Jimmy Eat World

Jimmy Eat World: Bleed American [Deluxe Edition]Bleed American [Deluxe Edition] (2008)
Universal Music Group

Reviewer Rating: 4

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Contributed by: InaGreendaseBrian
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Published on May 30th 2008When an "indie" band more or less writes its breakout record, they tend to run the risk of alienating its previous fanbase; however, they usually manage it in a successful manner where it manages to retain much of those previous listeners while gaining a multitude of newcomers. While Jimmy Eat World.

When an "indie" band more or less writes its breakout record, they tend to run the risk of alienating its previous fanbase; however, they usually manage it in a successful manner where it manages to retain much of those previous listeners while gaining a multitude of newcomers. While Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American didn't quite attain the cult favorite status that 1999's Clarity did over time, seven years later it holds up incredibly well despite its singles arguably being overplayed to the point of redundancy.

The Bleed American title was hastily stripped from the artwork by Dreamworks a mere number of weeks after its original release in 2001 thanks to post-9/11 chest-beating, rendering it as self-titled even though the band already released a self-titled full-length in 1994 and EP in 1998. Time has soothed the blind patriotism and Geffen has thankfully restored the original title to the album with this two-disc deluxe edition.

As with Geffen's classic-looking deluxe edition series, Bleed American comes in a thick, crisp-looking four-panel digipak and bears a second disc full of B-Sides and alternative versions. Though there are only lyrics for a few of the unreleased bonus tracks as opposed to all, there are a few more photos and EP/single artwork covers shown off to stretch out the liner notes.

The album itself is left untouched, and it's surprising how much the thing still plain rocks. The 1-2 punch of the perfectly gritty chorus of the opening title track and then Davey von Bohlen (then of the Promise Ring, now of Maritime) guesting in the energetic "A Praise Chorus" hits hard. My dopey 15-year-old self never quite realized the cheeky rock references abundant in "A Praise Chorus," nor would I have picked up on the Jesus and Mary Chain namedrop in "The Authority Song"; in retrospect, the latter makes for a funny parallel to Death Cab for Cutie's "We Looked Like Giants." The huge singles -- "The Middle," "Sweetness" -- are still respectably catchy pop numbers as well.

There are so many extras tacked on, though, that Geffen even has to squeeze three of them onto Disc 1 ('The Original Album'). All three here are legit rare tracks that hardcore fans might already have, but they're all pretty good; "No Sensitivity" and "(Splash) Turn Twist" bear huge mid-`90s vibes, since the former sounds like the most thorough modernization of Texas Is the Reason JEW is capable of and the latter is pure Blue Album channeling.

On Disc 2, 'B-Sides and Bonus Tracks,' only five of the 18 tracks aren't just alternative or live takes on Bleed American songs, but the track listing is ordered so they make for nice nugget-like treats in between the bits of familiarity. "Firestarter," from the Last Christmas single, is slow and fairly demonic, since it's a Prodigy cover; however, it could be compared to Clarity if it wasn't for its hot-tongued lines like "I'm the bitch you hated / ... / The pain you tasted." "Spangle" is an interesting, subtle electro-indie pop effort taken from the Good to Go EP. None of the alternative takes really beat out the originals, but the acoustic "If You Don't, Don't" (from the UK The Middle single) is nice, the version of "A Praise Chorus" (off the Good to Go EP) plays up the scrappiness well and the live take on "Sweetness" sounds pretty huge. "The Authority Song" from the German Bleed American single is cool to hear since many of the lyrics are altered.

Bleed American [Deluxe Edition] is done commendably here, with many of the 71 minutes on the bonus disc proving worthwhile for fans of the original album, which, to this day, arguably ranks pretty high in Jimmy Eat World's discography.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

24hourpriapism (June 9, 2008)

last time i saw them, which was about 3 years ago, they fucking played Seventeen live. THAT made me shit my pants with joy.

Deadpan (June 3, 2008)

Man, I still need to pick this up.

They played No Sensitivity when I saw them earlier this year, and I nearly shit my pants with joy. But the shitty sound system at Academy 1 in Manchester (which, at the moment, is a joke of a venue) kind of put a dampener on it, especially when it cut out at the end. Fucking weak.

Score's for the band

SydBarrett420 (June 3, 2008)

So it sounds like the majority of people who really do or did like this band got into them around the ages of 15-17. That explains a lot for me and i'm not being negative while saying that. Bands that you get into at an early age have a tendency to be favorites.

