Let's get some Clarity here - do you wanna try these guys or not...?

Oh, c'mon you guys! Is it because I said the e-word? It's because I said the e-word, right?! The guys in Jimmy Eat World would be the first to protest the label, like any self-respecting punk band that got put into the 'emo' box. They would also protest that my compilation of Jimmy Eat World's early days sits as the least viewed (and, thus, downloaded) album on the entire site. Give these guys a chance! They're good! Really! Certified four-star classic!

I'll give this one more shot, and if Jimmy Eat World still can't start some world-(b)eating, we'll see about the rest of the content I had planned for them. But yeah, Clarity it is. When Jimmy Eat World recorded that album in the late 90s, they were aware that this was probably their last shot at the big time. Predecessor Static Prevails had underperformed, and if the next album would do the same, they were probably done with a major label. So the band put everything into this record, looking for new sounds and new expressions - and actually found them! Clarity is a quantum leap from the unfocused and relatively monotonous Static Prevails. Lead vocals - save one cameo - are now safely in the hands of Jim Adkins, whose warmer and higher voice is much more suited to the increase in - yes - emotions that these compositions carry. And there's an assurance and maturity in these performances that just isn't there in their early work.

Their musical choices are better than their choices of sweaters, I swear...

Clarity was their big breakthrough with the critics, if not quite yet the public. They were right about this being their last shot with Capitol for whom this album didn't make enough money. But they had put enough of the advance on the side for the follow-up which really broke them through! But that is a story for another day, god willing and the creek don't rise (...and the views on One Buck Records also rising...). But there was an issue with the album that didn't make me love it as much as I thought I should and wanted to, considering how much I like certain songs. And then I realized that it was the sequencing that always bugged me. 

According to Adkins, it was "the most punk rock thing to do" to open with the slow, moody, Low-inspired "Table For Glasses", but I thought the album never got off the right foot with that. Call me a relic, call me what you will, but an album should open with a kick-ass number. So I put the obvious single "Lucky Denver Mint" up front and then programmed it so there would be no lulls or dull moments throughout the album, resequencing it from the ground up. Only obvious album closer "Goodbye Sky Harbor" is in the same spot as the original version. When starting to compile my own version of Clarity I thought I would dump some tracks but I found that track for track there were no obvious losers in the bunch, only winners due to a way better sequencing (he very humbly adds). 

I did a minor editing, getting rid of some electronic bleeps (moody, but kind of annoying) at the beginning and end of "12.23.95" and also cut down the 16 minutes of "Goodbye Sky Harbor" by about three minutes, when the song turned into a weird drone-y thing. I liked the hypnotizing raga-like rhythm of the twelve minute minute instrumental coda, but that was a bit much there at the end. And when finalizing the album I reliazed I had to work on the links betwen tracks, so finally I did quite a bit more detail work then I wanted, but the result is worth it. 

So, yeah, give this a try, folks, you won't regret it. It really is quite a good rock'n'roll record, and you and I will refrain from using the evil e-word ever again. Kick ass rock, beautiful ballads, what more can one ask for? Don't answer that, it's purely rhetorical! So, get some Clarity and give me some clarity...