Genre: pop, alt rock
Rating:
Check Out: “Always Be,” “Dizzy,” “Chase This Light,” and “Electable (Give It Up).”
myspace, website

As their follow-up to 2004′s Futures, there was a lot of buzz surrounding the release of Chase This Light. In fact, the demos of most of the album were leaked on the internet a few months before the release of the album, and managed to stir up more interest. I’ll admit that I was one of the guilty who listened to the demos, and I did enjoy what I heard. However, the official album was a disappointment because of the over-production and slick pop that nearly drowned out the lyrics.

The reason for so much pop is a bit of a mystery, unless the band was just sick of the seriousness in Futures and wanted to cheer up. Thankfully, the lyrical intensity of Futures didn’t completely go away, so a credible backbone exists despite the catchiness. I am a firm believer in not comparing new albums to old ones and simply judging them based on their own merits, but Futures said a lot about where Jimmy Eat World could go. So why didn’t they take the next step?

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: ,

3 comments

  1. I remember being really excited when this album came out. I agree that this is really poppy compared to their other stuff, but I really enjoyed it. I never know what to expect from Jimmy Eat World albums because they don’t have a huge following here in England so I was introduced to them fairly late and haven’t listened to them progress as a band.

    This does fell heavily polished though, but the songs are excellent and the whole album is quite solid. This was one of my favorite albums of last year. Good Review.

    /* Plugin Name: Custom Write Panel Plugin URI: http://wefunction.com/2008/10/tutorial-create-custom-write-panels-in-wordpress Description: Allows custom fields to be added to the WordPress Post Page Version: 1.0 Author: Spencer Author URI: http://wefunction.com /* ----------------------------------------------*/ $new_meta_boxes = array( "image" => array( "name" => "image", "std" => "", "title" => "Image URL", "description" => ""), "album" => array( "name" => "album", "std" => "", "title" => "Album Title", "description" => ""), "artist" => array( "name" => "artist", "std" => "", "title" => "Artist Name", "description" => ""), "year" => array( "name" => "year", "std" => "***, *** Records", "title" => "Year & Record Label", "description" => ""), "wiki" => array( "name" => "wiki", "std" => "", "title" => "Wikipedia Link", "description" => ""), "web" => array( "name" => "web", "std" => "", "title" => "Website Link", "description" => ""), "myspace" => array( "name" => "myspace", "std" => "", "title" => "Myspace Link", "description" => ""), "lastfm" => array( "name" => "lastfm", "std" => "", "title" => "Last.fm Link", "description" => ""), "genre" => array( "name" => "genre", "std" => "", "title" => "Genre(s)", "description" => ""), "rate" => array( "name" => "rate", "std" => "", "title" => "Rating", "description" => "values of 5, 4.5, 4, etc."), "recs" => array( "name" => "recs", "std" => "'***,' '***,' '***,' '***'", "title" => "Recommended Songs", "description" => ""), "alb1a" => array( "name" => "alb1a", "std" => "", "title" => "Recommended Listen #1: Artist", "description" => ""), "alb1n" => array( "name" => "alb1n", "std" => "", "title" => "Recommended Listen #1: Album", "description" => ""), "alb1l" => array( "name" => "alb1l", "std" => "", "title" => "Recommended Listen #1: Link", "description" => ""), "alb2a" => array( "name" => "alb2a", "std" => "", "title" => "Recommended Listen #2: Artist", "description" => ""), "alb2n" => array( "name" => "alb2n", "std" => "", "title" => "Recommended Listen #2: Album", "description" => ""), "alb2l" => array( "name" => "alb2l", "std" => "", "title" => "Recommended Listen #2: Link", "description" => "") ); function new_meta_boxes() { global $post, $new_meta_boxes; foreach($new_meta_boxes as $meta_box) { $meta_box_value = get_post_meta($post->ID, $meta_box['name'].'_value', true); if($meta_box_value == "") $meta_box_value = $meta_box['std']; echo''; echo'

    '.$meta_box['title'].'

