Hey folks, I'm Steve, and over the years I've collected a lot of Jimmy Eat World's CDs; not just the basic albums readily available in stores, but singles, deluxe editions, and other rare material! I've put this together to catalog them all, and share any information I may have on them that other sources might not provide. In order to keep this from being a mess, these will be organized from oldest to newest and by original release date (so reissues will come right after the originals) which will make everything a journey through time.
Static Prevails is the second album by Jimmy Eat World, and the earliest album that is still readily available. This is one of the first of the band's CDs I acquired, and it was maybe a year or so before the expanded edition came out. This isn't a first edition, but it is the only edition I could find with both the "Capitol Records" and "Nettwerk America" logos.
| Released | July 23, 1996 |
|---|---|
| Edition Year | 1996 |
| Track Count | 12 |
| Record Label | Capitol Records |
| Length | 51:28 |
| Catalog Number | 067003019729 |
| Release Type | Album |
| CD Case Type | Jewel, Clear Tray |
Static Prevails is a powerful album with diverse musical approaches. The nearly 50/50 split in lead vocal (and, by the band's design, lyric writing duties) duty and a willingness to focus more on making each song become what it needs to be instead of feeling the need to stick to a certain sound allowed this album to be a genre landmark for early emo.
Hints of what would become their most well-recieved release, Clarity (in 1999), show up here from time to time in a rough, raw format. In my opinion, this shows up the most vocally in "Claire" and musically in "Anderson Mesa". Guitarist Tom Linton would go on to provide only one lead vocal song on "Clarity", and would go years before providing lead vocals on a new track again, so Static Prevails remains one of the best showcases of Tom's songwriting skills, with tracks like "Robot Factory" and "Episode IV" being musical styles the band moved away from.
This album is incredible, and anyone that is a fan of anything that 90s alternative rock has to offer should give it a try. Also, Static Prevails may be a rock opera, so it's worth listening to it from start to finish to figure out for yourself if you think that is the case or not.
- Steve
This edition of Static Prevails was one of the 2007/2008 remasters and expansions that Jimmy Eat World releases were getting. This track listing with the two bonus tracks at the end became more or less the default track listing for new copies of the album ever since.
| Released | July 23, 1996 |
|---|---|
| Edition Year | 2007 |
| Track Count | 14 |
| Record Label | Capitol Records |
| Length | 51:28 |
| Catalog Number | 094639816828 |
| Release Type | Album |
| CD Case Type | Jewel, Clear Tray |
The Jimmy Eat World EP was a fund-raising release for Jimmy Eat World's upcoming album Clarity. This five track extended play was made available by Fueled By Ramen, and to this day is the only way to get the final three tracks; "Lucky Denver Mint", "For Me This Is Heaven", and a completed rock version of "Your New Aesthetic" would end up on Clarity. This is another not-quite-first-edition release, but it has become somewhat hard to find over the years.
While some releases did not get a catalog number on the CD case art, on the compact disc itself, the side of the disc that is read has the code "FUE001-5GM" on it.
| Released | December 14, 1998 |
|---|---|
| Edition Year | 1998 |
| Track Count | 5 |
| Record Label | Fueled By Ramen |
| Length | |
| Catalog Number | FUE0015GM |
| Barcode | 645131202024 |
| Release Type | EP |
| CD Case Type | Jewel, Black Tray |
The self-titled EP is an important piece of the band's history, but doesn't hold much for anyone that isn't a completionist. This EP was the early source of "Lucky Denver Mint" for KROQ, the radio station that really helped them reach an audience in their early years. Because of this airplay, "Lucky Denver Mint" was discovered and added to the Never Been Kissed movie soundtrack.
Two of the five tracks were exactly as they were in the readily available album Clarity, and lyrically, three of the five songs made it to that album. For a casual fan, it's an easy-to-skip EP. However, the chill and minimalist "Roller Queen" is certainly worth giving a listen, and "Softer" is well-recieved by fans as well.
- Steve, November 16th, 2023
Clarity is widely considered by fans to be the iconic Jimmy Eat World album. It is almost certainly the most instrumentally-diverse album, with the band giving everything a try, not knowing if they would ever have a chance to record another studio album.
| Released | February 23, 1999 |
|---|---|
| Edition Year | |
| Track Count | 13 |
| Record Label | Capitol Records |
| Length | 64:22 |
| Catalog Number | |
| Release Type | Album |
| CD Case Type | Jewel, Clear Tray |
During the Clarity recording sessions, Jimmy Eat World came up with the song "Sweetness", which would be fleshed out and put on Bleed American, but the demo made its rounds well before that next album came out. Its inclusion on this 2007 remaster is a valid and welcome one, but "Christmas Card" should have been paired with "Untitled" as it fades into that song on the compilation Singles.
| Released | February 23, 1999 |
|---|---|
| Edition Year | 2007 |
| Track Count | 15 |
| Record Label | Capitol Records |
| Length | 70:54 |
| Catalog Number | |
| Release Type | Album |
| CD Case Type | Jewel, Clear Tray |
Early on, Jimmy Eat World created three released studio versions of "Lucky Denver Mint", their first mainstream success in the music industry. The version on the album had a longer drum loop at the end than this single version. There was also a different mix provided to the Never Been Kissed soundtrack.
