I’m a casual writer and don’t read album reviews very often, but that Futures review seems very unprofessional. Not sure what the state of reviewing was back then, but at that point, if you truly can’t resonate with an album to the point where every sentence is competing to come up with a pointed insult, you should probably pass it down to another reviewer. It’s ironic that they said Jim’s vocals were whiny when that’s the exact tone I’d describe that review. A ton of the complaints were out of left field and are complete non-issues that existed, and still exist, in modern music today. Like, a vocalist writing about women when they make up half the population, and a lot of people derive meaning from, or at the very least, are impacted by, interpersonal relationships, is what you’re taking issue with here? Seriously? It’s like complaining that water is wet.
This is in line with what they’d publish at the time. Some of their reviews read more as snark than actual music journalism.
Pitchfork was famously unprofessional back then. There's even a lyrical misquote in that review that has still not been corrected, 21+ years later.
There’s some egregious misquotes in the review of the reissue of the hotelier’s it never goes out within the last decade
The score isn't thaaaaaaat far off from where I'd go but the review itself is terrible and misrepresentative
My opinion is a net positive! Just not as positive as others but I still enjoy a ton of things about it!
I also did not grow up with Jimmy Eat World at all and all of my exposure to them is in the past 2-3 years
I'm so curious what that journey has looked like? What brought you to them, and what elements/eras work for you versus the ones that don't? They are one of my most formative bands, and Futures is arguably my most formative album, so I'll acknowledge that I could never be anything approaching "objective" about them.
All I had heard was "The Middle" and I went with my wife to the Fall Out Boy/Jimmy tour and FOB was ridiculously late but the Jimmy set was phenomenal. Also I was interested in Jim Adkins' Fender model and bought it (one of my favorite guitars I own now) because I'm obsessed with the thinline style and P90s Clarity and Bleed American are definitely my favorites, I flip between the 2 on which is my actual favorite based on mood (right now it's Bleed American). Also a big big fan of Chase This Light. I think Static Prevails is maybe their most "special" album because there's something there that I really enjoy that they don't quite tap into as much as they need to to make the album work for me but it gives me a very specific craving that I can't quite put my finger on. Futures, I gravitate towards their slower works on but the singles just don't work for me at all for whatever reason. The rest of their stuff I was fairly lukewarm on, none of it was offensive enough for me to hate it or anything but it didn't grab me a ton either
Interesting that you dig Static Prevails. That's the one I've never totally come around on. 1999-2007 is definitely their peak period, for me.
It's very volatile. Idk the best way to put it but I'm obsessed with the highs on it but I hate every low on it. But there's something there that's special
I have a thing where, when I discover a band on a more fully-realized and polished album, I struggle to go back to the rougher earlier album. Futures and Clarity were my first two Jimmy Eat World albums, and Static always paled in comparison for me. See also: The Gaslight Anthem's Sink or Swim and Motion City Soundtrack's I am the Movie, after discovering those bands with The '59 Sound and Commit This to Memory.
That makes sense and I do think me just doing a straight-through discography listen helped with that. Same with The Menzingers, I just started listening to them a couple years ago and I looooove Chamberlain Waits and the album before that I forget the name of. But with The Gaslight Anthem, who I got into with 59 Sound/American Slang, I like but do not often go back to Sink Or Swim.
It is always interesting to see what albums people like most vs what album they got into first. BA and Futures were my entry point but Clarity is definitely my favorite. My trend seems to be only revisiting specific songs off earlier albums. I love Thinking Thats All, Rockstar, and Call It in the Air off Static Prevails but rarely listen to anything else. Those are good examples with The Gaslight Anthem and MCS. I never listen to Sink or Swim but I still listen to Blue Jeans and White T-shirts off the Senor EP all the time
When I was doing my discography run it was another friend of mine's favorite but my wife was like "you probably won't like this one" and I got attached to it so immediately. I don't know what it is about it I just love it to death