There have been a large number of albums celebrating anniversaries in 2014. From Green Day’s pop punk masterpiece Dookie celebrating its 20th birthday to The Smiths’ seminal self titled album turning 30. More recently, great albums such as blink-182’s Enema Of The State, Eminem’s The Slim Shady LP and of course Britney Spears’ …Baby One More Time are all turning 15 this year.I’m going to be focusing on an album that admittedly I knew little about around the time of release, but one that I can now comfortably say is one of my all time favourites. Jimmy Eat World’s Futures turns 10 this year so a happy birthday review is in order.
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I will mostly remember 2004 as the year I left school. As a teenager with a predominant love for rock music I surrounded myself in the ever growing ’emo rock’ scene. While I wouldn’t have coined myself an ’emo’ back then, I still remember my taste in music largely consisting of such bands. It’s strange then that I never really listened to Jimmy Eat World, especially since many consider the early to mid 2000s as their finest era. Of course I was familiar with the singles they’d released from previous their album Bleed American such as “The Middle” and “Sweetness”, but when Futures was released I was none the wiser.These days I’m a self confessed Jimmy Eat World super fan and I hold all of their albums in high regard, with Futures sitting at the top of the pile. It’s hard to put into words just how much love I have for this album without simply just gushing superlatives.
Futures is the Arizonan band’s 5th studio album, coming three years after their breakthrough album Bleed American. From start to finish it’s a glossy snapshot of hope, loss, love, and emotional distress. The opening title track is carried along by Zach Lind’s heartbeat-esque drumbeat, with Jim Adkins’ announcing that he “always believed in futures”. The song content itself follows the ‘down on your luck’ theme that many bands around that time were portraying, but in “Futures” there’s a glimmer of hope and a willingness to find better times. “Just Tonight…” is in my opinion a more pristine version of “Salt Sweat Sugar” from their previous album. “Work” and “Kill” slow the tempo, but hold nothing back in terms of emotion. Whereas “Work” is a heart on your sleeve anthem featuring a gigantic chorus, “Kill” is a more brooding affair and has Adkins’ in a more forlorn state of mind. Reflecting on an ill-fated romance, the line “I loved you, and I should have said it, but tell me just what has it ever meant” precedes the closing chorus.
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There are glimpses of happiness to lift the mood in “The World You Love”, a track with yet another huge chorus. Following is the snarling “Pain” which bristles with angry desperation. The haunting “Drugs Or Me” shows just how versatile Jimmy Eat World can be and displays a different angle of their sound. Anyone familiar with the band’s 1999 album Clarity will recognize the similarities in dynamics and music style between this and many tracks from that album. “Polaris” is another slow burner, but with a sweet aftertaste while also featuring one of the albums most beautiful lines of “I feel that when I’m old, I’ll look at you and know the world was beautiful”. Jimmy Eat World aren’t just great storytellers, but fabulous lyricists too.
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Adkins and fellow guitarist Tom Linton team up on vocal duties on “Nothing Wrong”, a song full of defiance. The pace is then lowered again with “Night Drive,” which if I didn’t know better would be a song about having sex in a car. Jimmy Eat World are fine storytellers though and they dress it up into a pretty little song. Closing the album is what I consider to be the pièce de résistance of Futures – “23” is an absolute masterpiece. Opening with nearly two minutes of winding, enthralling guitar play, Adkins’ finally weighs in with his trademark delicate vocals. The chorus doesn’t arrive until the 3 minute mark but its an infectious, delightful thing. I recently travelled to Australia and managed to catch Jimmy Eat World’s set at Soundwave festival in Perth and was absolutely buzzing when they included “23” in their set. I’ll treasure the grainy, wobbly video i recorded on my phone for years to come. Clocking in at nearly 7 and a half minutes, Jimmy Eat World really did save their best for last.
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Albums such as Futures probably won’t happen very often. The current rock scene is not what it once was in terms of commercial success and I doubt we’ll all be heaping praise on many rock albums released come 2024. I still find it strange that albums from my childhood and adolescent years are celebrating their milestones recently. Albums that I grew up listening to are now considered to be mini classics. While I didn’t own or listen to Jimmy Eat World’s Futures when it came out, I’d like to think I’ve made up for lost time and given it the love it deserves. Happy 10th birthday, Futures.