Jimmy Eat World at The Vic

Two Sundays ago Jimmy Eat World played at the Vic Theatre.  The Vic Theatre is a small place just south of Wrigleyville.  It was the last show of their Damage tour and they killed it!  It was all of what I expected and even more.  It was a long setlist and set.  In order to keep this post short, I have listed all of the songs that they played and organized them by album.

• Self Titled:  None
• Static Prevails: None
• Clarity:  Your New Aesthetic, Lucky Denver Mint, Blister
• Bleed American:  Bleed American, A Praise Chorus, The Middle, Hear You Me
• Futures:  Futures, Work, Kill, Pain, 23
• Chase This Light:  Big Casino, Let it Happen, Always Be, Chase This Light
• Invented:  Heart is Hard to Find, My Best Theory
• Damage:  I Will Steal You Back, Damage, Appreciation, Please Say No
• Other:  We are Never Getting Back Together (Taylor Swift Cover)

If you weren't a Jimmy Eat World fan already, then you probably wouldn't have thought the show was amazing.  However, if you were, then you probably thought it was awesome.  They played a lot of the songs that you wouldn't have really expected but that are fan favorites.  Of course, Jimmy Eat World played "The Middle" last.  If you only know of the song "The Middle" I suggest that you check out more of Jimmy Eat World's music.  You may not like it that much but at least give it a shot.  That's all I'm saying.

Overall, the concert was pretty great.  As a hardcore fan of Jimmy Eat World, I've been waiting to finally see them in concert for a long time.

I would not hesitate to buy tickets again for their next tour.

Blow the Dust Off: Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

I thought of a new idea for a series where I talk about older albums that people probably don't listen to anymore but if brought up will say, "Oh hell yeah, that album was awesome!"

So, I think the best way to start this new series would  be to pick an album that no one has listened to in a long time but also an album that no one has listened to period.  Why has no one listened to it?  Because it is a double album.  Double album means double trouble, double time, double dragging on.  A lot of double albums flop because more than half of it is filler.  And, quite frankly, I used to think that about this album as well.  Sure, it has its known songs like "Zero," "Bullet with Butterfly Wings," "Tonight Tonight" (not to be confused with shitty Hot Chelle Rae), and, of course, "1979."

But, this album is GREAT!  It's without a doubt my favorite double album.  And you might be thinking,, "Well, there aren't that many double albums out there and you just said that most of them are shitty."  Well sure, but, there's also The Clash's Sandinista!, Pink Floyd's The Wall, The Jesus Christ Superstar Rock Opera and several others I'm probably not thinking of at the moment.  So, what makes Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness better than any of those?  Well, just listen to it!  Or, I guess I could tell you about it instead.

I guess the best way to start talking about this album is to start from the beginning.  I always really liked that melodic piano.  Just listening to it you can tell that something really big, really dramatic is coming up.  The opening track "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" is essentially a piano intro for the following song "Tonight, Tonight" but the buildup and transition into "Tonight, Tonight" is really just brilliant.  It ends, has a bit of silence and then just runs away with the starting violins in "Tonight, Tonight."

I don't want to talk your ear off going in-depth about a double album (or I suppose in this case, write your eyes out).  So, I'll cover the highlights.  But really, you ought to listen to this album all the way through.

I'm gonna already assume that you know about "Tonight, Tonight," "Zero," "Bullet with Butterfly Wings," and "1979." If you don't, I truly feel sorry for you.  Stop reading this and check them out right now.

The first disc has some cool stuff on it.  "Jellybelly" and "Here is no Reason Why" really feed your hunger for hard rock riffs and string bends.  Oh, and "Fuck You (An Ode to No One)" fulfills that need as well.  Though, some of the songs I find most notable are at the end of the disc.  Sure, the first ten tracks are pretty amazing but this disc really starts getting good at track 11.  The song "Galapagos" is a good example of what Smashing Pumpkins do best.  Melodic guitars, heart felt lyrics, great dynamics changes.  Along with "Galapagos" also add onto that "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans" and "Take me Down" and you have a great ending before our intermission.  Quick trivia bit as well, "Take me Down" is actually written and sung by the lead guitarist of Smashing Pumpkins at the time James Iha (who is also known for being in the band A Perfect Circle).  The song is really good.  So, Smashing Pumpkins is not exactly the Billy Corgan band.  Just 99% of the way there.

