Closers ranking: 1. 23 2. Mixtape 3. Dizzy 4. Pol Roger 5. My Sundown 6. Anderson Mesa 7. You Were Good 8. Goodbye Sky Harbor 9. Cars "Pol Roger" might reach #2 with time...
I love the chorus and everything. The only thing I struggle with is the verses. They aren't bad at all, and the lyrics are great, but there's something atypical about the number of measures per phrase, or number of phrases per verses or something. Like usually on the fourth line of a verse I'd expect some melodic resolution but instead there's an upwards inflection on his voice and it leads into fifth line, for example. It's not bad it's just different to your average song, so my mind gets confused as to where I am in the verse, how many measures it is til the chorus etc. Everything resolves and hits home when it gets to the chorus though which is great it's just the verses I get a little confused and lost in. Props to them for trying something different though, structurally. You With Me does this too, but it's in the intro before the verse starts so it isn't as dizzying, for want of a better term; like when a new melody or rhythm is introduced in the intro, it last for 3 phrases, instead of 2 or 4 like you'd usually expect.
Anderson Mesa is so great, but its dated production kind of holds it back from being at the top of any list.
1. 23 2. Dizzy (both are top 3 discog songs) 3. Pol Roger 4. Goodbye Sky Harbor 5. Mixtape 6. Ny Sundown 7. You Were Good 8. Anderson Mesa 9. Cars
I actually think the production of Static is very crisp and polished (much moreso than Damage for example), but it's the performances themselves that are more raw, if that makes sense.
23 Dizzy My Sundown Pol Roger You Were Good Mixtape Goodbye Sky Harbor Anderson Mesa Could definitely see Pol Roger getting to number 3.
Musically I feel like You Were Good could go near the bottom, but the lyrics compel me to put it fairly high up.
Dig in deep with those lyrics, they are quite literally some of the top 5 verses Jim has ever written. Stunningly, breathtakingly beautiful stuff in there.
I haven't dug in, but I can already tell the lyrics are so good. I just hope I can latch onto the flow of the verse a little more so I can relax and enjoy the lyrics as much as they deserve.
It just sounds like the 90s to me. Especially "Anderson Mesa." It just sounds like Mineral, which is not a bad thing whatsoever. It's definitely a raw performance though.
23 is still a top 10 JEW song for me, but at one point it was my number one, now it probably sits somewhere in the 5-8 range.
i didn't really care for "you were good" until early this year. something about it clicked for me (musically that is, i always did adore the lyrics). the bridge is really great in that song (like most of their songs ha)
I hear you loud and clear... we should rank the openers: Table for Glasses Futures You With Me Heart Is Hard to Find Big Casino Bleed American Appreciation Chachi Thinking, That's All Well shit, I never, ever expected You With Me to grow on me as much as it has.
heart is hard to find you with me futures big casino bleed american table for glasses appreciation they are all phenomenal songs.