Music Review – Jimmy Eat World – Deluxe Edition

Whatever it takes to get the blogging juices flowing again, I think I’m going to try a music review. I’m thinking it’d be a good idea to prime the pump for a couple of albums I’m really looking forward to that come out in the next month or so, so why not start with a deluxe edition, reissue, b-sides disc of one of my favorite bands?

Originally release in 2001, Jimmy Eat World’s major label debut "Bleed American" lingered in my Volkswagen Golf CD player for quite a long time. A soundtrack to senior year of high school (along with lesser-wonders Blink 182 and New Found Glory), this was album was a bright star in the mess of pop-punk, hormonally-influenced snot-rock that I spent a lot of time listening to. There was something different about the energy and drive behind songs like "Sweetness", "A Praise Chorus", and "Your House". I felt pretty cool for starting to listen to these guys before their songs started getting major radio play. After seeing a summer concert at the Gorge (in which they opened for the aforementioned bands), they began to hold a very special place in my heart.

This album’s life took a pretty significant turn, as did a lot of popular culture, on 9/11/2001. The original title, "Bleed American", also the name for the lead single, didn’t quite cut if for politically-correctness in a time where we had a lot of people talking about our nation’s insecurities. So, with a huge marketing push, led by excited college kids like myself, and a reissue of the album under the name "Jimmy Eat World", they salvaged the success of the album. "The Middle" became our anthem, however much any of my generation never wants to hear that song again, and helped us know that we’d get through whatever was going on. The big ideas, the big heart of this album became a rally cry of a bunch of kids who were trying to figure out what to do with their world which all of a sudden had threats of war, uncertainty of security and safety, not to mention the first quarter of college classes and dorm food.

Fast forward 7 years and 2 more albums. After modest success with "Futures" and riding on the tails of "Chase This Light", Jimmy Eat World has re-released a deluxe edition of "Bleed American". The album not only features the original artwork with the former title, it also includes an 18-track second disc of rarities, b-sides, and live tracks. Being the fiend for downloading b-sides and live tracks that I am, I already have a lot of these songs on MP3. But all combined into a full second album, these tracks help complete the full picture of all this album became, way back then. Stand out tracks include "Firestarter" (a Prodigy cover), "Last Christmas" (everyone’s favorite cover of Wham!’s holiday love anthem), and a reworked version of "Your House", which the band debuted on the "Chase this Light" tour last fall. I have to say, the new rendition of "Your House" live was one of the high points of their show at WWU last October. All together, it’s a disc for fans who want to see it all.

My top 10 list of albums is always evolving, kicking out stuff that I said "I’ll love forever" and taking in a new gem here and there. One album that has stayed with me for a long while is "Bleed American". It’s one of those albums that speaks to a special place and time in my life. It’s one I can hear blaring off the prison-white hallway in Nash Hall. It’s an album that knew me back when I was blowing my grandpa’s old Blaupunkt speakers in a 1987 Golf. Maybe you know what this feels like to have a special album like this to listen to. "If you don’t well, honey, then you don’t".