Jimmy Eat World
I've always been a corporate rock apologist, but in the absence of FM radio it's mostly been off my radar lately. Which is probably why I didn't notice Jimmy Eat World's last two records, 2004's Futures and 2007's Chase This Light, even though I had been all over the bandwagon for their greatly respected indie-esque Clarity and for the pretty awesome single The Middle from their corporate rock breakthrough Bleed American.
So this here is my gift to you, dear readers: front row seats to my Chase This Light deflowering.
Videos and links after the jump
Having given Chase This Light a good amount of attention over the past 3 days, it seems to be an almost identical record to Bleed American, minus any obvious breakout hit like The Middle. The production could not possibly be any more slick, the choruses any more huge. The track marked to be the big single, Big Casino, is certainly big enough in all the right FM radio ways.
But what makes a great FM radio song, what makes a good hook, is so intangible. Unlike, say, something aspiring to being literary, it's hard to point out exactly why a corporate rock chorus-shouter doesn't squarely hit the mark.
Like there's this song Debris from this band The Southland that is most certainly a 5-Star favorite song of the decade for me, total classic rock. But near as I can figure, nothing else this band has done is worth listening to.
And I really don't know why Debris is all but perfect and so many other similar songs completely forgettable. This is the plight of a track like The Middle, versus an attempted follow-up like Big Casino, which, although it will remain in my shuffle now that I've given it a decent shot, would not have been missed had I never found it.
My vote for best track on Chase This Light though is Gotta Be Somebody's Blues, a groovy acoustic shuffle. Just listen to those awesome big fat 70's-sounding drums!
And in case you forgot, here's those justly beloved emotastic fist-pumping choruses of yore:
(Stay away from the sucky Never Been Kissed version of Lucky Denver Mint, which was remixed to apparently sound more like a Paula Cole song)
BTW, Jimmy Eat World recently finished a North American tour in which they played their seminal album Clarity in its entirety. Public Enemy did the same thing last year with It Take A Nation Of Millions. It's nice to see that artists of a former glory are happy to pay homage to those days. Wasn't too long ago when the only respectable thing would be to berate their fans for living in the past, lest they find themselves on the State Fair circuit.
And this bodes well for JEW's (and probably PE's) Fuji Rock appearance this year, as we can be sure to hear all the classics played with full-on love and gratitude by the band. What more could you ask for in a festival appearance?
Recent interviews with drummer Zach Lind
and guitarist Tom Linton
about Chase This Light
-Kern
