So Jim has a post up on Facebook that says "Uniform Clarity October 5th 2018" with what seems to be a re imagined cover of Uniform Distortion. Any speculation on what this might be? Seems like maybe it'll be an acoustic re-recording of Uniform Distortion (just my guess, but it makes sense in my head considering the solo acoustic tour starts a month later.)
Either way, it'll be interesting to see what's going on.
https://www.bullmoose.com/p/28058340/jim-james-uniform-clarity-standard-white-vinyl
"The idea for Uniform Clarity came from Uniform Distortion- an album of intentional chaos/dirt: literal and figurative distortion of lyrics and sound- meant to echo and hopefully shed some light on the twisted times and distortion of the truth in which we now live. Uniform Clarity is meant to illuminate the other side – raw and real, but very clear, much like in the early days of recording where all you could hear was the truth because there were no ways to manipulate recordings in the studio. Working with Shawn Everett, we created a document style recording of these songs- just vocals, guitar and the space itself- no special FX. A crystal clear illustration of the flawed beauty of what a song starts off as or sometimes remains- a thought. a seed. a light from the womb of the universe brought to life down here on earth." - Jim James
good for those who weren't into the production of the album. Pretty interesting idea if you ask me. May not buy it, will spend that dough on Carl's album but will check it out fo sho
robb - good point on the timing of the release and the solo tour
interesting that there's a couple extra tracks on there too. nice find!
Over And Over
You Get To Rome
uhhhh...fuck yes!
Quote from: Cameron on Sep 12, 2018, 11:59 AM
uhhhh...fuck yes!
This! What a cool idea. :thumbsup:
Awesome!! Great find :thumbsup:
Can't wait to hear those other 2 tracks
You Get to Rome is so much better acoustic.
Physical release?
Vinyl and CD up for preorder on his site.
https://atorecords.shop.musictoday.com/product/ATLP243/jim-james-uniform-clarity-whitecolored-vinyl?cp=null
Thanks...found right after I asked.
The solo acoustic tour makes complete sense now. I'm assuming we will get a lot of stuff from the new album as opposed to a truly career spanning kind of situation... I think i just need to take whatever remaining hopes and dreams that I have of seeing an acoustic Jim set completely filled with old forgotten, heart-wrenching Jacket songs and bury them for good.
I wonder if he decided to do an acoustic tour after he already had this in the works, or if he was practicing stripped-down versions of the songs for the tour and came up with this.
I don't like the buzzing effect on his vocals. I have to assume that was done on purpose.
I'm seeing one shipping method of almost $14 to ship a $22 vinyl. Wha? As much as I would prefer to support jim directly, that's just bullshit. I'll order from my local record store.
That's pretty cool... nice scoop before the official announcement!
Quote from: walterfredo on Sep 19, 2018, 12:43 PM
I'm seeing one shipping method of almost $14 to ship a $22 vinyl. Wha? As much as I would prefer to support jim directly, that's just bullshit. I'll order from my local record store.
I think that's always a decision Yim Yames would support anyways. :P
Quote from: Osistheones on Sep 19, 2018, 07:41 AM
I wonder if he decided to do an acoustic tour after he already had this in the works, or if he was practicing stripped-down versions of the songs for the tour and came up with this.
I'm betting the idea came about after the tour announcement. I'm also assuming we are going to see PLENTY of old jams ;)
Man I have always wanted to go to a JJ show like this. Will there be new tour dates?
Jim just announced some shows, see this thread:
http://forum.mymorningjacket.net/index.php/topic,21475.msg395305/topicseen.html#msg395305
Quote from: walterfredo on Sep 19, 2018, 12:43 PM
I'm seeing one shipping method of almost $14 to ship a $22 vinyl. Wha? As much as I would prefer to support jim directly, that's just bullshit. I'll order from my local record store.
Found at Bull Moose. Shipping only $2.99.
Wait, am I crazy or is that virtual girls??? That's wild. <3
The Resistance Revival Chorus
they always do cool shit with Jim on Fallon's show. His performance with the Roots for A New Life is one of favorites of all time
Quote from: parkervb on Oct 04, 2018, 01:26 PM
they always do cool shit with Jim on Fallon's show. His performance with the Roots for A New Life is one of favorites of all time
That version of 'A New Life' is so good. Plus they did funky camera tricks too.
