capitolizing too late

[not on capitol]

I got to work this morning and I noticed that sitting in a box were two Jimmy Eat World CDs marked "Clarity: Expanded Edition" and "Static Prevails: Expanded Edition." And I scratched my head, baffled.

Quick history: Capitol historically led Jimmy Eat World to the slaughter by not promoting the two best albums that the band recorded under their watch. When Jimmy Eat World were let go, they took the masters of these two records to Nettwerk, who then rereleased them. Sales of these catalog titles, as well as a series of self-funded tours, allowed the band to record "Bleed American," and the rest is pop music history.

I haven't gone off on useless reissues in a while, but seriously, what the fuck is the point of these? The packaging is relatively the same, save some candid photos of the band in the "Static Prevails" liner notes. But for both releases, they contain songs that appeared in 2000's "Singles" compilation, so anyone who remotely likes Jimmy Eat World probably already has these songs. Even if they don't own "Singles," the Internet is fairly easy to navigate through to find these tunes.

This is why major labels are failing: if they're not releasing shitty, single hit based acts, they're "reissuing" records that never really went out-of-print, even moreso, with nothing new to offer. In theory, Capitol (how they got the rights back to these remains unanswered) will ship at least 250,000 units of each album, regardless of the fact that most Jimmy Eat World diehards already own these albums and the "bonus" tracks. This is like fucking "Pet Sounds" all over again.

Save your money, wait for Jimmy Eat World's new record in the fall and don't waste your money on Capitol attempting to recoup their funds six years too late.