NMC #134 - Scale The Summit, Jimmy Eat World

[Scott]

This is a risky posting on several fronts...

1. Nobody on here has responded kindly to instrumentals
2. Ditto for Jimmy Eat World

 

Shame really, both are very important to my musical world.  So this week it is what it is!  And it is Good!!!

 

PLAYLIST -> http://snack.to/adzn0ujc

 

First up is Scale The Summit.  I'll give you only 3 tracks to ease the pain of listening, heres a little background for anyone who hasn't clicked out of here yet...

 

Scale the Summit maintain a professional standard of musicianship. Each member thoroughly rehearses his part of each song before the band enter the studio to record an album so they can record it immediately, and during each live performance they play every song exactly as it was recorded. Letchford estimates that most of the material remains the same between pre-recording rehearsals and during recording, even though the group do make alterations to the songs as they go sometimes.

The band call their style of music "adventure metal", a term which Letchford states originated from how listeners on the Musician's Institute campus told him and Levrier that they felt the music was taking them on a journey. Until their first album was released, the band were often told to get a vocalist and that they would not survive without one; Letchford admits that even if there were auditioning vocalists who were exceptional in their own talent, he and his bandmates were set against the idea of having a vocalist to the point that all prospective members for the position would be turned down. However, lacking a vocalist enables the band to transcend the songwriting strategy that most bands with singers have to use to accommodate the lyrics, which has been noted as being more difficult. Without ruling-out the possibility of side projects that have vocalists, Letchford has stated that Scale the Summit's own music will never feature such things as guest vocals

 

1 - Odyssey

2 - The Olive Tree

3 - Willow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ladies and Gentlemen...  JIMMY EAT WORLD!!!

 

4 - Appreciation

5 - Damage

6 - Lean

7- Book of Love

8 - I will Steal You Back

 

 

 

 

 

by  "I'm right about this one" Scott

 

[Jon]

Great.....

[Scott]

Glad we can agree on that

[Jon]

[Scott]

[RJhog (Admin)]

That reminds me of a line in 40 Year Old Virgin, something along the line of "You're using big words, I'm gonna take it as a sign of disrespect".

[Jon]

I have quite a few instrumental albums, so have no clue who you're referring to.

The first song sounds like Steve Vai. There's also a dash of EVH as well and it's not bad at all. I like that sudden break in the middle and then it picks back up again. I seriously like this, as long as it's not just endless noodling going nowhere and the music tells a story without vocals, it's aces in my book.

And towards the end, just a complete stop then slow down! Good stuff, and this is only the first song!  

[Jon]

Second track starts of sounding like Yes and when it picked up it sounded like Joe Satriani. Kind of sonds like something I've heard before.

Third track is deja vu all over again. Satriani again! It's not bad, but.....I've heard this before. 

The first track was good, the next two were ok. Good musicianship, but they need to stop sounding like other artists.

FINAL RATING FOR Scale The Summit--Middle thumbs.

[Jon]

Of course I had to stick around the listen to the first song from Jimmy Eat World.....

I'm trying to get through Seinfeld, I'm on Season 6 and it has the episode where a guy refers to himself in the third person. Of course his name is Jimmy. What else would it be? It would have ben more pleasurable hearing the character say "Jimmy eat world" than listening to what's now the second song. Don't know what context it could have been used in, but even as just a throwaway line having nothing to do with anything at all on a show about nothing would have been more interesting than listening to these first two songs. 

Whoopee! Now it's the third song and I'm looking at the album cover. Are they trying to be arty? Is there a message in that album cover? Not that I care, but the album cover is much more interesting than this third song, but so is the squeaky mouse cat toy on my desk, which is much more interesting than the album cover and music. 

Oops, song over.

Song four has got to be good, right? He's not worried about the small things. Is "he" Jimmy? Maybe the lyric should be "Jimmy doesn't care about the small things"? I can't tell them what happened, don't care about his girlfriend and her, umm, engine on the red line? Is that what Jimmy sang? it makes no sense. 

Hey, interested in the nutrition facts on the bottle of Pepsi Max I'm currently drinking?

Calories 0

Total Fat 0g

Sodium 25mg

Total Carbohydrate 0g

Sugars 0g

Protein 0g

Song over!

Now for number five. "I Will Steal You Back", or "Jimmy Will Steal Jimmy Back". 

I actually think the following are the actual titles of these five songs:

1. Jimmyciation

2. Jimmage

3. Jimmy-ean (The New Sausage King Of Chicago)

4. Book Of Jimmy

5. Jimmy Will Steal Jimmy Back 

FINAL VERDICT: Seriously?

 

[RJhog (Admin)]

Scale The Summit (Thumbs Slightly Elevated)

This is pretty cool stuff.  And this comes from somebody that likes vocals.  I don't dislike instrumentals, I'm just not one that tends to sit around and listen to a full album of them.  That being said, I like all three of these tracks.  Obviously there is plenty of talent on display here.  Too bad they have totally ruled out vocals.  But you know, that's their thing, and they are gonna stick to it, which deserves a lot of respect in my book.  I actually like the third track best.  It's very moody at the beginning and the bass sounds like the featured instrument, which is awesome.  I believe I may post an instrumental album in AOTW in the coming weeks.

[Niels (Mod)]

SCALE THE SUMMIT - 3 out of 6

I really don't get instrumental albums. Usually the musicians are GREAT, but why can't they hear themselves, that something is missing? Was there ever a instrumental album, that sold millions of copies? I don't think so. If there was a singer in this band, it would had been much better. First track sounds really good, but I instinctly expect the singer to start out any time. An instrumental track on an album can be nice, but a whole album, is where I draw the line. Track two, and I REALLY miss a singer! There's some nice guitar on all three tracks, and with a vocalist, it would at least had been 4 out of 6.

[Jon]

Kenny G sold millions upon millions of albums.

[Niels (Mod)]

JIMMY EAT WORLD - 1.5 out of 6

Wow, this is something, you've heard before. I don't even wanna start to name all the bands, this reminds me of. You must have zillions of bands in the US, that sounds like this?! First track is okay, second is not as good. Third track a little better than the second, but nothing special at ALL! Fourth track is VERY boring. Might be the worst track. I've heard recently. Last track is a little better. It makes me think of R.E.M., but I'm not a fan of them anymore. I was in the 90's, and I might had bought this album back then, but I guess it wasn't released then, huh?!