Futures, Jimmy Eat World, LP

Limited vinyl LP pressing of this 2004 album from the Arizona-based emo rock band. The guitars are stacked like thick diamonds, the vocals are way out front and buttressed by sweet harmonies in the choruses, the drums sound large, and the mix is loaded with sweetening from acoustic guitars, keyboards, and female vocals. In the process, they sacrificed the immediacy of the previous record, but they gained an epic and weighty feel. Jimmy Eat World exemplify all that is the modern radio rock sound. Singing and playing with a conviction and sincerity that will melt the heart of even the most stoic of listeners, they produce rousing, well-crafted anthems along the lines of Third Eye Blind at their roughest or a more polished Green Day.