THAT BRIDGE Gonna be SCREAMING “all night” at a show this fall, feeling alive for the first time in a while. Holy shit guys, they don’t miss.
Jim "I'm not a self help book I'm just a fucked up adult" Adkins. I feel like he hit on some of those themes on Surviving also. One of my favorite lines "And we realize we're in a future memory" from "Delivery".
In terms of JEW power rankings, I go: 01) FUTURES - Most well-rounded with the heaviest rockers and most intense ballads 02) BLEED AMERICAN - Controversial but I think I dig the tightness and contrast of power-pop and sentimental acoustic numbers 03) CLARITY - I find the love of this album a tad over-rated. Definitely great but sometimes a bit TOO melodic/majestic for me 04) INTEGRITY BLUES - Late period comeback and might even be in top #3 if not for the bland "Get Right" 05) DAMAGE - I never hear much chatter about this one but, song-for-song is really solid with a few all-timers on it 06) SURVIVING - A nice companion to BA with their tightest and heaviest songs 07) INVENTED - One of the rare records where the back-half is better than the first half, especially the last two tracks 08) CHASE THIS LIGHT - Excellent lead-off single and a few other bangers (Dizzy, Electable) but feels a bit too streamlined 09) STATIC PREVAILS - I've spent the least amount of time with this and discovering it after Clarity, it felt a bit too rough but if you dig 90's mid-western style emo, I can see why people like it Never listened to their 94 self-titled and really have no interest. Also the Stay On My Side Tonight EP rules for the title track alone.
Jim's lyrics always in the pocket of "too real/relatable, simple and pure". "Something Loud" I walked around for days In a familiar place This time I finally let myself own every small feeling There was the one who got away There was a first for everything Never a second guess if I was right where I should be Do you know what I mean? All night Do you still feel part of something loud? All night Are you such a different person now? A dream that never was An idea you think you come from All night When you can't look at the day I had it figured out The way it really is In growing up we've added just too much complexity Friends at the show in '95 Miss every one of them But there's a moment that you die or you move on to live Every one of us did All night Do you still feel part of something loud? All night Are you such a different person now? A dream that never was An idea you think you come from All night When you can't look at the day I had what I had And god damn I would change Not a single thing So smile, wave Then let go All night Do you still feel part of something loud? All night Are you such a different person now? A dream that never was An idea you think you come from All night When you can't look at the day
Speaks more to the consistency of their catalog than that record being bad BUT there are some clunkers on that album and I felt, at the time, it was TOO conscious of an effort to try to repeat the Bleed American success.