My View of 'Jimmy Eat World' / 'Bleed American I remember most of the good bands that I've listened to over the years: Their best songs ring a bell in my head, I might even know the lines from some of them, at least I might think I do after a few bevvys. But I can tell when I've hunted down that mythical beast; the GREAT band, because much like J.F.K.'s assassination or the 9.11 attacks I can remember exactly where I was when it happened. I'm sure that many of you will know what I'm talking about. I'll quickly tell you in the hopes that setting the scene will inspire you in some way to run out and get your hands on this incredible piece of musical history.
The sun was shining on Ferriby train station in a very English way, meaning that it was poking through the overcast clouds now and then. I was mooching around listening to -HIM- with my hands in the pockets of my black trench coat (I fancied myself as a Goth but looked more like a lost hiker, the lesson here being that gothiness and ginger hair don't go) my friend and shopping companion for the day comes up and tells me he's listening to an "awesome American band" eventually I end up giving the a listen too. Scenes like this happened often without us once realising that the word 'awesome' was only used by Skater-boy wannabes and people who grease their hair in 50s movies. But on this particular occasion the song that I heard on his newfangled MP3 player was 'The Middle' from Jimmy Eat World's self titled album named 'Bleed American'.
At this point the brighter ones among you may be thinking that I'm an idiot. Self titled album called Bleed American? What? So for those in possession of such razor sharp intellects: The album 'Jimmy Eat World' was originally called 'Bleed American'. Unfortunately another major event in world history quickly followed its release. After the collapse of the World Trade Centre the phrase 'Bleed American' suddenly seemed too much like something everybody's favourite extremist Osama B would say, so the album quickly became self titled.
Despite the fact that the album has such an anarchic title the band that released it and the songs on it are mostly quite laid back; floating between rock, country and the 'emo-metal' genre with which they are annoyingly and, I think, wrongly affiliated. Yes, It's true that 'Get it Faster' may have you yelling the lyrics at unsuspecting pensioners and the lyrics
of the anthemic 'Sweetness' could be written by a pining poetic teenage, but there's also the offbeat funk of 'The Middle', confusing poetry brought to you courtesy of 'If you don't, don't'. There is even one of the best post-humus tributes I've ever heard in the form of 'Hear you me' which will give you goose pimples as sure as Scotland in the winter. The point is that calling this album 'emo' is like calling Ray Charles blues, it's got so much more than that. A band that self produced and released an album after being dumped from a major label do not deserve a title associated with teenagers who aren't getting enough to satisfy their weird new hormones. I was fooled by this and fell in with the infinite sameyness of the emo-kids (in my defence I was a teenager who wasn't getting enough). And from their smouldering pit of emotion the same deluded drivel kept issuing, a few good bands such as Funeral for a Friend and Dashboard Confessional did admittedly appear though.
"Don't you know that I miss you? Ninth and Ash on a Tuesday night. I would write to you from a museum mile, toast to you: your whisper, your smile." 'If You Don't, Don't' I told you it was confusing … beautiful though.
So the overall conclusion of my little rant is that Jimmy Eat World are a varied band, not only that but they are intelligent. Their previous album: 'Clarity', pushed them into the spotlight as an American alternative act; it is often regarded as their master-work consisting of a LOT of very good, slightly psychedelic music. In a situation where their record label had dumped them and they were free to self publish they could easily have released a clone of it and tried to cash in on the popularity of the kind of music created on their former album. Cleverly though, they decided instead to create a much more varied, accessible and rocky album and this is one of the reasons I would recommend you do like I did and buy 'Jimmy Eat World' and then, if you like it, buy 'Clarity'. Conveniently Jimmy have re-released 'Jimmy Eat World' as a special edition with the title having reverted to 'Bleed American' (no terrorists were harmed in the making of this decision ... probably)
So, the album is accessible. This often means that there is no depth to it and that once the hooks and big anthems pull you into it's orbit in there's no race of beautiful six breasted aliens to keep you there. That's not true here, Jimmy have plenty of six breasted aliens to go around as well as various other versions for women and … I've taken this metaphor too far. There is a whole lot of depth to all of the tracks on this album that will keep you interested and surprised for a good while. Below is a quick look at the tunes, split into the anthems and the gentler ones with more depth.
The Anthems
Salt Sweat Sugar This song is a brilliant introduction to the album. The surging passion is uninterrupted from start to finish, if this doesn't get you in the mood for the rest of the album nothing will.
