Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light
Artist profile:
Jimmy Eat World
Release Date: 15/10/07
Label: Polydor
Rating: ***
Jimmy Eat World certainly have had a time of it. Tipped for greatness in the late 90’s, somehow JEW fell into the wrong scene and began to be associated with various ‘emotional’ bands. And now that’s gone stagnant, the poor band are left discarded by many, dizzy and more confused than a dog chasing its tail for three hours straight. It’s perhaps this strife that is to be blamed for the average content of new album ‘Chase This Light’.
That’s not to say this album is deficient in any way. ‘Big Casino’ was deservedly the lead single, and is both thundering and delicate at the same time. But there is caution in every song. For Jimmy Eat World tip toe a very fine line. On the one side, and as characterised by ‘Feeling Lucky’, is the urge to make music with the brash pomp and angst of bands like My Chemical Romance, yet not to take all the baggage that is associated with it. And on the other side, as represented by ‘Carry You’, is the danger of making enjoyable but stale, formulaic pop music that melts away from memory like a luke-warm ice cube.
As a result of this battle between the devil and the deep blue sea, ‘Chase This Light’ as an album comes across as reserved, like every song has been scaled back and turned down. ‘Electable (Give It Up)’ for example would undoubtedly raise a smile among fans, but with some tweaking it could have raised the roof. Likewise, ‘Firefight’ has the potential to leave Dave Grohl with the wooden spoon in the competition for festival crowd pleasers. But in the end it just doesn’t have the balls to carry it off.
Only ‘Gotta Be Somebody’s Blues’ shows the full potential of this band. A medicated cross between My Bloody Valentine and godliness, it’s a stunner completely out of pace with the rest of the album, organic sounding in a way as to place it leagues above the more formulaic material.
But this one saving grace can’t cover the disappointment of a ‘could have been’ album. For a shot at acceptability, Jimmy Eat World have compromised too much of the energy that a rock album needs, and for this band, there’s simply no room for such an average album.
Jon Bye
Jimmy Eat World Official Site
Jimmy Eat World Myspace
Buy Jimmy Eat World CDs | Buy Jimmy Eat World mp3s | Buy Jimmy Eat World Tickets | Buy Jimmy Eat World Merch
Release Date: 15/10/07
Label: Polydor
Rating: ***
Jimmy Eat World certainly have had a time of it. Tipped for greatness in the late 90’s, somehow JEW fell into the wrong scene and began to be associated with various ‘emotional’ bands. And now that’s gone stagnant, the poor band are left discarded by many, dizzy and more confused than a dog chasing its tail for three hours straight. It’s perhaps this strife that is to be blamed for the average content of new album ‘Chase This Light’.
That’s not to say this album is deficient in any way. ‘Big Casino’ was deservedly the lead single, and is both thundering and delicate at the same time. But there is caution in every song. For Jimmy Eat World tip toe a very fine line. On the one side, and as characterised by ‘Feeling Lucky’, is the urge to make music with the brash pomp and angst of bands like My Chemical Romance, yet not to take all the baggage that is associated with it. And on the other side, as represented by ‘Carry You’, is the danger of making enjoyable but stale, formulaic pop music that melts away from memory like a luke-warm ice cube.
As a result of this battle between the devil and the deep blue sea, ‘Chase This Light’ as an album comes across as reserved, like every song has been scaled back and turned down. ‘Electable (Give It Up)’ for example would undoubtedly raise a smile among fans, but with some tweaking it could have raised the roof. Likewise, ‘Firefight’ has the potential to leave Dave Grohl with the wooden spoon in the competition for festival crowd pleasers. But in the end it just doesn’t have the balls to carry it off.
Only ‘Gotta Be Somebody’s Blues’ shows the full potential of this band. A medicated cross between My Bloody Valentine and godliness, it’s a stunner completely out of pace with the rest of the album, organic sounding in a way as to place it leagues above the more formulaic material.
But this one saving grace can’t cover the disappointment of a ‘could have been’ album. For a shot at acceptability, Jimmy Eat World have compromised too much of the energy that a rock album needs, and for this band, there’s simply no room for such an average album.
Jon Bye
Jimmy Eat World Official Site
Jimmy Eat World Myspace
Buy Jimmy Eat World CDs | Buy Jimmy Eat World mp3s | Buy Jimmy Eat World Tickets | Buy Jimmy Eat World Merch
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