Reviews
Jimmy Eat World
Stay On My Side Tonight
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Add to del.ico.us.Review Date: 2005-10-15
I think I have gone through my life so far drastically underestimating the power of the E.P. It always seemed like a gross waste of money to buy an album for around 10 dollars that has half the music you would get on an entire album, for 5 dollars more. And maybe for a time that might have been the case. In 2005 things have changed. So many albums run between 30 and 40 minutes now, that the difference between an EP and an album is marginal at best. Add to the scenario the amount of filler on most current albums, something that rarely if ever happens on an EP and you start to build a strong case for the strongpoints of buying EPS.
I've also stumbled upon another interesting tidbit of information in regards to EPs. When a band like Jimmy Eat World releases an EP rather closely after their previous not-so-hot selling album it usually is a veiled sign that they are apologizing to the fans. A kinda.... we realize we fucked up, but don't write us off quite yet we still make good music I promise! I suspected this might be the case with Jimmy Eat World, and so I downloaded the album. Well.. also because they cover a Heatmiser (Elliott Smith's former band) song on it. I figured after all the harsh things I had to say about the prior album I owed it to them to at least give it a fair chance. "Stay On My Side Tonight" features 5 songs. 4 of which have never been released, and one remix of "Drugs Or Me" which I didn't care for at all off of "Futures" but is greatly improved in this format. A little research on the J.E.W. (Jimmy.Eat.World) site tells me that these songs were recorded for the "Futures" album, but didn't seem to fit and thus were in limbo. Why these were left off I'm not quite sure because that album was a disappointment. But, i've already spoke about that album. This is about the E.P so moving on.
"Disintegration" opens the EP, and this is nearly 8 minutes of some of (if not the) best material I have ever heard from J.E.W. Seriously... I think this song single-handedly reignited my interest in a band that I had been moving away from after "Futures". The song has a lot of build up, starting with some really slow spaced out pounding drums, and just a sprinkle of guitars against Jim Adkins voice. This isn't an anthem, this isn't made for MTV. This is music, for music fans and I haven't heard something like this in a long, long time from this band. For a band that is normally pigeon-holded as emo, I have a tough time classifying this as emo. In that it is much more brooding, and chill. No screaming, no whining like you would expect. The song gains momentum as it goes, and the drums become much more powerful, and it all builds up to these dynamic cruscendo that hits around the 5 minute mark. It consists of basically a chant, with the album title being chanted again and again, getting louder and louder which continues for the rest of the album and is layered against the vocals, and the different shit going on instrumentally. Just a dynamic song that absolutely destroys any song off the last album, and maybe any of their albums.
It would be too much of me to ask for this EP to succeed at the level of "Disintegration" for the entire 5 songs, so I expected a drop off. "Over" is more like what you would expect from Jimmy Eat World, but still toned down and not nearly as blatantly catchy which I am loving. The main issue holding this back from being a dynamic track, is musically it just seems boring. I like when Jimmy Eat World creates an atmosphere with their music. They usually do this by layering different instruments, and adding different sound effects you wouldn't expect to find and then using that to set the mood for Jim Adkins vocals. But this just sounds like an attempt at single gone awry. It isn't brutal, but it is easily the weakest of the 5 offerings on this EP.
"Closer" gets a lot closer to what I am looking for. I wish they would write songs a bit less about relationships. You might argue that not everyone song is directly about a relationship, but at the end of the day every J.E.W. song is about relationships. You might have to peel it back a bit to find the connection but the connection is always there. But! What I do like about this song, is they create a pimpin' ambient atompshere and that subtle change makes the song so much better than the last one. Jim Adkins has a great voice, and this band other than songwriting has oodles of talent. Sometimes they just forget to use it. If you are a longtime Jimmy Eat World fan this is reminiscient of "Clarity" which I would argue is the best album they have hands down. Before they sold their souls to the devil to climb the top 40.
Finally, the Heatmiser cover. The main reason I investigated into this EP. Elliott Smith, likely surpasses Shannon Hoon as the most notable musician that has passed away in terms of how much I adore them. So any connection to his music, no matter how loose is going to hook me. "Half Right" if nothing else, shows me that Jimmy Eat World as a band has better musical taste than I mighta thought they did. Let me tell you, Jimmy Eat World and Elliott Smith are so different that it really was a cool choice for a cover. And they don't fuck it up. The lyrics of this song are so excellent to begin with that by not trying anything too ambitious they pulled it off. It has a emo meets classical, meets folk vibe going on here that is their interpretation of the song. If you are going to hear it, be sure to check the original as well.
So the remix of "Drugs Or Me" which is titled the Styrofam remix. I totally ripped on this song in my "Futures" review. Mostly because it was benevolent bullshit, and I was so disappointed in the album that I couldn't stand hearing Adkins pouting about the internal debate his girl had to hve in deciding whether to like him or the drugs. Especially considering all the other songs talked about how much Jim Adkins himself likes the drugs. But this remix shows the song in a brand new light. You hardly notice the lyrics with all the splicing, and sunshine sound effects worked into the song. Hell, you can hardly hear anything with all the abrupt starts, and mad layering going on here. It almost sounds like Jimmy Eat World being done by Fourtet. And I love Fourtet more than any other electronic artist I have ever heard. Whoever this Styrofoam dude is he/she has serious remixing skills. Transforming this song I pretty much hated, into something I can hear 3 times in an hour is impressive.
"Stay On My Side Tonight" runs for approximately 27 minutes. Not a bad value considering it will set you back less than 10 bucks. And four out of five, otherwise known as 80 percent of the songs are very good. But the reason you would buy this is "Disintegration". Any Jimmy Eat World fan needs this song in their collection. Only the hardcore buy EPs it has been that way for years. I'm not sure it will ever change, but if you are the EP buying type this one comes recommended from me.
Score: 8.15
I love being taken by surprise. Jimmy Eat World is like that girlfriend you had in highschool that you hated one minute, and then you loved a few minutes later. It is a roller-coaster. But this is a high point.
- Dan