simple, although there are some interesting effects and some different instruments, which stop this from being just another ballad.

The emotion is what’s important with a ballad, and again the band has this down to a tee, with the backing vocals offering some lovely harmonies that accompany the main vocals perfectly, it’s as if they planned it!

TRACK ELEVEN - 23

I have to admit by this point of the album it starts to drag a little, as they have pretty much done everything in their style library and it’s almost as if they are just going through the motions on the last couple of songs.

This is not to say that these are bad songs, they are not, but the album could have been a few songs shorter.
This one for example is a pretty but ultimately bland ballad and when compared with earlier songs doesn’t really cut the mustard.

TRACK TWELVE - SHAME

Another ballad again a bit dull, nice but it’s all too much by this point.
Some albums are good when they have lots of tracks, especially punky albums, but when the music very rarely changes it all gets a little boring.

Musically this is a good tune, again a bit lightweight, but nice.
The vocals haven’t really failed on any of the songs featured and again they don’t here.

TRACK THIRTEEN - WHEN I WANT

An upbeat ballad, it’s almost as if im reviewing westlife!!

Again another really good tune, but too late in the album to really make an impact,

Maybe if you put the album on random selection then these songs would grab you more, but they seem to have just over done it a little, which is a shame because up until track ten it was going really well!

OVERALL
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When I first got this album I was initially quite disappointed, it sounded nothing like their previous hit filled album and a lot more like earlier releases, but after about three listens a lot of the subtleties of the music and vocals raised my opinions.
After Ten listens it was a firm stayer in my cd player and one of my favourite albums of the past few years.

One thing I would say though is that if you’ve actually read my review and not just skipped to this point! The album is a bit one sided, fans that liked the bands rockier output might be a bit disappointed, and the album seems about three songs too long, but even so there are still a good ten quality songs.

I would also state that if you like Bleed America, this album is quite different and in a lot of ways better, but be expecting something different.

If you do like this album I would certainly recommend their ‘Static Prevails’ album, which this sounds closer to that Bleed America.

Check out www.jimmyeatworld.com for more info on the band.

Anyway, thanks for reading, this ‘exceptional’ review!!!!!
Oops sorry meant somewhat helpful, actually tell you what you choose!

See ya.
Kyle
2000+ words ill be writing a book soon!