People Magazine 7.27.01

    Go ahead, take a bite: Jimmy Eat World's fourth CD offers an eclectic sonic feast. (Christopher McCann/Dreamworks Records) Are you ready for blink-183? With pop pranksters blink-182 telling everyone to check out this Mesa, Ariz., quartet, Jimmy Eat World (the name is taken from a kid brother's drawing) is indeed starting to nibble its way across the planet. The band is a cross between Weezer and a more grown-up blink (sans toilet humor) but with sharper guitars and profanity-free lyrics. A paranoid party tune, the emotionally driven jukebox groove "The Authority Song" is peppered with handclaps and classic percussion. The irrepressible "Crimson and Clover" refrain on "A Praise Chorus" is a wink to blink's happy-go-punky guitars. On the title track frontman Jim Adkins oozes just enough angst to be interesting but not so much as to be annoying ("I'm not crazy, because I take the right pills every day"). The feedback takes a breather on refreshingly simple pop tunes like "If You Don't, Don't" and a stunning tribute, "Hear You Me," on which Adkins wonders, "What would you think of me now?/So lucky, so strong, so proud." Bottom Line: Good eats