Torgo (June 2, 2008)

Winner of Most Boring Live Band I've Ever Seen.

fallingupwards84 (June 2, 2008)

i was 17 when i bought this album. i liked it a lot back then, but over time this band's music (including the sacrosanct Clarity) has bored me. i cant get excited about it

soundforlanguage (June 2, 2008)

I was 15 when I first heard Jimmy eat world...The song "digits" from the split 7" with Christie front drive. I was hooked until that piece of shit album that came out after "bleed American"

soundforlanguage (June 2, 2008)

Decent album, The (first) self-titled album (wooden blue records, pre static prevails) is still my favorite only because it's their first. Different vocalist, almost borders on pop-punk.....I tell ya 1994 was a great time to be into (then) obscure shit like that...

Scruffy (June 1, 2008)

"Okay, so a better question would be, how old were you when you got into JEW?"
____________________________________
The first time I got into a Jew I was 17, but it was only fingers!

BWAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!

It is far, far too bad that these threads cannot be locked. That's GOLD.

icapped2pac (June 1, 2008)

I was 18 when I first got into them, back in 1998 about 6 months or so before the s/t EP came out. Static Prevails stills holds up as a good album, but Clarity was life-defining for me. That made this album a pretty big disappointment at the time, but I grew to like it. However, I just recently watched the "Believe In What You Want" DVD and it made me hate this album for not being Clarity pt. 2 all over again. It just irked me how proud they were about how utterly simplistic some of these songs are when compared to the old stuff. Then again, I can understand how you don't want to be 30 trying to re-write classics you made when you were 25... but that doesn't make me like garbage like "Your House" any better. What an irritating song.

Also, I have a question for the reviewer or others who have heard this re-issue. Is the version of "No Sensitivity" the same as the one on the Jebediah split? That songs rules, by the way.

telegraphrocks (June 1, 2008)

RondoMondo (June 1, 2008)

Great band, best record, in my opinion. Clarity is great, but this record was so crapped on at the time underservingly, and in fact is a stronger record.

SydBarrett420 (June 1, 2008)

Okay, so a better question would be, how old were you when you got into JEW?

Scruffy (June 1, 2008)

D-Bag: There are at least 3 or 4 different versions of Sweetness floating around. I think I prefer the album cut, actually.

Syd: 26 now, 19 when this came out. But that's not the question you should be asking. I was, what, 16/17 when Clarity was released. This album is good, but Clarity is one of the best records of all time.

SydBarrett420 (June 1, 2008)

I really don't undertsand the infatuation everyone has with this band. Could everyone tell me their ages, I just want to know how old you are now and what age you were when this album came out.

colin (May 31, 2008)

i can't understand why this was reissued as a deluxe edition. it would be much more logical to simply release the second disc with a few extras as a second singles / rarities collection - jimmy eat world has plenty of other songs out there roaming around that haven't been properly released. the fact the second disc was released with bleed american - probably their most widely known release - will prevent people from buying it, and that's a shame because there are some real gems there.

marketing people can be pretty fucking stupid sometimes.

d_bag (May 31, 2008)

way back when this album first came out, i downloaded a demo version of "Sweetness" by accident, and it's way cooler sounding than the polished album cut. hopefully it has made its way onto the b-sides disc here.

Johnny_J (May 31, 2008)

I still love this album (original version more). Favorites are 'A Praise Chorus', 'Your House' and 'Bleed American'.

24HourPriapism (May 31, 2008)

fuck it, i still listen to jimmy eat world. score is for jimmy eat world, less a full star for major label reissues.

XCARLUPANDDIEX (May 31, 2008)

first album is amazing . bonus disc is quite worthless, even tough you can hear how bad the demos of this album sounded.

ps: Note Regarding Bleed American Deluxe Edition CDs

If you've noticed an issue with your Bleed American Deluxe CD, you can call 800-288-5942 for information on receiving a replacement disc.

branden (May 31, 2008)

i bought this album used. i really like authority song but other than that too much acoustic. and firestarter is a prodigy cover right? thats why the lyrics suck.

jacknife737 (May 31, 2008)

I love this album(original version) at this band, but doubt i'll pick up this new edition.

Ollywood (May 30, 2008)

my mistake

Ollywood (May 30, 2008)

liked the original release Bleed American and Praise Chorus are great songs

waiting for Scotts obligatory shit on this band comment...