Anyways, onto Disc 2!  What does disc 2 have?  More of the heavier stuff like "Where the Boys Fear to Tread," "Tales of Scorched Earth," and "X.Y.U."  Most notable of the heavier songs on this disc is the song "Bodies."  I think I mostly like the play on words in the chorus "No bodies felt like you, nobody's."  I also really liked the line that simply says "Love is Suicide."  Because...well, it sure feels like that, doesn't it?

I guess only some of us feel that way.  hahaha

So, beyond those songs, the songs on the second disc are all slower songs.  And, for this very reason, it is why I like the second disc better than the first.  It's Smashing Pumpkins doing what they do best.

The first quiet song, "Thirty-Three," is really good.  And for some odd reason, the piano part in it is really catchy to me.  And, of course, there's "1979" which is very well known.  No use talking about it because you should have listened to it before getting to this point in this post.

Like the first disc, the second disc gets tremendously good at the end.  In fact, it's really only the last two songs that are tremendously good but this is certainly a case of quality over quantity.  "By Starlight" is, without a doubt, my favorite song on this double album.  This past summer, I have probably listened to that song more than any other.  In the past, I kind wrote this song off as just another Smashing Pumpkins song.  But, this song is truly amazing.  The mood is set perfectly in this song.  The lyrics match the rest of the music perfectly.  Not to mention that the lyrics are amazing themselves.  The song is a love song.  In fact, it is now my favorite love song of all time.  Why?  Because it's a love song that I can relate to.  Too often do artists get dragged into writing these fairy tale type love songs.  This song hits the realism all too well.  Especially for someone who is a little messed up like myself.  Well, let's be honest here, you wouldn't be listening to Smashing Pumpkins if you weren't at least a little bit messed up.

The lyrics in this song are just phenomenal.  It's about being in love with a girl and her being in love with you.  But, there's that worry in the back of your mind that she doesn't truly know you and that when she realizes a part of you that she doesn't like so much (or despises) she will stop loving you.  But, you also hope that maybe she's kinda messed up like you are so that she will understand and love all of you, including the messed up part of you.  I think the part of it that makes it really emotional is the idea that you don't know if she would leave you or not and that hopefully she accepts these bad parts of you.  The instrumental part of the song really captures these emotions.  I really just love this song.

The last song is also pretty great.  The last song was also written by James Iha.  "Farewell and Goodnight" is works great as a closer to an epic type of album.  What I also really like about "Farewell and Goodnight" is that every band member sings.  Quite frankly, they are all above average singers.  This song truly works.  I also like how it ends with a similar piano line to the one in the opening track.  Good end to a great album.

After reading all of that, I hope you will listen to this album.  I highly recommend it if you like darker and quieter music.

I will let your eyes rest now.

Rocksmith

So, I'm not sure how long ago this game came out but it didn't come down to a reasonable price until a couple of months ago so I'm finally gonna give it a try.  I will admit that this game pleasantly surprised me.

At first, you think it's gonna be the biggest piece of shit in history.  The main menu controls lag like no other.  It's a pain in the ass to work with.  It takes an effort just to skip the intro movie.  There's also serious programming issues in menus as well.  For instance, if you get done playing a song and select the retry option, it takes you to a loading screen and....and....and...then you have to turn your Playstation off because it doesn't do anything after that.

So, don't choose retry, it's a beginners trap!  lol

What also frustrates me is that for gigs, you can't choose your own song order.  C'mon man!  That's just laziness.  How hard could that have possibly been to program!?  Sometimes the song order is in an order where you have to constantly be tuning between drop D and standard tuning.  It's annoying.  Especially considering that you could have put them in a more convenient order if the programmers would let you.  Sheesh.

