Thursday, September 21, 2006

You think you've heard of me, you know you've seen me

I've written about Jim Verraros before; his debut album, Rollercoaster, has some very good dancefloor pop (and I still adore the DJ Strobe Global Club Edit 2 of "You Turn It On," which has to be one of my favorite remixes ever). However, before he released Rollercoaster, Jim had another "album": a series of songs released on mp3.com (before it reached its current incarnation as nothing more than a database) under the title Unsaid and Understood. When preparation for his "real" debut album began, Jim removed the songs from mp3.com, saying that his new album would be much better. Some of those songs ended up on Rollercoaster; others, though, did not. I haven't managed to track down all the songs from Unsaid and Understood, but I do have a few; the sound quality, though, is subpar, and some of the songs didn't make the album for a reason, but at least one is better than a lot of the songs on it. I'll throw in a couple of more recent songs (also subpar audio quality), too.

Unsaid--I almost always prefer Jim's dance-oriented songs to his pop-rock numbers, but "Unsaid" is the exception; musically, it's one of my favorite of Jim's songs, even though it's not particularly fancy or revolutionary--just a catchy little chorus. Lyrically...I'm not sure--it sort of seems like there are conflicting messages in the song and, for a generally upbeat song, the idea of having to keep a secret seems out of place.

All I Am--less pop-rock but not really dancey, though it is beat-oriented. Subtlety isn't really Jim's thing (just to err on the safe side, it's nothing that'll phase the vast majority of people, I expect, but if you're under say, ten, probably not the song for you). I understand where he's going with this song, but I'm not sure that it works as well as it could; if it's viewed as a template for some of his later songs, though, it's a nice auditory representation of his "sound"'s evolution.

You Could Be (MMM)--sort of more pop-rock again (maybe tiny hints of jazz), though more laid-back.

Dirty Criminal
--moving from pre-Rollercoaster to post-Rollercoaster, "Dirty Criminal" is another more dance-ish song, or at least faster. I think there's a higher quality version of it (and the following song) out there, but I don't have it. Though it doesn't really seem like a radio-friendly song, I can already picture a music video for it.

You Make It Better--more pop-rock, but I like this song (though I'm not sure how much I'll like it in high quality--it sounds like there's an awful lot of big intakes of breath in it), which makes me hopeful that, whenever Jim's second album comes out, the pop-rock will be as good as the dance-pop. The middle 8 is a nice switch-up that gives this mid-tempo song added speed (though not that much) and a good sense of urgency.

To buy Jim Verraros's debut album, Rollercoaster (which has none of these songs, but has some--though not all--very good songs), go here (physical) or iTunes; I'd also recommend the remixes of his songs, which, like his album, you can buy on iTunes even if you don't live in the U.S. I'm really looking forward to his next album--I think it'll be great--but I have no idea when it will be released (as of July 2006, producer Gabe Lopez was "working on" it).

Next up: probably some rock, but possibly an album review.

My little history of the pre-Rollercoaster era might have some mistakes in it, since that was before I cared about music and it's difficult to find information about, so feel free to correct me or fill me in!

11 comments:

D'luv said...

Let's not forget Jim's current foray into Academy Award territory this winter, with his starring role in Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds...

Paul said...

i am excited to see that movie despite your mocking tone d'luvly! There is nothing more super than a geek to stud transformation - Jim has done good, but you would still only sleep with him to get to ryan carnes...

i have the rollercoaster cd and quite like it - i look forward to new music from him. I haven't heard that remix you are talking about being your fave - did i miss it or were you the model of restraint and didn't post it?!

Poster Girl said...

I don't hold "Summerland" against Jesse McCartney and, though I never saw it, I'd have to guess "I Dream" wasn't exactly high-class television either :) Apparently the New York Times thought he was the only good thing about the first one, though.

Me, the model of restraint? No, of course I posted it ;) I should warn you that I'm no remix expert--I just like it because the moment I hear it, it makes me want to go looking for a dancefloor--it's nothing epic like the Thin White Duke Mix of Mr. Brightside or anything.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/you-turn-it-on-dj-strobe-global-club-edit-2-mp3.html

D'luv said...

That, my lass, is a great remix of "Mr. Brightside." Stuart Price, aka THink White Duke, aka Jacque Lu Conte is becoming one of my fave remixers, and I'm like you... I don't really like remixes that much. Have you heard the ones he did for "When You Were Young"??

Poster Girl said...

It is excellent! I've only heard the radio-length remix of "When You Were Young" which, though I can't hear it without thinking of the Backstreet Boys (I read someone saying that it should be mashed up with "I Want It That Way"), I really like, though not quite as much as "Mr. Brightside."

Anonymous said...

Probably far too late to comment on this, but Jim is a good friend of mine... and I have the actual pressed copy of Unsaid Understood if you are still interested in hearing in it's entirety. Neither Unsaid nor You Could Be are actually on it... these were just demo tracks he recorded in early jam sessions with Gabe.

The actual tracklisting is as follows:
1. Forbidden Love
2. You Turn It On
3. Move (Feat. Angela Peel)
4. Ride Rough
5. The Chase
6. All I Am (Cyber Trick)
7. So Deep
8. Hold On
9. Easy
10. All Night Long
11. Welcome To Hollywood

Contact me on my MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/toxicboi) or E-mail me singledout534@hotmail.com
if you're interested...
x.jaKe

Anonymous said...

I also have a copy of the remix single of You Turn It On that Jim sent me last year.

It has 11 AMAZING remixes on it... including a previously unreleased original version.

I could also rip this if you're interested...

x.jaKe

Anonymous said...

haha, back again... here's the tracklisting to the "You Turn It On" remix album...

1. DJ Strobe Global Club Edit 1
2. DJ Strobe Global Club Edit 2
3. Original Gabe Lopez Rock Version
4. Bring The Breaks EDIT
5. The Spot Rockers Turn the Party Out EDIT
6. Mixshow Edit
7. DJ Strobe Global Club MIX
8. Castro District Tribal Dub
9. Bring the Breaks MIX
10. The Spot Rockers Turn the Party Out MIX
11. Ultra Velvet Remix

Lemme know if you want it...

x.jaKe

Anonymous said...

Also... all in all, the above remix album is 5 minutes short of an hour... (55 minutes 39 seconds long) so it's hardly a shabby collection of remixes... it's actually quite good.

Tom said...

Hello!
I just found your site and grew interest in Jim's songs out of "Rollercoaster", but none of the links are working. Could you send me the mp3s via msn, or rework the links, please?

aeff_tom@hotmail.com

Thank you for your time!

Charles said...

Here, I don't actually consider it is likely to have effect.
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