A Praise Chorus "Are you gonna live your life wondering, standing in the back lookingaround?" A huge motivator and another good reason why Jimmy are huge. The simple yet cleverly used drums and chord mean that it's got easy appeal but the lyrical dialogue of the character trying to convince himself to go for it on a night out is a much shrewder expression of something we've all been through. Though there are no weak tracks on this album this is probably my favourite.
The Middle For me, on the train platform, it was a great introduction to Jimmy. With a lot of the driving force and basic ideas of guitar rock but combined with a little of the intelligence and ability to think outside the box that make Jimmy probably my all time favourite band. It also makes this single the highest charting one to date (Billboard Hot 100 no 5) and the turnaround point for a band who were "just about invisible there and it wasn't going to get any better." - Jim Adkins 'J E W' lead singer
Sweetness An incredibly exciting and well crafted 'wall of noise' type tune, this is the type of tune that you may well find yourself listening to hundreds and hundreds of times without ever becoming bored.Get It Faster That surging passion is back again with a vengeance. This time it comes in the form of incredible anger with lyrics that seem to vaguely reference being unfaithful, see for yourself: "I'm finding out cheating gets it faster" - Ya think?!?
The Authority Song This upbeat, chatty feel of this song helped it become the 'tune' for one of my Cornwall trips with my friends. A great holiday song with a clever chorus riff.
The Sweet and Lovely Ones
Your House Jaunty would be the word for everything in this song except the subject matter which is difficult feelings regarding a lost love. Apart from this you could almost see the Beach Boys cooing over the bouncy, plucky guitars until the truly spectacular and meaningful chorus that is.
Hear You Me "There's no one in town I know, you gave us some place to go" When the band were just starting up, travelling to towns where they needed somewhere to stay but didn't know anyone. Happily a couple called Mykel and Carli Allen used to give them a place to spend the night after their gigs in town. "There's no one in town I know, you gave us some place to go." Unfortunately the couple died in a car crash one night. The band have repeatedly expressed their huge gratitude in interviews but this gentle guitar ballad remains their largest tribute and most touching tribute. "I never said thank you for that, now I'll never have a chance"
If You Don't, Don't "What's wrong baby? Don't they treat you like they should" This is the opening line from the most poetic (and confusing) song on the album. The piano backing helps to make this one of my favourite songs on the album. There's also a wonderful middle eight where a break in the music introduces a surging guitar riff interlaced with the (former) backing vocals
Cautioners If you're anything like me 'Cautioners' will probably not get your fires stoked as quickly as the others, it could even start to feel like the week link on an otherwise perfect album. But the defined drumming, jangly guitar riff and incredibly gentle vocal interplay soon remedied that for me and those poetic lyrics are once again clearly in evidence.
My Sundown A gentle finish to the album; My sundown's long guitar build up introduces a song full of reminiscence on Adkins' part and some spectacular layered guitar and vocals. The steady falloff leaves you in the firm belief that you've witnessed something beautiful.
Enhanced CD Extra Tracks "The Most Beautiful Things" (From Good to Go EP / Jebediah split) "No Sensitivity" (From German "The Middle" single / Jebediah split) "(Splash) Turn Twist" (From "The Middle" EP / Firestarter EP)
Jimmy's Past, Present and My Hopes for Their Future It's strange to think that Jimmy are a decade and a half old now, the same age as my brother, but they were indeed formed in 1993. Lead vocalist and guitarist Jim Adkins, guitarist/backing vocalist Tom Linton, bassist Rick Burch and drummer Zach Lind started out like many bands travelling to nearby towns from their home in Mesa, Arizona and playing a range of varyingly seedy venues. Their travels increasing in range as they increased in scope until they were ready to release their first album, confusingly titled 'Jimmy Eat World' not to be confused with the one that this review features which is actually 'Bleed American' but isn't but as of a few months ago is again … confusing I know.
Subsequent albums include 'Static Prevails' which sold more off the back of the already mentioned 'Clarity' than it did at it's time of it's release. Of course there's this album and two subsequent ones: 'Futures' which helped 'Bleed American' go platinum and finally 'Chase this Light'. Both of these latter ones are extremely good rock albums but while I thought that J E W's moving away from their 'emo' beginnings was a good thing they may have taken it too far recently. The re-release of 'Bleed American' and the 10th birthday tour of 'Clarity' should hopefully inspire a return to roots though. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that this is so as the release of another album as good as the epic 'Bleed American' would be an incredible feat and could be just the thing to ensure Jimmy Eat World a well deserved place in the modern music history book.
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On Bleed American, emo-rock band Jimmy Eat World exemplify all that is the modern radio ... more
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