Everything in Transit

Everything in Transit
Studio album by Jack's Mannequin
Released	August 23, 2005
Recorded	4th Street Recording (Santa Monica, California)
Genre	Alternative rock, piano rock
Length	45:33
Label	Maverick
Producer	Andrew McMahon, Jim Wirt
Jack's Mannequin chronology
Everything in Transit (2005) The Ghost Overground EP (2008)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AbsolutePunk	(95%)[1]
Allmusic	[2]
IGN	7.2/10[3]
PopMatters	[4]
Sputnikmusic	[5]

Everything in Transit is the debut album of American band Jack's Mannequin, released on August 23, 2005, by Maverick Records. Andrew McMahon wrote most of the lyrics during his first summer outside of his band Something Corporate. McMahon spent almost all of his savings on recording the album before Maverick Records picked him up. The album was produced by both McMahon and Jim Wirt.

Overview

Everything In Transit may be considered a concept album, that tells the story of Andrew McMahon finally coming home after years of nonstop touring with his band Something Corporate and getting re-accustomed to everyday life and a settled abode in Los Angeles, California. The songs were written during his first summer in years outside of the band, which McMahon spent scribbling lyrics accompanied by drawings into a private sketchbook, selected pages of which can be accessed through a web-link to a secret homepage on the enhanced CD portion of the album. The song meanings are at times more cryptic than one might be used to from McMahon's Something Corporate songs, as the lyrics describe a more personal view on feelings and situations and all take advantage of a first person's narrative style.

The project took almost two years from the first songs being written and recorded to the final product hitting the music store shelves. McMahon spent more than $40,000 of his own savings on the production, before being picked up by Maverick Records.

On the day he finished mastering the last song for the album (about two months before its scheduled release date), McMahon was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, forcing him to immediately undergo chemotherapy and to stop touring and promoting his record's release. However, he wished that, even though he would be confined to bed for the next months, the CD should be released as planned. Maverick Records decided to postpone promoting the album until McMahon's recovery. Under the given circumstances, receiving close to no promotion, it still managed to debut at #37 of the Billboard 200 with 22,163 copies sold within the week of its release.

The album was re-released on October 17, 2006, including a bonus DVD of various live performances by Jack's Mannequin and links to unreleased tracks, such as a mastered version of "Last Straw".

Track listing

All songs written by Andrew McMahon.

1. "Holiday from Real" – 2:58
2. "The Mixed Tape" – 3:14
3. "Bruised" – 4:02
4. "I'm Ready" – 3:55
5. "La La Lie" – 3:54
6. "Dark Blue" – 4:11
7. "Miss Delaney" – 3:44
8. "Kill the Messenger" – 3:24
9. "Rescued" – 3:56
10. "MFEO Pt. 1 - Made for Each Other / Pt. 2 - You Can Breathe" – 8:01
11. "Into the Airwaves" – 4:07

Bonus songs

1. Lonely for Her [iTunes Bonus Track]
2. Last Straw, AZ
3. The Lights and Buzz [Japan Edition Bonus Track]
4. Kill the Messenger (Live)

Track information

On April 26, 2005, Maverick Records released the "Holiday from Real" 7 inch vinyl single in the United States. The A-side featured the title track, while the B-side featured the album version and an acoustic version of "Kill the Messenger".

"The Mixed Tape" is the first single off the album. The music video to the song, directed by Michael Perlmutter and Full Tank, was filmed while McMahon was being treated at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, therefore contains very few shots of him, but consists of an animated collage of the album artwork, a traced McMahon singing and playing the piano and some rendered 3D models. A second music video, starring Hilarie Burton, was filmed in January 2006 and released to coincide with McMahon's cameo appearance on One Tree Hill.

McMahon has stated "Bruised" to be his favorite song on the record.^[6] Bruised is also featured on the compilation Punk Goes Acoustic 2.

When first written, the song "La La Lie" was originally titled "West Coast Winter" and featured a different chorus. The original demo was released in late 2006 on the band's website. Part of its lyrics had since been adapted in "The Lights and Buzz".

"Dark Blue" was the last song recorded for the CD. It is about the months McMahon and his fiancée (now wife) spent separated from one another.^[7] The song title is in reference to a blue lightbulb used in the bedroom he shared with her in their Arizona home. The Something Corporate song "She Paints Me Blue" is taken from the same idea. The music video, released on September 7, 2006, takes place at the site of a dance marathon in Venice anno 1950.

"Kill the Messenger" was the first song to be released from the band, available on the Drive-Thru Records and PureVolume compilation Bands You Love, Have Heard of, and Should Know.

The final chorus of track 10, "MFEO", repeatedly picks up the line "Where are you now?" with the same intonation as earlier on in the song "The Mixed Tape", which in a way bookends the album.

The bonus track "Into the Airwaves" deals with a long-distance relationship, that is bridged by McMahon "slipping into the airwaves". Ironically, the individual McMahon wrote the song about moved back to California before he even recorded the song.

Awards

• The Pop Cop - The Best Album Of The Decade (2000–2009)^[8]

Credits

• Andrew McMahon – piano, vocals, organ, bells, harmonica, keyboards, hand percussion, Wurlitzer
• Robert Anderson – guitar, backup vocals
• Brian Coffman – guitar
• CJ Eiriksson – programming, drums
• Tommy Lee – drums
• Jay McMillan – drums
• Patrick Warren – chamberlin, moog, melodica, samples, accordion, string and horn samples, organ
• Terry Wilson – sitar
• Jim Wirt – guitar, bass, backup vocals
• Josh Berry - piano, kazoo

References