Quote from: parkervb on Oct 04, 2018, 01:26 PM
they always do cool shit with Jim on Fallon's show. His performance with the Roots for A New Life is one of favorites of all time
Ditto. And I think it was one of Fallon's too. I love how pumped Fallon is after the performance.
That orchestra at the end of Too Good!!
Also Flash in the Pan is brilliant. Country Jim at his best. His voice is evolving with his age so well.
His voice sounds great better than I have heard in recently.
I would like some clarity as to whether they will be doing the live album finally. I know solo stuff is the name of the game right now but Jesus.... the shows are beginning to lose their relevance, although to us no jacket show will ever lose relevance, it's more about me wanting this band to get the money and success they deserve to go along with their pure musical genius and friendship
Quote from: parkervb on Oct 04, 2018, 01:26 PM
they always do cool shit with Jim on Fallon's show. His performance with the Roots for A New Life is one of favorites of all time
Totally agree. So well done.
https://www.jambase.com/article/jim-james-presents-uniform-clarity-in-conversation-performance
I can't wait to hear the whole album as soon as I'm done with work today.
Just gave it a full listen.
First let me say I feel i was the harshest critic of Uniform Distortion. Hated it when it came out and still think its complete trash.
I think the songs translate better acoustic but that said the songs that I really disliked on UD still come across as mediocre basic tunes on UC.
This album really listens like a Bob Dylan album to me like Jim James' answer to Dylan's John Wesley Harding.
There are certainly no Bermuda Highway, Get The Point or Strangulation moments on this album for me but do believe some songs are really really good in their acoustic form:
Just a Fool
No Secrets (only song I really liked/tolerated on Uniform distortion)
Yes To everything
No Use Waiting
All in your head (favorite song on this album)
On the other extreme there were songs I hated on Uniform Distortion that I still really don't like in their acoustic form either:
You Get to Rome
Out of Time
Throwback (always hated this song, even when Jacket first introduced it live)
Better Late than never
Then there are a few nice songs, but at the end of the day these are just basic acoustic guitar songs. I feel like if a guy was singing these songs in a coffee shop I wouldn't think twice about stopping my conversation to really listen to them. Just nice background music:
Over and Over
Too good to be true
It will work out
Flash in the pan
I get what Jim's trying to do here, and I appreciate the message he is trying to send, but I am just disappointed by the effort.
Maybe it's just because MMJ is one of my favorite bands of all time, and I put them on a higher pedestal than most. Even with Jim's solo stuff, I loved the first two albums. I just feel like he really milked it in and rushed out two albums that are just not up to the same standard I am used to.
I gave Uniform Distortion an F i'll give Uniform Clarity a generous C.
Who is Too Good to Be True about
Quote from: RobRoy286 on Oct 05, 2018, 10:32 AM
That orchestra at the end of Too Good!!
Also Flash in the Pan is brilliant. Country Jim at his best. His voice is evolving with his age so well.
That orchestra though.... 👍👍👍
Really digging this new album on vinyl!! Is anyone else having issues with the download card from dropcards.com? After submitting the code, it notes that the artist hasn't uploaded any media.
Quote from: TheRoof on Oct 06, 2018, 11:51 AM
Really digging this new album on vinyl!! Is anyone else having issues with the download card from dropcards.com? After submitting the code, it notes that the artist hasn't uploaded any media.
I just discovered the same issue. I'd just wait until Monday. If the problem persists, contact Dropcards customer service.
I love the first 6 seconds of All In Your Head. Sorry Jim but that's all I got, nothing personal but 9 times out of 10 acoustic stuff bores the hell out of me (my namesake delivered a great acoustic record this year - really beautiful) Think I'm gonna stick with the D :grin:
Love the album!
I liked Regions enough when it came out but it had a short shelf life for me. I thought Eternally Even was brilliant right off the bat and listened to it constantly for quite some time. Hated Distortion at first but slowly almost every song grew on me to the point where i liked most of them and loved a couple.
