“WE ARE LOVED BEYOND OUR ABILITY TO COMPREHEND” and other high
\nschool yearbook quotes decorate the cover, and these are guarenteed
\nto turn off fashionable cynics and hardcore Tori Amos fans. Not to
\ndiss either group of people, but this album just isn’t for them;
\nJewel’s second effort is better appreciated by people who want
\nsomething simple, but not condescendingly so.<\/p>\n
\nSpirit<\/i> leans more to Barbra Streisand’s ’70s sound, a kind
\nof light poignance that gets its power from classical\/folk guitar
\narrangements and a pure-sounding voice. The songs are gorgeously
\npackaged by Patrick Leonard who also co-wrote the first single
\n“Hands”. There are a couple of more radio-friendly tunes but on the
\nwhole,
\nSpirit<\/i> doesn’t have many catchy hooks (the current
\nreleased-to-radio single “Jupiter” is a major rearrangement of the
\nalbum version) and it’s one of those albums that require repeated
\nlistenings.<\/p>\n
The album version of “Jupiter” is much less Celine Dion than its
\nradio release, much more folksy. Jewel’s lyrics are often
\ncriticized but in the area of sensuality, she holds her own in this
\nsong as well as “Enter From The East” and “Absence Of Fear”. It’s
\nwhen Jewel steps out of this realm where the lyrics tend to get a
\nlittle self-absorbed (“Twilight decends on our silhouette \/ how
\nsoon spring comes \/ how soon spring forgets”) or plain boring (“The
\nmore I live \/ the more I know \/ what’s simple is true \/ I love
\nyou”).<\/p>\n
My main complaints are with the “preachy” songs like “Innocence
\nMaintained”, “What’s Simple Is True” and the judgmental “Do You”,
\nthat just plain irritate. Jewel’s didactic style wears thin after
\nthe first couple of songs and it may turn you off the entire album,
\nand this is where she stands to lose. These songs are obviously
\nwritten not for herself but to impart; the exposition and lack of
\nsubtlety can only work against her on this.<\/p>\n
But for the most part, the melodies and arrangements are
\nelegant, if uninteresting at times. “Barcelona” with its dedicated
\nchorus is another song with good potential for radio. Jewel’s voice
\nis beautiful in her expert head-to-chest technique in songs like
\n“Kiss The Flame”, and she isn’t afraid to sound scratchy for the
\nsake of soul in “Down So Long”. There are no annoying vocal
\nshowcases and the instrumental arrangements are clean, warmly
\nacoustic and textured. An a cappella track featuring Jewel’s mother
\nNedra Carroll, Jewel’s mother, is an extra bonus in perfect
\nausterity.<\/p>\n
\nSpirit<\/i> is ultimately appreciated by listeners in search of
\nsomething meaningful but simple. It might not be easy to agree with
\nher a hundred percent but with a little absence of expectation,
\nSpirit<\/i> can be enjoyable to anyone who’s finding
\nLittle Earthquakes<\/i> traumatic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":27936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5727],"rating":[5619],"class_list":["post-39325","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-jewel","rating-rating-c"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39325"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39325"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}