I keep losing my voice within the first 2-3 songs trying to sing along to them, yet other albums aren't nearly as much of a struggle for me, so I agree with your assessment here.
The vocal ranges are definitely higher. I think "Dizzy" is the most vocally demanding song in the discography.
As someone who's been singing my whole life (naturally a tenor II, can range between bass and soprano II depending on my use of falsetto) and I can barely even sing Dizzy. Jim is a seriously underrated singer.
I'm actually curious to see if JEW could pull off a 10 year tour for CTL. It's a vocally demanding record, so I wonder if Jim could sing each song every night without straining himself.
I have pretty much the exact same range as Jim (he might be able to go lower than I can though, and I might get a little higher than he does) but he generally defaults into the same octave I default to.
I love when there is a band I love that this happens with.... Unfortunately this is not my case with Jimmy Eat World
Umm, I'm actually really close to Christian from the Hotelier, but I think I gonna little lower and he can go a bit higher. Like songs like "You In This Light" and "Scope Of All Of This Rebuilding" are a bit too high for me. Also in no way I'm saying I'm as good a vocalist as Christian haha. Just a list of Hotelier songs are in a good range for me.
My range tends to be pretty comparable to most of the artists I listen to. Certainly makes doing covers easier!
Yeah there a very few notes I can't hit, especially if I drift up into falsetto. My low range is shit though. I can do all of Burning Up by Marianas Trench and none of my friends think I'm as cool as I think I am.
I wish I could sing haha, but my pitch is so awful that the only passable thing I can really do is stumble along to some Front Bottoms songs.
They only have 3 full-lengths so I'd honestly just say start at the beginning and go chronologically, but if you want just I'd go with either It Never Goes Out or Home, Like Noplace Is There. INGO is their first record and leans pretty heavy on the pop-punk side of things, Home is the album that really skyrocketed them into the hearts of a lot of people. It has a much darker tone and dives more into emo/indie rock. I don't think I've ever heard a Cake song. But I'd love to have another band I could sing along to! Haha
Home is what got me into the band. I personally think INGO is a fantastic album and their take on the pop-punk sound is just... smarter, I guess, than a lot of other contemporary pop-punk bands, but it definitely took me longer to really appreciate. Check out the song An Ode To Nite Ratz Club, though. One of their best. And let me know what you think of Home! One of my all-time favorites at this point.
I love it. I certainly wouldn't put it over Home or Goodness, but I think it's a solid debut effort and fun summer record. It has such boundless energy and youthful angst and excitement. It gives me the same feeling I got from the records I loved as a kid, however the songwriting is still much more mature (imo) than a lot of other pop-punk bands and the lyrics touch on a lot of the themes they later expand upon in Home and Goodness. Basically I think it's great.