The Junior Varsity - The Great Compromise & Wide Eyed & Cinematographic (2004-2007)

17 Dec, 12:48
change text size:

Artist: The Junior Varsity
Title: The Great Compromise & Wide Eyed & Cinematographic
Year Of Release: 2004-2007
Label: Victory Records
Genre: Rock, Alternative, Punk, Indie Rock, Emo Rock
Quality: 320 kbps / FLAC (tracks+cue, log)
Total Time: 2:32:23
Total Size: 356 mb / 1.05 gb
WebSite: Album Preview

Emo rock outfit the Junior Varsity originally came together in 2002 around guitarist Andy Wildrick. An EP, various shows around central Illinois, and several lineup changes later, the group released their first full-length, The Great Compromise, on British Records. By this time, the Junior Varsity comprised Wildrick, Chris Birch (drums), Serigo Coronado (guitar), Asa Dawson (vocals/bass), and Nick Dodson (keyboards). The album received good reviews, prompting the guys to quit college to concentrate on the band full-time. They played and toured behind the record as much as possible, playing close to 200 shows following the album's release. Frequent and successful gigs in Chicago brought the band to the attention of Victory Records, eventually inking a deal with the label in October 2004. That same year, the Junior Varsity also donated the ...

:: TRACKLIST ::

2004/2006 - The Great Compromise [Deluxe Edition]

The Great Compromise
1 Introduction To The Faint Rememberance Of A Dead And Dying Dream 3:09
2 Park Your Car 4:37
3 Left Foot Right Foot 3:20
4 Demo Car City 3:29
5 Don't Forget To Set Your House On Fire Before You Crawl Into Bed (House Fire) 3:54
6 Ohio (& The 178 Meter Dash To Indiana) 3:11
7 The Big Little City Killing Cycle 4:17
8 I Sang A Song To Be Sung 4:11
9 Falling Far Behind 4:10
10 Anti-Climactic 4:21
11 Peter Cottontail And The Demise Of The Carrot Tree 4:18

Bonus Songs
12 Don't Forget To Set Your House On Fire Before You Crawl Into Bed (House Fire) Re-Recording Recorded By – Dan Duszynski 3:37
13 Everyone's Got Something They're Running Out Of (Acoustic Version) 2:44
14 Mad For Medusa (Acoustic Version) 2:43
15 Petter Cottontail Digital Demo Version 1:13
16 Everyone's Got Something They're Running Out Of (Demo Version) 2:26
17 If You Could Paint Your Own Vacation Where Would You Go? (Demo Version) 3:36
18 Park Your Car (Original Concept Recording) 1:52
19 Anti-Climactic Digital Demo Version 2:59
20 Say Goodnight (From The 2002 Self-Titled EP) 5:35

The Junior Varsity's indie debut features a big and dense sound, messy on the surface but tightly crafted beneath. Singer Asa Dawson has one of those endearingly regular-guy Midwestern voices which sometimes sounds a bit like Robert Smith ("Introduction to the Faint Remembrance of a Dead and Dying Dream") and sometimes a bit like Freedy Johnston ("Peter Cottontail and the Demise of the Carrot Tree"). The band itself isn't above indulging a prog rock tendency every once in a while; the opening bars of "I Sang a Song to Be Sung," for example, almost sound like an outtake from Rush's Moving Pictures. That said, and as you may have already noticed, the band also has a less-than-endearing affinity for cutesy song titles, but luckily, you don't have to listen to a song title. Recommended.

The Junior Varsity - The Great Compromise & Wide Eyed & Cinematographic (2004-2007)

2005 - Wide Eyed
1 Get Comfortable
2 Everyone's Got Something They're Running Out Of
3 Mad For Medusa
4 I'm Home, Hooray!
5 If You Could Paint Your Own Vacation Where Would You Go?
6 Do You Mind?
7 When We Meet Aliens...
8 I Said I Try
9 If It Hurts You
10 What It Meant To Be Clean
11 Saltwater Fountain

On their second album, Junior Varsity sound something like the Police might have had they been a post-1980s heartland American rock band. They're more inclined to crunchy guitars than the Police were, but the resemblance is there in the strident declarative phrasing of the high lead singing, the frequent tempo changes, and the perky vocal harmonies. Though indebted to alternative guitar rock, they have a slightly different texture than the usual such band owing to the inclusion of a synth player in the mix. Lyrically the songs don't go anywhere too specific, aside from conveying the sense of fellows trying to sort out the world and themselves with subdued bewilderment. It's an unmemorable record that's not so much alternative rock (though it might get classified as such) as a reflection of the degree to which alternative rock approaches were becoming mainstream at the time of this 2005 release.

2007 - Cinematographic
1 I Went Blind 4:04
2 The Sky! 2:49
3 Wunderdrug [Vocals [Guest Vocals] – Kenny Vasoli] 3:06
4 St. Louis 2:55
5 The Greatest 4:10
6 The Importance Of Being Earnest 3:30
7 Memory Made Easy 2:57
8 Try To Define 3:24
9 Cinematographic 3:38
10 Lungs 3:01
11 Lifted 3:31
12 Under The Radar 4:31

They look for all the world like one more angsty emo band, and there certainly is plenty of emotion in the Junior Varsity's songwriting -- the choruses tend to be big and cathartic, and the guitars tend to be big and dense, and the lyrics are earnest rather than cynical. But when the first song on the album begins with the line "Why don't we just subtract all that's in the abstract," you know you're dealing with something that's going to go just a little bit deeper than the usual unfocused anger at "this" and the usual screaming protestations of vulnerability. As rewarding as the lyrics turn out to be, though, you may find yourself being constantly distracted from them by the inventive and hooky arrangements: the tricky time changes and anthemic hooks of "Wünderdrug," the slightly goofy and subtly swinging "St. Louis," the blatantly jazzy and completely swinging title track (with horns!), and the brilliant power pop of "I Went Blind." There's an instrumental that prominently features cello and acoustic guitar -- it's pretty and it technically impressive, but it feels like a distraction from the brilliance of the songs. Very highly recommended.