I haven’t forgotten.

Some time ago, my best mate Slava came up with one of the awesomest ideas ever for reviewing and sharing albums. Called the 20% Rule of Record Greatness, the basic principle is that any given album, no matter how good it may be, has about 20% (a small handful of songs) that could be cut to make it that much better.

“You can’t really blame the artists in most of these cases cause these songs are not fillers, but rather they differ from person to person,” he wrote over a year ago. “One can get more insight into the subleties of someone’s music taste by finding out which 20% of the songs they would cut from their favourite CD, rather than by asking what their favourite 20% are.”

I offered my kudos then, as now, and submit to you for consideration one of my most recent, cherished acquisitions.

“Cinematographic” The Junior Varsity. Victory Records, 2007.

The Junior Varsity hail from Springfield, Illinois, and have spent over five years performing together across the US, garnering a fan base as strong as it is diverse. Signed to the small Victory Records label, they are in a coveted place on the spectrum of musical success - a step up from the average dirt-poor indie band, yet not subscribers of full-blown rock stardom. They have the musical freedom to sound like anything they want, and write music true to themselves without expectation.

That said, their newest album is a delight, and has something for everyone. With songs ranging from mellowed pop numbers to more feral, riff-driven rock, they’ve created a stellar album worthy of Best lists come winter. Skipping throughout the disc will catch you moments reminiscent of mid-90s alternative (a la Weezer, back when they were good), Zeppelin-style classic rock rhythms, vocals and time signatures that hail back to the glory days of The Police.

And yet through it all, they maintain their own individuality as a band, and continue the grand tradition of awesomeness they defined a few years ago with Wide Eyed. Definite highlights of the album include the The Greatest, which rises to a crescendo similar to Scenery And Fish-era I Mother Earth, and the instrumental Memory Made Easy, a delicate piece featuring a collaboration with cellist Jane Scarpantoni, made famous for arranging string accompaniments for Silverchair and other rock bands throughout the 90s.

In all, it’s a fantastic record, which I fully recommend. Do everything you can to get this record. And in the meantime, enjoy the song I’ve uploaded below.

The Junior Varsity - The Greatest (Cinematographic)

Top 5 songs: The Greatest, The Sky!, Under The Radar, Memory Made Easy,
I Went Blind.
20% that I would cut (2 songs): St. Louis, Wünderdrug.

To listen to some more of The Junior Varsity, or to get more info on the band, check them out online: TheJuniorVarsity.com, their very own blog, profiles on Myspace and Purevolume.