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| This five-piece emo rock band has talent, and lots of it. I'm still wondering why they aren't that well-known yet. The Junior Varsity's re-release of The Great Compromise provides listeners a 20-track album with a bonus DVD that will be sure to please. The deluxe edition CD/DVD album combines songs from the band's two previous albums, The Great Compromise and Wide Eyed, as well as gives several demos and acoustic tracks. The album starts off very strongly with "The Introduction to the Faint Remembrance of a Dead and Dying Dream." The song isn't too complicated, but it gives a nice platform for The Junior Varsity to show their capabilities as the album progresses. Soon after I listened to the first song, The Junior Varsity showed me what they were all about. As guitarists Andy and Sergio played riffs that reminded me of Mae's unique sound, bassist and vocalist Asa added the pleasant voice that helped complete the band. As I have always stressed, the vocals either make or break the band. In The Junior Varsity's case, Asa is doing his job perfectly. The band obviously chose the right songs to put on the album. In "The Big Little City Killing Cycle," Asa's extremely soothing vocals added with the elegant sound of the guitars streaming in the background help create the song into one of the best ones on the entire album. The order of the songs couldn't have been put into any better of an order. The tracks carry the listener exactly along the path that The Junior Varsity was going for. Honestly, 15 bucks will get you the most you ever wanted from an album, including 20 tracks, live DVD footage, and a taste of what a very underrated band has to offer. The only critiques about the album are that at some times Asa's vocals seem out of tune, such as in "Ohio and the 178 Meter Dash to Indiana" and the original "House Fire." Also, I wasn't a big fan of the digital demo version of "Peter Cottontail." But a main reason for a re-release is to show the improvement of a band over time, and that's exactly what The Junior Varsity did. The Great Compromise (Re-Release), although comprised of minor faults scattered throughout the album, completely showed how much The Junior Varsity has developed as a band when comparing it to their newer material in Wide Eyed in which The Junior Varsity shows itself to have found its own image and voice. I say give this band a little bit more time to fully develop into what they are capable of. They've already shown how much they've grown between this album and Wide Eyed, and there's no doubt their next album will take them somewhere great. ... K.H. '06 |
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| THE GREAT COMPROMISE (RE-RELEASE) Victory Records |
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1) Introduction to the Faint Remembrance of a Dying Dream 2) Park Your Car 3) Left Foot Right Foot 4) Demo Car City 5) Don't Forget to Set Your House on Fire Before You Crawl Into Bed (House Fire) 6) Ohio (& the 18 Meter Dash to Indiana) 7) The Big Little City Killing Cycle 8) I Sang a Song to B Sung 9) Falling Far Behind 10) Anti-Climactic 11) Peter Cottontail and the Demise of the Carrot Tree 12) Say Goodnight (2002 demo) 13) Everyone's Got Something They're Running Out Of (2004 demo) 14) If You Could Paint Your Own Vacation Where Would You Go? (2004 demo) 15) Don't Forget to Set Your House on Fire Before You Crawl Into Bed (House Fire) (2006 version) 16) Demo Car City (2006 version) 17) Anti-Climactic (digital edit) 18) Peter Cottontail and the Demise of the Carrot Tree (electro mix) 19) Mad For Medusa (acoustic) 20) What It Meant to Be Clean (acoustic) + DVD Features |
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