REVIEW: Jimmy Eat World, Singles (Big Wheel Recreation)
- Kerwin So
The latest word is that Jimmy Eat World, despite earning the highly prestigious award for best album of 1999 (given by this correspondent for the wonderful Clarity), got kicked to the curb by record label Capitol. Selling over 40,000 copies of a record is nothing to sneeze at, but those numbers are pretty slim by major label standards. It just goes to show that currying favor with J-Love (Jennifer Love-Hewitt) and Drew Barrymore do not guarantee success (_Clarity's single "Lucky Denver Mint" was prominently featured in both the FOX television show "Time of Your Life" and the movie Never Been Kissed.) So be it. Big Wheel Recreation's doing their part to help Jimmy Eat World find a new label home by compiling this CD of rare and compilation-only tracks, and making sure everyone gets a chance to hear it.
The two kickoff tracks, "Opener" and "77 Satellites," are barrelling, gutsy anthems so catchy that it's clear our exhaustive search for the next Foo Fighters is now over. The next three songs, including a cover of Duran Duran's "New Religion," are stale ballads worth forgetting, particularly once the absolutely rockin' "H Model" roars out of the speakers. The treats are rounded off with songs like "Carbon Scoring," which showcases an uncharacteristically aggressive side of the band, and "Ramina," an enchanting instrumental which could provide a fertile source of new ideas to enliven the band's more traditional song structures. Oh yes, and dedicated JEW fans will also find the alternate version of "Digits" here, originally found on the band's Capitol debut Static Prevails.
So, is Singles great summer driving music the next time you and the crew head out to a Six Flags theme park near you? Absolutely. Is it essential listening? No. If anything, Singles highlights the brilliance behind Clarity's strength as an entire album, and just how much the band has grown up over the past five years. This is not to belittle Singles outright, as it does display aspects of Jimmy Eat World that many of us may not have known existed. Plus, if you've attended a Jimmy Eat World show in the past year or so, you can check the crowd pictures in the sleeve to see if you're in there.
In the meantime, the band is still searching for a new label to record the full-length follow-up to Clarity... hello Jade Tree, Vagrant Records, anyone out there listening?
