On the surface, this may appear to be a review of the latest full length from long time alt-rockers Jars of Clay, Good Monsters. But for all intents and purposes this is a retrospective of their career and my shameful detour from the past 5 years of Jars’ music.
As an “author” I try to cut most of my personal opinions and feelings from reviews, but as a “music fan” I firmly believe that those feelings are the only reason any of us listen to music in the first place. For if it doesn’t move us, why listen to it? There’s reasons my collection contains no Three Doors Down. For some reason, I felt like I lost that touch with Jars of Clay.
Jars of Clay were my boys back in junior high and into the early years of high school. I to this day wouldn’t find myself without a copy of 1995’s career defining debut or it’s emotional followup, 1997’s Much Afraid. As beautifully captivating as both those albums were to a younger me, it’s hard not to wish the band back to those roots due to a misguided belief that the early albums should define who the band is today. Though I would never hope for a Self-Titled part 2 or a Much More Afraid, when I stop to think about Jars of Clay and their career, the self-titled album is a huge outlier. It’s “roots” only by definition, not by what the band has created since then. After that record launched them into prominence, each successive album after that moment have found a band trying to carve out their own niche in the world of pop music.
As the band started veering off down their course, I slowly started to fade. If I Left the Zoo is still a great record in my honest opinion, but it pulled the band out of the mainstream spotlight. That’s never a bad thing, but it does mean that the artist started to experiment a bit more and push themselves as artists. Which is also never a bad thing, but in the case of Jars of Clay I felt like they were drifting away from the band I fell in love with once The Eleventh Hour hit.
I heard some pre-release tracks off The Eleventh Hour and was super excited by them because I felt they offered a glimpse at a band heading back to those illusory roots. But for some reason when the album found itself in my stereo, I was less than thrilled. And it was at that point that I regretfully ended my time with Jars of Clay.
College came and went, it found me still enjoying Much Afraid and Self-Titled, but nothing more. Friends bought Who We Are Instead and Furthermore while I was off experimenting with different genres and trying new things. When Good Monsters was released, for some reason I was really intrigued. I wanted to buy it so badly, but had no clue why. I never did. 17 dollars was too much to spend for a broke college student, especially when it was such a risk.
All this longwinded discussion brings me to this week, the first week of January 2009. I have purchased Good Monsters. With each successive listen, I ask myself “What the hell was wrong with you!?!?!” This album is fantastic! This album is brilliant! This album is any number of clichéd words that translate into “just what I needed.” Jars of Clay has stormed back onto my musical radar with a vengeance reserved only for reunion tours of bands long lost. The Long Fall Back To Earth has found its way onto my most anticipated list of 2009.
I have no fear of drowning, it’s the breathing that’s taking all this work.
- taken from “Work”
If any of you are still with me after that diatribe, I now get to a brief review. The album opens very strongly. “Work” drew me in unexpectedly and and the Franz Ferdinand-ish lead single “Dead Man (Carry On)” just may be the catchiest song the band has crafted yet. You quickly realize this isn’t 1995’s Jars of Clay. May the “diehard fan” spare me when I say – I don’t want 1995 back! This is the most rock Jars of Clay has delivered to boot and it really works. I believe that is testament to 15 years of hard work; they’ve stuck through it all together and became a well oiled machine.
“There is a River” is the closest you’ll get to vintage JoC. “Oh My God” and it’s dynamic crescendo and it’s tag along “Suprise” that quickly switches gears back to a slower pace showcase two of my favorite songs on the album. “Surpise” is Much Afraid era Jars of Clay and what I personally think of when I think “Jars of Clay”.
“Mirrors & Smoke” features guest vocals from the undeniably gifted Leigh Nash. It proves to be another highlight of the second half. As you can see, I don’t desire to go terrible deep into a discussion on this album. It should speak for itself if you give it a fair shake. I did not do that over the past two years, and for that I am the one who missed out.
If any of you out there think that my journey with Jars of Clay reminds you of your own and you don’t own Good Monsters, I suggest you drop whatever you are thinking about buying next and pick up one of Jars of Clay’s finest.
Your journey did in fact remind me of my own! So closely in fact that I felt like I was reading my own words when you said nearly throughout the entire article. A line you said I really identified with: “it’s hard not to wish the band back to those roots due to a misguided belief that the early albums should define who the band is today.” I agree that this is misguided because I also “rediscovered them” at a certain point. The beauty of Jars of Clay is that in this process of “carving their niche” a certain kind of individuality and creativity has surfaced that is unique to every album. My favorite thing to do with Jars of Clay is to listen to each album and let each one speak for itself. By doing so I found a beauty to Jars of Clay I have never found before, and it makes me extremely excited for the release of the Long Fall Back to Earth.
Any band can have a “sound”, but not every band continues to develop their creative spirit. This is what I think is most interesting, and unique about Jars of Clay.
Hey John! If you haven’t listened to the Who We Are Instead album yet, I should let you borrow it sometime. It’s got more of a folksy feel that I like. There’s one song I want at my wedding (“Only Alive”) and one song I want at my funeral (“My Heavenly”)!