Jimmy Eat World: Clarity (2LP) [CAPITOL]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP gatefold set spreads Clarity over four sides and adds "Christmas Card" and a studio demo of "Sweetness" as bonus tracks. Kerrang!, LA Weekly and Rolling Stone have all ranked it among the best emo albums ever made.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Gatefold jacket
• Bonus tracks
• Foldout insert

About the album

Some bands get a budget and a deadline; Jimmy Eat World got left alone. With Capitol giving them free rein, the Arizona band spent the spring and early summer of 1998 making exactly the record they wanted with producer Mark Trombino, cutting drums at Sound City in Van Nuys and then decamping to Clear Lake Audio in North Hollywood for 40 days of guitars and overdubs. It was also the album where Jim Adkins stepped up as the band's main singer, taking over from guitarist Tom Linton.

The results run from the bright, radio-ready lift of "Lucky Denver Mint" and the crunch of "Blister" to the hushed "Table for Glasses" and the sprawling, patient closer "Goodbye Sky Harbor." Adkins said nothing was ever quite finished in that studio; if an idea helped the song, it went in, which is why strings, chimes and drum machines turn up alongside the big guitars.

Clarity grew from a cult record into a touchstone, with critics hearing it in Dashboard Confessional, Something Corporate and The Wonder Years. During the sessions the band slept on the office floor of their manager, Jorge Hinojosa, which is one way to make sure nobody is late for work.

Also at Kops: more Jimmy Eat World on vinyl · browse Punk

Tracklist

Listen

On Capitol / UMe (cat# B0023656-01), a reissue of the 1999 album.