    '; echo'
    '; echo'

    '; } } function create_meta_box() { global $theme_name; if ( function_exists('add_meta_box') ) { add_meta_box( 'new-meta-boxes', 'For Album Reviews', 'new_meta_boxes', 'post', 'side', 'high' ); } } function save_postdata( $post_id ) { global $post, $new_meta_boxes; foreach($new_meta_boxes as $meta_box) { // Verify if ( !wp_verify_nonce( $_POST[$meta_box['name'].'_noncename'], plugin_basename(__FILE__) )) { return $post_id; } if ( 'page' == $_POST['post_type'] ) { if ( !current_user_can( 'edit_page', $post_id )) return $post_id; } else { if ( !current_user_can( 'edit_post', $post_id )) return $post_id; } $data = $_POST[$meta_box['name'].'_value']; if(get_post_meta($post_id, $meta_box['name'].'_value') == "") add_post_meta($post_id, $meta_box['name'].'_value', $data, true); elseif($data != get_post_meta($post_id, $meta_box['name'].'_value', true)) update_post_meta($post_id, $meta_box['name'].'_value', $data); elseif($data == "") delete_post_meta($post_id, $meta_box['name'].'_value', get_post_meta($post_id, $meta_box['name'].'_value', true)); } }
  2. @ andy: I agree that it was a decent album, and Jimmy Eat World can be very surprising at times, but it fell short in my opinion. ‘What’ it fell short on I don’t know, but I guess I’m guilty of just wishing for another ‘Futures’ again. Have you heard that one, by the way?

    /* Plugin Name: Custom Write Panel Plugin URI: http://wefunction.com/2008/10/tutorial-create-custom-write-panels-in-wordpress Description: Allows custom fields to be added to the WordPress Post Page Version: 1.0 Author: Spencer Author URI: http://wefunction.com /* ----------------------------------------------*/ $new_meta_boxes = array( "image" => array( "name" => "image", "std" => "", "title" => "Image URL", "description" => ""), "album" => array( "name" => "album", "std" => "", "title" => "Album Title", "description" => ""), "artist" => array( "name" => "artist", "std" => "", "title" => "Artist Name", "description" => ""), "year" => array( "name" => "year", "std" => "***, *** Records", "title" => "Year & Record Label", "description" => ""), "wiki" => array( "name" => "wiki", "std" => "", "title" => "Wikipedia Link", "description" => ""), "web" => array( "name" => "web", "std" => "", "title" => "Website Link", "description" => ""), "myspace" => array( "name" => "myspace", "std" => "", "title" => "Myspace Link", "description" => ""), "lastfm" => array( "name" => "lastfm", "std" => "", "title" => "Last.fm Link", "description" => ""), "genre" => array( "name" => "genre", "std" => "", "title" => "Genre(s)", "description" => ""), "rate" => array( "name" => "rate", "std" => "", "title" => "Rating", "description" => "values of 5, 4.5, 4, etc."), "recs" => array( "name" => "recs", "std" => "'***,' '***,' '***,' '***'", "title" => "Recommended Songs", "description" => ""), "alb1a" => array( "name" => "alb1a", "std" => "", "title" => "Recommended Listen #1: Artist", "description" => ""), "alb1n" => array( "name" => "alb1n", "std" => "", "title" => "Recommended Listen #1: Album", "description" => ""), "alb1l" => array( "name" => "alb1l", "std" => "", "title" => "Recommended Listen #1: Link", "description" => ""), "alb2a" => array( "name" => "alb2a", "std" => "", "title" => "Recommended Listen #2: Artist", "description" => ""), "alb2n" => array( "name" => "alb2n", "std" => "", "title" => "Recommended Listen #2: Album", "description" => ""), "alb2l" => array( "name" => "alb2l", "std" => "", "title" => "Recommended Listen #2: Link", "description" => "") ); function new_meta_boxes() { global $post, $new_meta_boxes; foreach($new_meta_boxes as $meta_box) { $meta_box_value = get_post_meta($post->ID, $meta_box['name'].'_value', true); if($meta_box_value == "") $meta_box_value = $meta_box['std']; echo''; echo'

    '.$meta_box['title'].'

    '; echo'
    '; echo'

    '; } } function create_meta_box() { global $theme_name; if ( function_exists('add_meta_box') ) { add_meta_box( 'new-meta-boxes', 'For Album Reviews', 'new_meta_boxes', 'post', 'side', 'high' ); } } function save_postdata( $post_id ) { global $post, $new_meta_boxes; foreach($new_meta_boxes as $meta_box) { // Verify if ( !wp_verify_nonce( $_POST[$meta_box['name'].'_noncename'], plugin_basename(__FILE__) )) { return $post_id; } if ( 'page' == $_POST['post_type'] ) { if ( !current_user_can( 'edit_page', $post_id )) return $post_id; } else { if ( !current_user_can( 'edit_post', $post_id )) return $post_id; } $data = $_POST[$meta_box['name'].'_value']; if(get_post_meta($post_id, $meta_box['name'].'_value') == "") add_post_meta($post_id, $meta_box['name'].'_value', $data, true); elseif($data != get_post_meta($post_id, $meta_box['name'].'_value', true)) update_post_meta($post_id, $meta_box['name'].'_value', $data); elseif($data == "") delete_post_meta($post_id, $meta_box['name'].'_value', get_post_meta($post_id, $meta_box['name'].'_value', true)); } }
  3. No I have never heard Futures actually. I only own Chase This Light, Bleed American and Clarity and I like all three. But Bleed American and Clarity were given to me about two years ago and I bought Chase This Light when it came out. So I haven’t listened to the albums in order or anything. You have me curious about Futures now. I will try to give it a listen.

