Customer Reviews

Wide Eyed

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The JV seems determined to prove their control over inventive chops and excellent synth melodic passages that is 100% listenable. My fav track is Saltwater Fountain; with a great synth back melody and swirly sorts of lyrics, the band proves themselves well beyond their years with a well-produced, fresh CD.

JV's sound is as much jazz-fusion as it is alternative rock. A Dave Brubeck fan can find as much to like here as Emo fans or Mania TV addicts and baby, that's impressive.

By the way, for the price of a single CD, the album is packaged with a DVD of other bands on the Victory label's videos (Taking Back Sunday, Silverstein, etc.): a really good deal.

I saw these guys live back in April when they came up to my university to play a show. They were a great live band with lots of energy, a good singer and a cast of members that knew how to play their respective instruments well. After a 3 month wait their CD finally hit the shelves and I picked it up right away and wasn't disappointed one bit by what I heard. I noticed a few things that I didn't really have the chance to notice the first time I saw them live. These guys are excellent songwriters and the maturity really shows in every song on this album. The album starts off with a bang, showcasing 3 faster paced and well written songs that will pull you in right from the start. The middle of the album slows down a bit and I'll admit that it took a few listens of the entire album before I really got to liking the songs in the middle (tracks 4-9) and appreciated them. "What It Meant to be Clean" heads back to the same faster and catchier formula of the first three tracks while "Saltwater Fountain" is a masterpiece that ends the album well. If you pick this album up I can guarantee you will not be disappointed. There's something on here for everyone, be it emo fans to classic rock fans (you can kinda hear the Rush influences on the bridge of "Everyone's Got Something They're Running Out of". So if you're looking for something that breaks the mold of most alternative rock music out there today, pick up "Wide Eyed" and enjoy.

I didn't know if JV would be able to top The Great Compromise (released on British Records) but they have done so with an awesome album. The whole thing is great from start to finish. The album is focused without being contained. There was never a point listening to it that I thought I had already heard a song. The songs all vary in sound while mainly staying in the same musical direction.
Its hard to give these guys a specific genre. Most people will immediatly lump them in with the emo genre but I think thats being a little bit close minded. While the overall sound is somewhat emoish, the band does many things to seperate itself from other bands of the genre. One being creative lyric writing. Asa Dawson has got to be one of the most creative energetic vocalists and it comes across in his lyrics. He really thinks outside the box. Plus his voice isn't nasal sounding like other singers.
Another plus is the actual music. Andy and Sergio are an awesome guitar pair and actually play things outside roots and fifths. In fact, they hardly ever resort to just power chords. The rythem section is great with Chris doing some great drums, Asa keeping the bottom end full with bass, and Nick doing some great stuff on synth.
Overall this is a great album, not just for emo and punk fans but for almost any music fans. This is one of those rare albums that almost transcends genres. Even metalheads might enjoy the technical guitar playing. Fans of Keane and Coldplay will enjoy its atmospheric sounds and relaxed feel. And of course the Punk and Emo kids (probably the main audience) will love the energy the band puts into their songs.
A must buy for any music fan. Also check out The Great Compromise.

Bought this CD by mistake having ordered it on line but wanting to get the new book WIDE EYED by Trinie Dalton. What an idiot I am. However it turned into a lucky break for yours truly.

Nick Dodson, synthesizer player, must like his keyboards turned down because on almost all of the tracks you can barely make him out, they're floating underneath the other instruments like some sort of safety net for trapeze artists. Nick might consider playing louder, but what he's got is taste, which we all know is rare among synth "wizards." Meanwhile the opposite problem affects Asa Dawson's peculiarly pitched vocals. If Dodson can barely be heard separately, Dawson's vocals seem eerily disengaged from the rest of the band (including his own competent work on bass). I like the way this sounds but I wonder, how different would it be live? Where's this band from, I've never seen them around here. Don't get me wrong, Dawson's got lungs for days, and could hold his own in one of those tobacco auctioner's contests, whatever he's smoking hasn't hurt his voice none.

The lyrics are outstanding, I got a kick out of "Mad For Medusa," with its repeated inner assonances. Medusa, Amelia, Bermuda, it's sort of like an updated version of, you know, that Beach Boys tune from Cocktail. Kokomo. Well, that sounds like an insult but just the opposite. WIDE EYED is a sincere sort of compilation, which I appreciate more and more as I listen to it. These boys are pretty spacey, as though they'd taken the long way around the dark side of the moon, but technical, harmonic and general songwriting chops keep them this side of febrile, if you know what I mean and I expect you do if you're grokked with me so far.

The problem with emo nowadays is that there is TOO MUCH!! i am big addict to emo and pop-punk myself, but even i know where the line is being crossed. Some of these bands either need to take more time and make sure their albums are up to par with the other up and comers, or find another genre to play in. the only reason i say this is because there is much of it, that unless you are amazing, no one has the time for you! i am all for making music, even if it is amateur. but honestly people...

this album has a few catchy songs on it. The first track Get Comfortable is actually a sublimely amazing song, with good catchy choruses and fun verses. I got very excited about the album from that song. But then all of my hopes of finding a new sugar kick was destroyed while listening to the rest of the album. A lot of the songs aren't exactly bad, but quite frankly they aren't good enough to hold my attention. Maybe I will look them up in a year or two and see if they have expounded more on songs like Get Comfortable. here's hoping for you, kids!