Much as I always say Futures is their best, I think it might actually be Bleed American. That was the album that first got me into them, contains their three biggest mainstream hits, and frankly some of their better deep cuts as well. I wonder why it doesn't get more universal love around here.
I love Bleed American so much. A Praise Chorus is my 2nd fave song of theirs! They are def my fave songs live too cause they're so much fun. once when i saw them Jim choked up during the middle of Hear You Me and had to pull away from the mic and he apologized and i was like omg
My opinions on this band's discography have changed a lot. For a while, Bleed American was really low on my favorites list, but about a month ago I decided to revisit it and now it's in my top 3. I still don't feel like I've listened to Integrity Blues, Invented, or Static Prevails enough to fairly rank their whole discography though. Top 3 atm is Clarity>Damage>Bleed American.
it's hard for me to get into Static Prevails most of the time. it's a difference in style than you'd expect from JEW, and it's also mainly Tom on vocals. that combo just makes it feel like a different band to me. but damn, i love "Rockstar"
I understand why people favor Clarity, but I got into Jimmy Eat World through Bleed American, Futures, and Chase This Light. Those are easily my top 3. I do thoroughly enjoy the live record they made for Clarity though.
Integrity Blues > Damage But with that said, I don't haven't listened to either of them more than 3 times... I like them, but I don't love them as much as Clarity, Bleed American, and Futures. Those are the 3 I go back to the very most, hands down. Everything after Futures is like "Yup, that's Jimmy Eat World... Cool." They kind of fell into a hole and kind of released albums that all sound too similar to me.
I could trim this down pretty easily, but these are probably the tracks I like the most from the last 3 JEW albums. I could probably blend these in together to form a pretty cohesive "NEW-JEW" album that I could sit and listen to happily. Sure And Certain Pass The Baby Get Right You Are Free Through Appreciation Damage I Will Steal You Back No, Never Byebyelove My Best Theory Coffee And Cigarettes Littlething Invented Mixtape
I love the song Invented. When it gets to the THERE'S A CINEMATIC END part my soul just ascends to another plane!
Yeah Invented is a stellar closing track, especially with how its built around a simple acoustic strum
My JEW rankings could change on any given day. The only constant is that SP is last and Clarity and Damage are the next lowest two
I think there are songs on Damage that with different production value would be all time JEW favorites. "Damage", "Appreciation", "Book of Love", "I Will Steal You Back", "No, Never"... all serious gems that don't really benefit from that tin-can recording sound at all. It's a really good album but I feel it's over too soon. I hadn't heard the alternate version of "You Were Good" until recently either, and I think I prefer it quite a bit to the original. Well worth checking out.
Futures is my favorite, by far. The rest change their order pretty consistently. Damage and IB being new albums and being fairly high changed things in recent years.
The production on Damage is perfect for that record. There is not a single moment on it where I think a more polished production technique would benefit it in anyway. If anything, I think it would take away from it.
I think I might honestly put invented third. I listen to futures and bleed American more, but it's far more consistent imo. Plus it's got a handful of top tier Jimmy