Jimmy Eat World Band • Page 418

I’m so much more annoyed by albums that are 10-20 minutes too long than albums that are 5 minutes too short. I’d rather have an album leave me wanting more than overstaying it’s welcome. This album feels just the right length to me. I don’t know when 10 songs became “too short.”

 

This is above IB and below Invented for me... but they are all really close. So I guess like 4th? Recommit is one of my favorite things they've ever done.

 

I find this album to be pretty average overall

 

10 songs is great, this album just feels like it is missing something to me to bring it up to that next level. Most of these songs are right around the 3 minute mark, so 1 or 2 more songs wouldn't really make the album all that much longer. I do agree with your point about a nice concise album being better than a bloated one, but I still feel like this album is missing something. The length thing doesn't even really get to the issue, I just can't really put my finger on it.

I guess at this point in their career and knowing how great they are, I would expect a 10-track direct concise album from them to be all killer and no filler, just 10 straight fucking jams in a row, and I don't feel like that about this album.

 

I love how many songs are in the CTL and Futures era of this band and I listen to them all. If they have more songs from the Surviving era, I hope they release them. It’s a really record though.

 

I guess my perspective is that there are two 2010s albums from Jimmy Eat World that I would absolutely cut tracks from, and they are the two that aren't 10-track albums. I think both Invented and Integrity Blues would be better if they were 10-song albums. I really do think Surviving is all killer no filler, and that's part of the reason I rank it above the albums they've released over the past 10 years. A dud in the tracklist hurts an album more for me than a tracklist that leaves me wanting more.

 

No wtf would you cut from Integrity Blues

 

"Get Right," without hesitation. I do not like that song and think it's jarring as hell at the beginning of side 2, which is otherwise a completely different mood and vibe. It's always been an odd fit on that album for me.

 

Haha I remember when that album came out and someone said the transition from PTB to Get Right was really good and you and I were like "the part where the static comes to a complete stop? Suuuure."

 

Haha, I remember this too! It's really a bizarre moment in the record, especially since the second half is otherwise pretty sedate and reflective. I liked "Get Right" better as a lead-off pre-release single, but it's just an awkward fit for me.

 

This makes perfect sense. I find a couple of the tracks on Surviving to be a little bit lackluster, which then leaves a tight, concise album feeling a little bit lacking to me. If I loved all 10 tracks then I can see it feeling like the absolute perfect length.

Talking about it at length like this makes it seem like I think less of the album than I actually do. Surviving is a great album. I just don't think it's a masterpiece on the level of some of their other albums.

I can't imagine cutting Get Right from Integrity Blues though, but I will admit that the sequencing leads to a weird transition and a headscratching start to the second half of the album. I just like that song far too much to dream of cutting it.

My version of Invented does run 10 tracks! Haha

 

Get Right is unique too in that I've run into it in public a few times and some friends have put it on playlists who don't know anything else than The Middle

 

Which songs are misses on Surviving for you, out of curiosity?

I don't think Surviving is a masterpiece either; it's a very solid Jimmy Eat World album that goes back to a sound they haven't done in awhile and does it very well. I don't think I'd put it above fifth in their discography, but that's part of what makes them special.

"Get Right," I think I overstated my distaste for it; I don't hate that song, but it's a skip for me whenever I'm playing that record on any format other than vinyl. Part of it is that I just don't think it's a super interesting song musically or lyrically. The bigger part is that I just don't think it fits on the record very well. The sequencing is a problem, but I also don't really know where else on that record you would put it. Integrity Blues is pretty flawlessly put together other than that song, which just kind of feels tacked on to me.

It's the "Pain" or the "My Best Theory." They keep going back to that kind of song because it really works for them, for some reason. "Criminal Energy" is kind of a similar type of song, too, but I think it's a little more interesting than "Get Right." Still not my favorite part of Surviving.

 

I honestly had to go back and kinda sample the songs because I couldn't remember them all. The opening trio of songs are all fantastic. '555' is a little bit weird and definitely a stylistic outlier but it's really fun, but then right after that you have 'One Mil' which for me is the closest the album comes to having a bad song. I don't think it's bad, but it's just kinda there, and I think coming after the song that's a little bit out there makes the album lose a step for me. Just a minor stumble though because "All The Way (Stay)" & "Diamond" are both fucking killer. I've cooled on "Love Never" since the album came out. I remember thinking it was pretty great at the time but I have had zero desire to listen to it since then and going back through the album now it feels like another dip for me. I don't really know why because it seems like a fine Jimmy Eat World song and everyone seems to like it. "Recommit" is cool and then "Congratulations" as the closer fucking SLAYS. LOVE that song.

Reading back over that I can tell that I love a lot of the songs and overall the album is almost entirely positive to me, but I just haven't had the desire to go back to the album like I do almost all of their other albums. I still listen to Integrity Blues all the time, I absolutely love Damage and feel like that album's unofficial cheerleader anytime anyone slights it, and I even listen to Invented a lot. CTL & Futures are classics and staples for me and I never go too too long without listening to them as well.

A lot of other bands or musicians, 7 out of 10 songs being awesome and none of the songs being bad would mean that is a phenomenal album for them. I don't really know what it is. I'm gonna play it tomorrow on my ride in to work and try to go in with fresh ears and leave some of my baggage at the door.

 

I don't know if this makes any sense, but for a guy now in his 30's, Surviving was a good style of an album for me.

 

"One Mil" is probably my least favorite, too, but it has a scruffy Bleed American b-side feel to it that I still kind of love. It doesn't disrupt the flow of the record in the way that I think something like "Get Right" or especially "Action Needs an Audience" does.

"Love Never" is one that I think everyone would have liked more if we hadn't heard it so far ahead of the album's release. I just think it's hard sometimes to hear songs you already know really well in the context of something new and have them feel worthwhile there. With that baggage removed, though, I think it's absolutely on the level of the other stuff on that record.

 

“One Mil”, “Delivery” and “Diamond” are my three favourites from the album and ones I still play weekly. Love the energy on “Surviving” and “Criminal Energy” too. Really like the album overall and even a mid tier JEW album is better than most bands top tiers, haha.

 

This is probably the case for me with "Love Never" even though I really didn't listen to either of the two songs more than once or maybe twice when they were first released. I remember when Surviving was coming out I couldn't even recall what the song "Love Never" even sounded like. I did vastly prefer "Half Heart" out of the two though, so maybe I'm holding that against the album a little bit too.

I will admit also that I thought we would have had a couple b-sides / bonus tracks by now and I was really, really, really looking forward to getting ahold of those.

 

“Delivery” is my favorite song off Surviving.

Futures
Chase This Light
Integrity Blues
Bleed American
Surviving
Invented
Clarity
Damage
Static Prevails

Pretty incredible and consistent discography for a band that’s been together for over a quarter century.

 

Futures
Bleed American
Surviving
Invented
Chase This Light
Clarity
Integrity Blues
Damage
Static Prevails

 

Futures
Chase This Light
Bleed American
Surviving
Integrity Blues
Clarity
Damage
Invented

first two

and for the record I really love Invented.

 

Chase This Light
Futures
Integrity Blues
Damage
Invented
Bleed American
Clarity
Surviving

I've never heard Static Prevails.

Also, I really love every single one of these albums.

 

Static Prevails is at least worth a listen

 

“Rockstar” still rules

 

Static Prevails is a great record