    /* Plugin Name: Custom Write Panel Plugin URI: http://wefunction.com/2008/10/tutorial-create-custom-write-panels-in-wordpress Description: Allows custom fields to be added to the WordPress Post Page Version: 1.0 Author: Spencer Author URI: http://wefunction.com /* ----------------------------------------------*/ $new_meta_boxes = array( "image" => array( "name" => "image", "std" => "", "title" => "Image URL", "description" => ""), "album" => array( "name" => "album", "std" => "", "title" => "Album Title", "description" => ""), "artist" => array( "name" => "artist", "std" => "", "title" => "Artist Name", "description" => ""), "year" => array( "name" => "year", "std" => "***, *** Records", "title" => "Year & Record Label", "description" => ""), "wiki" => array( "name" => "wiki", "std" => "", "title" => "Wikipedia Link", "description" => ""), "web" => array( "name" => "web", "std" => "", "title" => "Website Link", "description" => ""), "myspace" => array( "name" => "myspace", "std" => "", "title" => "Myspace Link", "description" => ""), "lastfm" => array( "name" => "lastfm", "std" => "", "title" => "Last.fm Link", "description" => ""), "genre" => array( "name" => "genre", "std" => "", "title" => "Genre(s)", "description" => ""), "rate" => array( "name" => "rate", "std" => "", "title" => "Rating", "description" => "values of 5, 4.5, 4, etc."), "recs" => array( "name" => "recs", "std" => "'***,' '***,' '***,' '***'", "title" => "Recommended Songs", "description" => ""), "alb1a" => array( "name" => "alb1a", "std" => "", "title" => "Recommended Listen #1: Artist", "description" => ""), "alb1n" => array( "name" => "alb1n", "std" => "", "title" => "Recommended Listen #1: Album", "description" => ""), "alb1l" => array( "name" => "alb1l", "std" => "", "title" => "Recommended Listen #1: Link", "description" => ""), "alb2a" => array( "name" => "alb2a", "std" => "", "title" => "Recommended Listen #2: Artist", "description" => ""), "alb2n" => array( "name" => "alb2n", "std" => "", "title" => "Recommended Listen #2: Album", "description" => ""), "alb2l" => array( "name" => "alb2l", "std" => "", "title" => "Recommended Listen #2: Link", "description" => "") ); function new_meta_boxes() { global $post, $new_meta_boxes; foreach($new_meta_boxes as $meta_box) { $meta_box_value = get_post_meta($post->ID, $meta_box['name'].'_value', true); if($meta_box_value == "") $meta_box_value = $meta_box['std']; echo''; echo'

    '.$meta_box['title'].'

    '; echo'
    '; echo'

    '; } } function create_meta_box() { global $theme_name; if ( function_exists('add_meta_box') ) { add_meta_box( 'new-meta-boxes', 'For Album Reviews', 'new_meta_boxes', 'post', 'side', 'high' ); } } function save_postdata( $post_id ) { global $post, $new_meta_boxes; foreach($new_meta_boxes as $meta_box) { // Verify if ( !wp_verify_nonce( $_POST[$meta_box['name'].'_noncename'], plugin_basename(__FILE__) )) { return $post_id; } if ( 'page' == $_POST['post_type'] ) { if ( !current_user_can( 'edit_page', $post_id )) return $post_id; } else { if ( !current_user_can( 'edit_post', $post_id )) return $post_id; } $data = $_POST[$meta_box['name'].'_value']; if(get_post_meta($post_id, $meta_box['name'].'_value') == "") add_post_meta($post_id, $meta_box['name'].'_value', $data, true); elseif($data != get_post_meta($post_id, $meta_box['name'].'_value', true)) update_post_meta($post_id, $meta_box['name'].'_value', $data); elseif($data == "") delete_post_meta($post_id, $meta_box['name'].'_value', get_post_meta($post_id, $meta_box['name'].'_value', true)); } }

Leave a comment