A fun bit of trivia: If you look at the full album art for Clarity, which is a four by four grid of images (most covers only show the two by two grid from the top right of the overall grid) with strong color focus in each photo, the second image (starting from the top left) is the same image used for this single art. The second image being used for the second track on the album may imply the other images are paired with songs as well.
| Released | December 14, 1998 |
|---|---|
| Edition Year | 2001 |
| Track Count | 3 |
| Record Label | Capitol Records |
| Length | 11:01 |
| Catalog Number | * |
| Barcode | 724388982122 |
| Release Type | Single |
| CD Case Type | Single |
If you have the album Clarity, getting this single makes no sense, unless you are a completionist. Even then, consider it a low priority. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I have it in my collection, but it offers nothing that the album doesn't, and even then, some copies don't have the track start/stop points lined up properly. My copy has a second or so of the "Lucky Denver Mint" drum outro at the beginning of the "A Sunday" track. It's basically just a Clarity sampler, so it doesn't offer much aside from an additional collection piece.
- Steve, November 17th, 2023
The single for Jimmy Eat World's song "Blister" is interesting in that it was released much closer to Bleed American than Clarity, the album it is from and would be promoting. The seemingly late release of the Clarity singles were due to the release of Clarity internationally in 2001. There are two track listing versions available for this single, with one including live versions of "Goodbye Sky Harbor" and "What Would I Say To You Now" for tracks two and three, and both versions have "Blister (Remix)" as track one. Chris Lord-Alge remixed two Clarity songs, with "Blister" ending up on this single only, and the "Lucky Denver Mint" remix ending up on the Never Been Kissed soundtrack.
This particular version of the single comes in a custom fold-out digipak that includes a frosted PVC front flap, with "Jimmy Eat World" printed in white sans-serif all-caps text, and the name "Blister" in the same font, but being the only part of the cover that is not frosted.
| Released | December 14, 1998 |
|---|---|
| Edition Year | 2001 |
| Track Count | 1 |
| Record Label | Capitol Records |
| Length | 3:32 |
| Catalog Number | DPRO 7087 6 13583 2 2 |
| Barcode | |
| Release Type | Single |
| CD Case Type | Special |
I was interested in this both as a collection piece and for discovering what the "remix" part implied. It turned out to be more than just some EQ adjustments like a remaster, but it certainly wasn't a dance mix or something that is probably thought of when the word "remix" is used in a casual setting.
It's a cool collection piece to have, but if you haven't listened to the original version of "Blister" a lot, the Chris Lord-Alge remix is going to sound identical. If you really want to get it, it may be worth waiting until you can get the version that comes with the other live tracks.
A deeper dive is available in this Reddit post I wrote.
- Steve, November 18th, 2023
Jimmy Eat World and Jebediah collaborated by releasing the Jebediah & Jimmy Eat World Split EP before a brief tour together.
This is an original Huntsville pressing (variant 1) based on the "FURNACE MFG L803 9117 BWR0232 J00810-13 A @" printed (mirrored) on the runout of the disc, which is a cool detail but not the rarest version available.
| Released | August 31st, 2000 |
|---|---|
| Edition Year | 2000 |
| Track Count | 6 |
| Artist Count | 2 |
| Record Label | Big Wheel Recreation |
| Length | |
| Catalog Number | BWR790168483226 |
| CD Runout Code | L803 9117 BWR0232 J00810-13 A @ |
| Barcode | None |
| Release Type | Split EP |
| Manufacturer | Furnace MFG |
| CD Case Type | Jewel, Clear Tray |
Jebediah had some good offerings for this split EP, but wow, Jimmy Eat World did not hold back here. Three fantastic tunes that don't deserve to be as hard to get as they are.
This is a great item to get, but if you don't mind package deals, the version of the Singles compilation that comes paired with this is a better use of shelf space. I was fine with keeping my collection that way until I found this gem for $2.99 (yeah, really!) at a record store in my hometown.
- Steve, November 16th, 2023
Bleed American is the album that made Jimmy Eat World famous. This was particularly thanks to "The Middle", the song that still gets the most radio play to this day, but "Sweetness" comes in at a strong second in that regard, making this album a great introduction to the band, even today.
| Released | July 24th, 2001 |
|---|---|
| Edition Year | 2001 |
| Track Count | 11 |
| Record Label | Capitol Records |
| Length | 46:38 |
| Catalog Number | 600445033429 |
| Release Type | Album |
| CD Case Type | Jewel, Clear Tray |
This album is iconic not just for the band, but for alternative rock in general, mixing pop rock catchiness with tasteful alternative rock experimentation. It has the most radio-friendly first five songs of any of the band's albums or EPs, with any of those five songs being a potential avenue to get someone hooked.
- Steve