Jimmy Eat World Band • Page 131

This was great. Damage is definitely one of my favorite, if not my favorite JEW album. Regarding "How'd You Have Me" and "No, Never", I always saw those songs as companions, both sides of the relationship, and both of them are heartbreaking because you can tell that they clearly are just not meant for each other.

 

So glad Damage is getting love. It may not be super high in my ranking, but ranking JEW albums doesn't really mean much when they're all so amazing.

 

Thanks, yeah I addressed the possibility that No, Never is from the other perspective, but I'm not sure I 100% agree with that being the case. But there's no single right answer. My interpretation is canon for me personally, and is why I love the album, but that doesn't have to be the story for everyone. Even regardless of this being a single story, every song in isolation still has the most beautiful lyrics. But when they all come together in this arc, where you look at the character's emotions and perspectives in a song in the context of all of the other songs, it becomes even more powerful. There's something incredibly saddening about observing someone in a situation that they haven't yet realised is hopeless. I've seen it a lot with friends who think they have a chance with a girl and there's this wide-eyed optimism, and sometimes the hardest thing is to tell them the truth and crush their spirit. In Damage, the main character crushed his own spirit in the end. He was crushed by his own desperate need to be loved, and by fear of being alone. And then that fear turned into vitriol is when the story kind of becomes more real and the character's personality really takes shape. There's this cycle where every time I listen to the album, I learn more and more about the character, and I have this love/hate relationship with him. Like I said, he is kind of a shit head in some ways, but then I've been that way in the past too when I've been in situations of heightened emotion, so I can relate to him and his decisions. Jealousy is one of the most powerful, most disgusting emotions a person can feel, and that plays a lot into Damage's story and the actions of the main character.

 

Are the songs on the Stay On My Side Tonight EP B-sides from Futures? If so, how well do you think those songs would've fit onto the album?

 

They were written before the release of Futures. Over was written in 1998, in fact.

The band had 2 attempts at making Futures. The first attempt, they were working with their long-time producer Mark Trombino, and the album they were working on had Over, Closer, Disintegration, The World You Love, Drugs or Me and a bunch more in mind. Then they fell out with Mark Trombino and started the album again with Gil Norton. It was after this that they made 23, Polaris and some others (find the exact songs that existed before the split with Mark by downloading the Trombino Sessions).

So yes, the SOMST songs were originally going to be worked into some form of an album that would later become Futures. But they didn't end up on there because I guess the band didn't feel that they fit the mood of the album they ended up making. I think Futures is so perfect that I couldn't imagine any other songs fitting onto it, but that's just me. I couldn't be happier with the way they ended up releasing Futures and SOMST.

 

Jimmy Eat World could be well on their way to being in the rotation as one of favorite bands.

I've got the obvious Brand New at the number one slot, but number two, and in fact the rest of my top five bands/musicians, rotate for that second position. I often associate albums with seasons, and so listening to the JEW discography all within the span of a week can't quite spell out where these records will settle and sit in the long term.

Damage is the only one I have left to spin, apart from their first two albums, but absolutely nobody has recommended that I listen to them in here (I will eventually). I keep finding myself drawn back to Futures and Chase This Light.

 

This board seems to be an anomaly that nobody talks about Static Prevails (their second album). It is absolutely one of their best albums and is in no way in a lesser league to anything else they've done. I find it baffling that people here don't talk about it. The first album though (self-titled) you can just skip. It's basically like early Blink-182 but less rough in the vocal department.

 

Static prevails just sounds so different that it could conceivably be a different band. More along the lines of sunny day real estate or braid or mineral than recent Jimmy

 

Yeah, Static is not the same JEW that made Bleed or Futures or even Clarity. It's not a bad record by any means, but there's a reason that no one around here puts it in the "Essentials" department, or even in the "Next Steps" category. It's for further listening once you're already a fan.

 

That's nice to hear, but from what I've read, it sounds like you're only into a few records.

 

Yeah I guess that is very true. I wasn't thinking of it like that.

 

I don't want to "rank" albums so early, but as far as my enjoyment so far, this is where I'm at:

1. (tie) Futures
1. (tie) Chase This Light
2. Bleed American
3. Invented
4. Clarity

I believe, and this is the case with all of my top bands, that eventually each album will hold a special place. There might eventually be an absolute favorite, but the rest of them will stand on their own, favorites in their own way.

 

If I tried to "master" the Trombino Sessions, is that something people would be interested in downloading? I'm always a little let down by how "small" Big Cars sounds. I'm not a mastering engineer by any stretch so it probably wouldn't be much more than a bit of compression and limiting. I don't think too much needs to be done in terms of EQ. I've been thinking of doing it with some other demos too.

 

First spin of Damage begins right now.

 

Thank you! And yeah I completely admit that a lot of my interpretation probably wasn't intended by Jim during the writing process. Who knows, maybe a lot of it was, or maybe just a few things. But it's a story I can't "unhear" in that album now, and I love it haha...
I'm definitely going to dive into your post about Damage as soon as I get home from work today, or maybe even on my lunch break. I'll let you know my thoughts after!

 

2017 is going to suck ass music wise

 

2017 is going be a great year to let music from 2016 sink in and settle.

 

you discovering Jimmy Eat World is my favorite part of this thread lately haha. its so fun watching someone gain such an appreciation for this band so fast.
you just gotta bump Clarity up a few spots in your ranking ;)

 

It's been a battle for awhile now, a few years ago it was no question BN. But I've realized I listen to JEW way more, they have more albums I love than BN, and connect with Jims writing more than I do Jesse's the older I get.

To be fair maybe BN will make a comeback with lp5 but I doubt it will happen.. Haha

 

im pretty much the same way. The older i get, the more i start to gravitate towards JEW being my number 1 over Brand New. im content with just saying theyre both my favorite band haha, but yeah i definitely listen to Jimmy Eat World way more now. I cant deny what both have done in paving the path of my music listening though.

 

I would absolutely listen to this. I was building my full-album version of SOMST this morning and it struck me how muted "Big Cars" sounded. I boosted the volume, but that only gets you so far.

Psh, 2017 will be great, as every year is.

 

2017 will probably be more about discovering new artists for me, since all my faves are pretty much releasing this year haha

 

Clarity is the best on rainy days and long car rides for me. Probably because the day it clicked for me it was kinda overcast and I was on a long car ride haha.

 

Read it right now instead. Great read, great post. I'm really looking forward to listening to Damage with this in mind.

 

Loved Damage.