I love Jimmy Eat World. They are, hands down, my favorite band, therefore, take my reviews of them with a grain of salt. I'll try to be as un-bias as I can. With that said, Jimmy Eat World is the type of band that has an extremely close following with one of the strongest fan-bases there is in music.

I love Bleed American, and it was certainly their most popular album, but amongst the Jimmy Eat World Faithful, Clarity and Futures have seemingly become the two gems that are held in the highest regard. Some, of course, may disagree, but I am just reporting what I find to be the general consensus.

Futures is an epic, brooding masterpiece reaching out to all of Jimmy Eat World's finest dynamics that they put out with their music. It's gorgeous, yet dark. It's poppy, yet intelligent. It's fast, it's slow, and it ends with (perhaps) my favorite song of all time. "Futures" kicks off the album with an in your face rock ballad that drops back with one of my favorite bridges ever. I really love the guitars in this song, therefore becoming one of my favorites on the album. "Just Tonight" is actually my least favorite track on the album, but it is upbeat and carries the mood of the album into "Work" which is catchy, fun, yet reflective and deep. "Kill" is a wonderful song with brilliant lyrics, leading into another highlight, "The World You Love," a longer song that really picks at the dark, melodic feel Futures brings. "Pain" is the ironic single, only because it most resembles that heard on Bleed American . It's a shorter song, very up beat, has a wonderful guitar solo, and packs the punch. It is followed by the masterpiece that is "Drugs or Me," a piano-based song that layers Jim's vocals in a peaceful harmony. "Polaris" fits perfectly after Drugs or Me, keeping the darker pace of the album, yet providing a guitar-fun, up-beat chorus. "Nothingwrong" is one of the harder songs on the album, providing one last up-beat song before the album finishes with two gems. "Night Drive" is a beautiful sing along track that brings out the best in Jim's vocals. Not to be outdone by the preceding ten songs, "23" ends the album in epic fashion, a 7 minute piece of work that brings out the best of what Futures has to offer, really. It is a darker song with a slight sense of optimism. It builds up, and sort of "explodes" in the end, leaving the listener with the full experience of having just listened to Futures.

From top to bottom, Jimmy Eat World delivers a gem with Futures. It covers just about all of their musical styles and talents. It's fun, it has great guitar solos, and is one of my favorite albums of all time. Once again, Jimmy Eat World have done "nothingwrong."

The true strength of "Futures" is the lyrics. They're so full of heartbreak and sentiment that it's hard to believe people so young wrote it. It takes some of us a lifetime to reach the conclusions offered up in these songs. There are pretty, woeful moments, and kick to the ribs guitars that are full of melody. This record is miles above
those by it's emo contemporaries.
Highly recommended.

I only play this when no one is around-my wife would make fun of me if she heard me rocking this...ironic, because it's music like this that almost makes me believe that two people can love each other. If this album were a food stuff I would have to say it is a bag of Skittles. You can't live on Skittles, but it's a nice treat once in a while.

I just cut my own hair-it looks pretty good.

Even though "Futures" is technically Jimmy Eat World's 4th release, one can make a claim that it also can masquerade as the dreaded "second record". While the easiest point of comparison for that would be "Bleed American" or self-titled album was their first on a major label, but that record was chockful of ready-for-radio hits and sold quite a number of copies. The depth from "Clarity", still their best, was replaced with hooks-a-plenty and so we come to this record which is a bit more serious, melancholy and not as accessible as their previous outing. Doesn't mean that there isn't anything good here as there's plenty to sing along and rock out to.

Futures: A heavy and rather loud riff (watch your speaker volume) introduces the song with big chunky chords, a singalong chorus and a rather beautiful bridge. Gets the album off to a great start. 9/10

Just Tonight: A bit more faster paced than the last one and even though it's heavier, I don't find myself singing along to this much but others love it so it's one of those try-it-and-see tracks. 7/10

Work: It's quite easy to see why this was chosen as a single. From its oddly catchy verse riff to the big sing along chorus and even a hummable solo, it's a keeper for sure. Only complaint is having Liz Phair doing vocals which is fine but she's mixed rather low. 9/10

Kill: I love the opening acoustic riff and musically the track is quite well done though it's probably a little more harder to sing along to and it's a bit of a grower. 8/10

The World You Love: I have to be a little honest here, I don't really care for the chorus however I love the verses. They're simple all around with simple arpeggios, palm-muted chords and toe-tapping drum beats but I don't really find the chorus catchy. But that solo and the background vocals? Now that's catchy. 8/10

Pain: The first single and sure the hooks are there and it's quite heavy but for some reason, I never really cared for it. Nothing really wrong with it and it's an album favorite for most but unlike heavy tracks like Crush or Get it Faster, I don't really listen to it much. 6.5/10...for me that is.

Drugs or Me: If it wasn't for 23, this would be the best song on the record for me. A melancholy piano line and great vocals before its chorus comes in and makes it even more beautiful. But the best part by far is after its equally gorgeous bridge is when the bridge and chorus play simultaneously. 9.5/10

Polaris: Another rocker/ballad that sounds like a more energetic "For Me This is Heaven" or "Carry You" from the last album. I like the more breathy vocals during the verses and the chorus is just as catchy as expected. Can probably be one of your favorites after awhile. 9/10

Nothing Wrong: I don't really like this one. It's probably the heaviest track on the record after "Pain" but there's something, I don't know, generic about it, as if they wrote something so they'd at least have more than 2 heavy rock tracks on the album but then again you might love it, who knows. 6/10

Night Drive: Another acoustic track/epic like "World You Love" and it's a pretty good one though I don't really revisit it often yet I love it when it's on. It's a bit more subdued which is probably why I like it. 7.5/10

23: The best song on the record bar none. It's a big epic like "Just Watch the Fireworks" and everything about it just screams awesome, heartwrenching and everything else. It's over 7 minutes and never feels like it at all. Definately recommended. 10/10

So there you have it, a couple of decent songs but ones that are definate winners. Wasn't as massive a hit as "Bleed American" or as acclaimed as "Clarity" but definately another strong album.

I was turned onto Jimmy Eat World on the day that Bleed American was released having heard the first two tracks on a demo CD. I soon bought Clarity, which easily ranks in my all time top five.

Futures was kind of a disappointment for me. The songs all have a mushy "same" quality to them, despite the generally darker tone to the album than their prior two. There are a few notable songs, like the cooing "Night Drive," but for the most part this album simply doesn't get playtime in my MP3 player.

Clearly I'm in the minority in my opinion, but the wonderful thing about Amazon is that you are free to sample the music for yourself, or even download a few of the more popular tracks and the rest later if you like them.

Cheers.