So maybe it's unfair because these songs have already had a chance to burrow in me, but I can't really find a week spot on the album. It doesn't always sound pretty but it's Jim very obviously feeling himself and that's a good thing.
I have a theory on why he went with the low production value with these past two albums and it goes back to something I read about him a long time ago. He once said that if he didn't make it as a musician he would have become an art therapist. Assuming that he knows a little bit about that field, he could be leaning on the concept of process over product to cleanse himself of old habits and begin anew. I know many of us read about his recent disenchantment with spending so much time fine tuning albums, so maybe this is just him working some stuff out.
I can't imagine making even one amazing album, let alone feeling the pressure to try and do that again every 2 or 3 years. There are going to be peaks and valleys. If this is a valley, it's a pretty nice valley.
I am not feeling Uniform Clarity in the same way that I love Uniform Distortion. It's neat to hear the songs in their "demo" stage, and I'm certainly not hating, just not my cup of tea.
That being said, I really enjoyed the two new songs that were added. Flash in the Pan specifically is a great song.
I agree with Stevie that Jim is very much in a " process over product" stage of his artistry, and I love and respect that very much. It's hard not to believe that this album came as a result of preparation for the Fall Tour coming up- which again, is perfectly fine.
I can't see myself coming back to this release with any regularity in the coming months/ years however.
I think No Secrets is my favorite on both Clarity and Distortion. I shouldn't be surprised about that though I have to give Clarity a few more listens.
I NEED JACKET.
NO SECRETS WAS EPIC
TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE WAS EPIC
BUT...
SOLO SHIT IS OK BUT ....
WE NEED JACKET
Quote from: Lonndown27 on Oct 09, 2018, 01:12 PM
I NEED JACKET.
NO SECRETS WAS EPIC
TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE WAS EPIC
BUT...
SOLO SHIT IS OK BUT ....
WE NEED JACKET
I'm with you, Lon. I'm enjoying Jim's solo stuff and it's good to see him excited about what he's doing, but I'm selfishly viewing it through the lens of how it's going to (hopefully) have a very positive effect on his next Jacket work and I'm very much starting to miss it.
Dropcards Support 2, Oct 9, 15:15 EDT:
Hello!
Sorry for the trouble! It seems that this artist has not yet supplied us with their downloadable content. We have contacted them to let them know, and we hope to have the content shortly.
We will let you know when the media is available for download.
So seriously, what is the deal with this download?
Anyone get theirs?
Nope, not yet. It's been over a week. Pretty pathetic.
Quote from: Stevie on Oct 12, 2018, 05:49 AM
Quote from: Lonndown27 on Oct 09, 2018, 01:12 PM
I NEED JACKET.
NO SECRETS WAS EPIC
TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE WAS EPIC
BUT...
SOLO SHIT IS OK BUT ....
WE NEED JACKET
I'm with you, Lon. I'm enjoying Jim's solo stuff and it's good to see him excited about what he's doing, but I'm selfishly viewing it through the lens of how it's going to (hopefully) have a very positive effect on his next Jacket work and I'm very much starting to miss it.
Good to hear from you Stevie. Been a long time man. With all this stopgap it's pretty insane they've wasted 6 months let alone a year or two not releasing this live album
Quote from: johnnYYac on Oct 06, 2018, 02:44 PM
Quote from: TheRoof on Oct 06, 2018, 11:51 AM
Really digging this new album on vinyl!! Is anyone else having issues with the download card from dropcards.com? After submitting the code, it notes that the artist hasn't uploaded any media.
I just discovered the same issue. I'd just wait until Monday. If the problem persists, contact Dropcards customer service.
Sorry guys! This is fixed now. Please try downloading your MP3s again. Message me if you have any further issues.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
After repeated listens there are a few songs that I prefer in the stripped down " Clarity" version, they are:
Just a Fool
Get to Rome
Over and Over
Quote from: cshum372 on Oct 17, 2018, 06:08 PM
After repeated listens there are a few songs that I prefer in the stripped down " Clarity" version, they are:
Just a Fool
Get to Rome
Over and Over
I'm with you on those three. The first two i really just didn't like on distortion. They are two of my favorites on clarity.