The Dark Knight.....

is awesome, and if you don't agree....i will fight you. That is all.

Futures

The last 3 or so days i have revisited Jimmy Eat World's 2004 album "Futures". My love for Jimmy Eat World started because a girl i liked, liked them and gave me thier epic cd "Clarity". I associated with her, and the times we spent together, but then she crushed me, and somehow i managed to disassociate the music of "Clarity" from her and the times we spent together(mostly). The i moved on and began discovering the bands other albums, thier back catalogue as well as thier current at the time hit album "Bleed American". It was glorious times. "Futures" was the long awaited follow up to "Bleed American", and for the record, i bet following up a hugely popular album is hard to do. "Futures" is good, not totally amazing but Good. How do i define this. Well if after listening to an album i don't want to throw it away that is a good start. If i get 3-5 songs out of an album that i totally love, then it will probably qualify as a good album, therefore, there are lots of "good" albums, but not many great albums which would require a love quotient of 85%. Hard to do, i admit, but we have to be able to set certain albums apart. Just to clarify, Jimmy Eat World's album "Clarity" for me is a great album.

Anyway, back to "Futures". Good album. Hard to follow up it's predecessor, so i know many people were disappointed. It certainly has a darker more depressing feel then "Bleed American". Not just lyrically, but musically as well, there are some real ominious songs on there. Three songs stand out to me.

1. Drugs or Me - this song seems to explore a relationship tainted by addiction. Painful subject matter, i think Jim Adkins gets to the heart of the matter even in the title of how people in these situations try to use themselves as a bargaining chip to get thier person to quit the drugs. Good song.

2. Kill - I remember this song really struck me at the time because of it's a song about a relationship that isn't heading in the direction the guy wants it to. The woman in the song is obviously close to him, and the guy has been waiting for his chance and it's not going to work out for him. I remember going through a very similar situation back in '04, and so because of that, the song really hit me where i live. There is an element of falling easily into love as well, which is also something i identified with for a long time through high school and into college. Great song

3. 23 - This song blows me away. It has an epic feel to it, epic in it's music, epic in it's lyrics, epic in it's raw emotion. As i mentioned the two previous songs have been about relationships and this one fits the mold as well. In this song i see a guy and a girl, and the girl not being ready for the relationship or perhaps not being ready to settle down and be with the guy, who feels as though there could not be a more perfect match then the two of them. It seems like he's trying to convince her, and tell her that all that she's waiting for is right there in him, but she doesn't see it. Tough. I've felt that way before. Beyond all the boy/girl stuff there is a particular line that strikes me in this song, and to be honest i think i blogged about this song back in the day to, i'll have to check. But the line goes "I won't always love what, i'll never have....I won't always live in my regrets". For a long time, i felt like that summed me up pretty well, and after hearing that line, i realized i wanted to move away from that kind of life, i life of constantly feeling like i'll never quite get to where i want to be, always living in the regrets of my past...i am defintly well on my way, though not perfectly there yet.

Funny how the past has a way of catching up with us through song. Anyway, i am well, almost got hit by a train this morning and had a tooth pulled yesterday that was supposed to be a root canal. Plus my son is teeting. Good times (not) but i still love him.