Jimmy Eat World

This album finally broke Jimmy Eat World into the mainstream late last year, and it's hard to think of a band more deserving of success. Dropped by their label after the commercial failure of their critically acclaimed 1999 album 'Clarity', they overcome this setback to record what is quite simply one of the most infectious and affecting albums of the 21st century.
The album opens with the blistering guitar assault of 'Salt Sweat Sugar' (formerly 'Bleed American'), an astonishing combination of volcanic riffage, perfect melody and angry lyrics (the song details the struggle of coal miners). 'A Praise Chorus', which follows, is 'classic' Jimmy Eat World - a furiously energetic opening, with the song gradually building up to a wonderful, emotional and blurred final coda ('I wanna always feel like part of this was mine/I wanna fall in love tonight'). It's pulsating, thrilling, moving - everything a song should be. Exhiliarating single 'Sweetness' is also all of the above, and like almost every song on the album is crushingly, bruisingly emotional ('Stumble till you crawl/Sinking into sweet uncertainty').
The pure poppy perfection of 'The Middle' enhances and exacerbates the terribly important message of the song (the song is a sympathetic and incredibly uplifting message to the millions of people struggling to comprehend the cruelty of people and the world - 'Just be yourself/It doesn't matter if that's good enough for someone else/It just takes some time/Little girl you're in the middle of the ride/Everything, everything will be just fine'). 'Your House' is a tender, unashamedly romantic and effortlessly catchy acoustic track, again building up to a very moving climax.
The album's two most outstanding songs are tracks six and seven, 'Hear You Me' and 'If You Don't, Don't'. The former is a soft, sad and tearjerkingly sweet letter to a friend and mentor who has passed away, with every note resonating with sadness and regret ('What would you think of me now, so lucky, so stong so proud?/I never said thank you for that/Now I'll never have the chance'). It may well have sounded corny in other hands, but thanks to Jim Adkins' vocals, which are truly stunning (as indeed they are throughout the album), it's devestatingly good. Almost impossibly, 'If You Don't, Don't' matches it for emotion, note for note and word for word. An upbeat yet yearning guitar-driven melody backs up some of the most heartfelt lyrics on the album, and when Adkins sings 'we once walked out on the beach, and once I almost touched your hand' it all becomes almost too much to bear.
However, the four tracks which follow are by no means put in the shade. The two songs which follow, 'Get It Faster' and 'Cautioners' are more experimental turns. On the former, soft-loud dynamics are juxtaposed quite brilliantly, and Adkins practically spits fire at his lyrical target ('I wanna do right by you, but I'm finding out, cheating gets it faster'). 'Cautioners' has a more expansive sound than anything else on the album, and is given five minutes for its tired, broken lyrics and slightly off-beat drum rhythms. This is followed, however, by the poppiest moment on 'Jimmy Eat World', the frighteningly catchy 'Authority Song', with female backing vocals and brisk guitars. The closer, 'My Sundown', is really something to behold, an epic, tropical ballad which shimmers beautifully on the horizon like the setting sun across the ocean, before it drops beneath the water and all that remains is darkness and silence. I haven't quite figured out whether it's about suicide or not (it does sound like it might be), but it's so incredibly touching anyway that it probably doesn't matter.
This was an album that soundtracked my summer this year, and will probably soundtrack many more. It's unsettling, moving, energising, uplifting and exciting all at once. It's the sort of album that can change your perception of music and maybe your perception of the world. Not many albums can do that.

This band has been threatening greatness for two albums and has finally come up with their undeniable masterpiece. While 'Static Prevails' and 'Clarity' were both excellent albums, there was something missing, the something that avoids all other efforts and only makes it into a truly classic piece of work. What that something is, I will probably never know but 'Bleed American' has it in droves.

It is at once both hard-edged and punky while still retaining the soft approach, deftly executed, that has served them so well in the past. While the record holds on to the distinctive sound that they had created, a sort of funny hybrid between emo-rock, punk and pure, unashamed pop, there is a new element at work here. It is hard to put a finger on what is different because the tracks are very much moulded in the shape of their previous incarnations but an overriding confidence and assuredness seems to add another element. You just have to press play on the first track and hear the first riff strike you like shock treatment to know what i am talking about. The title track is an anthem, a classic and it paves the way for an outpouring of other brilliantly envisioned and honed tracks that will remain in your head and no doubt in your stereo for weeks, months, years. The second track, 'A Praise Chorus' is toned down slightly but still retains a punk sound rapped in a beautiful bed of fuzzy emo-rock quitar. The refrain is magnificent, awe-inspiring. The genius does not let up. 'Middle' is another anthemic track that is so catchy it cannot be real. Will the barrage of quality tunes never end? No! 'Your house' follows, a ballad. If it was possible for a song to physically glitter, this one would. It is both immediately hook laden and subversively sweeping, mixing a soft, punk-like verse ('You tear my heart right out') with an uplifting chorus that is both cliched and formidable. 'Sweetness' follows and I'm afraid that you have to listen to it to actually appreciate the pure genius that it encapsulates. It is one of the best songs I have ever heard. 'Hear you me' is a more conventional ballad that is slow and uninteresting at first but, after a couple of listens, grabs you and pulls you into its ephemereal excellence.

What follows next are two tracks that are typical J.E.W. 'If you don't don't' and 'Get it faster' are about as run-of-the mill as you are likely to get on 'Bleed American' yet they are two extremely well devised pop tunes. 'The Cautioners' comes next and it is another ballad, much like 'Hear you me', and acts in much the same way. It's a grower but one worth the wait. 'Authority Song' is my favourite track on an album of favourite tracks. Suffice it to say, it is another song that has to be listened to to appreciate fully. In fact the whole damn album is unbelievable and must be bought. Oh, and the final track, 'Sundown', is also great, of course.

I am now a J.E.W. fan. I have only just bought 'Bleed American' and subsequently purchased the other albums quite rapidly afterwards. I have not been a fan since their beginnings so I believe I am not as bias as I could be perceived as being. I enjoy great rock music and this is one of the best rock albums I have EVER heard. This is one of those albums that will stay in my collection for years, it's energy and poignancy will never fade.

Everybody needs to hear 'Bleed American'. You must obey.

I shall keep it short. In the reviews of this album some people have referred this band as a sub standard Weezer. They couldn't be more wrong. Where Weezer songs are immediately catchy and likeable, they don't really stand repeated listenings very well, and often end up irritating eventually. This album doesn't really impress overly on first listen, but after a few more listens it reveals its utter brilliance, which even after repeated plays never pales. Why they aren't worldwide superstars is beyond me.