Well, beyond all of that (and the fact that the audience during gigs looks like cardboard cutouts), the game isn't so bad.  I would go as far as to say that it's a good game for learning the notes for all the songs.  Rhythms:  not so much.  It doesn't do the best job with techniques either.  Some of them work and some of them don't.  It can detect palm muting pretty well.  However, if you're slapping on a Gibson or Epiphone bass, forget it.  Too much snap and not enough texture for the game to know what the fuck you're doing.

Sometimes the game will tell you to play a song in a way that's incredibly inconvenient.  However, if you already know your way around a fretboard, you can figure out easier ways to play songs and the game won't know the difference between playing a middle E on the D string or the A string.  One song in particular this kind of thinking will greatly help you out if you're playing bass.  The name of the song is called "A More Perfect Union" by Titus Andronicus.

Probably one of the best aspects to the game is the difficulty system.  It's drastically different than something like Rockband or Guitar Hero.  Instead of choosing a difficulty and trying to master that difficulty before moving to the next, the game gives you easy phrases to start and automatically raises the difficulty as you perform that particular phrase of the song well.  I think this is not only innovative but way more effective than just having straight up difficulty levels.  Especially if you are someone first learning guitar, this is a great way to be guided through learning the song.  There's that difficulty system along with other lessons built into the game that would be very useful to someone who wants to learn about playing guitar or bass.

 Another great aspect to this game is the soundtrack.  It's phenomenal!  Not only are there classics like "Sunshine of Your Love" and "Sweet Home Alabama," there's also some more obscure songs that you wouldn't expect to come with the stock version of the game.  Songs such as "Islands" by the XX, "High and Dry" by Radiohead, or "Unnatural Selection" by Muse.  Actually, for that matter, this game also has "Plug in Baby" by Muse.  How about that?

The whole list of songs is here.  Check it.  It's good.

There's also a lot of room for customization.  I hate to sound like a commercial but you can choose between various pedals, amplifiers, cabinets, whatever to customize your sound in game.  I think that's pretty awesome!

Overall, I think this game is good and I'm having a lot of fun playing it.  While writing this review, I actually realized that there's a new Rocksmith game coming out in the fall so I pre-ordered it.  This game is more fun and way more worth your while than Guitar Hero and Rockband.  That you can be sure of.

Playing Catch-up: New Politics - A Bad Girl in Harlem

I bought this album after going to the q87.7 PIQNIQ because I really enjoyed the live show and the music.

If you like indie pop, this album is really freaking good!



If there's a good way to sum up this album, it takes all of the mistakes that Owl City makes and corrects them.  New Politics pulls off what they do really well.

The drawback of this album is that there's a little bit of filler in the middle but the album starts and ends strong.  Overall, a solid album.

The album is primarily known for the single "Harlem."  However, if you listen to the song "Berlin," you will probably find yourself listening to that song more than "Harlem" since that one isn't beat to death on the q87.7.  Actually, I might go as far as to say that "Berlin" is a better song than "Harlem."  In my opinion though, it's a close call.

The album opener "Tonight You're Perfect" and "Stuck on You" are also good listens.

If you like "Harlem" this album is definitely worth checking out.  I'll leave the rest of it for you to explore on your own.

Playing Catch-up: Jimmy Eat World - Damage

Damage is Jimmy Eat World's eighth studio album.  It holds its ground against the high bar set by its predecessors.

Though it doesn't wow and amaze like Clarity or Bleed American, it's a solid album.



Contrary to previous Jimmy Eat World albums, the singles "Damage" and "I Will Steal You Back" are good representations of what the rest of the album is like (unlike "The Middle" or "My Best Theory").  They're solid songs.  Not spectacular but solid.

The other songs on the album are pretty good as well.  "Appreciation," "Lean," "Book of Love," are about on par with one another and the singles.  If there is one that stands out to me it is probably "Please Say No" as it is more emotional than the others (and is also the primary reason why I listen to this band).

This album doesn't seem to have any songs on it that will get fans singing the words from the bottom of their hearts like "Goodbye Sky Harbor," "Pain," or "Hear You Me," but, it doesn't have a bad song on it either.

However, even as I write this now, I feel that in the future this album will find a place in my heart like all of the other Jimmy Eat World albums so, perhaps I should give it some time.

Overall, this album won't change your life.  But, it doesn't betray fandom either.