Amazon.com It's time for an update of our image of Jewel, the ingenue who set the music world on fire with her 1995 debut album, Pieces of You. After all, that effort consisted primarily of songs Jewel had written several years before, some of them dating back to her days as a free- spirited waif living in a van on the beach in San Diego. Now, at 25, she's become a sort of guru for self-expression and full disclosure, revealing perhaps too much of herself in see-through dresses worn to awards shows and a critically drubbed (yet bestselling) book of poetry. Spirit makes plain why Jewel's well-intentioned yet sometimes facile lyrics strike a chord with her audience while her poetry lies flat on the page. On songs like "Deep Water," "Hands," and "Down So Long," her words are borne aloft by sparkling melodies and her soaring voice, making even the most cynical observer take a schoolgirl-notebook image such as "your heart like grape gum on the ground" or an unreassuring platitude like "If I could tell the world just one thing / It would be that we're all OK" somewhat in stride. On Pieces of You, Jewel posed the musical question "Who will save your soul?" On Spirit, it sounds like she wants to do it herself. And the truth is, if you don't overanalyze it, the album does act as a sort of balm for wounded psyches or maybe a primer for raising your own inner child. Maybe she's right and we are all OK. Who knew? --Daniel Durchholz Product Description The follow-up to Jewel's 10-million-selling debut finds the acclaimed singer/songwriter expanding her musical palette with the studio assistance of producer Patrick Leonard (Madonna). Pieces Of You, of course, was an unprecedented smash, spending 114 weeks on the Billboard 200, where it hit #4. Singles include "Hands", "Down So Long," and a newly recorded version of "Jupiter". [Note: This product is an authorized CD-R and is manufactured on demand] Review Jewel's proclivity for syrupy platitudes can no longer be blamed on her barefaced farm-girl naivety. [She] should have now seen enough of the world to know it isn't really like a fabric softener ad.... -- New Musical Express Jewel's slightly twangy singing is more nuanced and her songwriting more sophisticated. -- USA Today With her dulcet voice and lulling refrains, Jewel makes the social and political ills of the world go down easy. But in doing so, she unintentionally confounds the problem, since her honeyed background-music folk makes issues of life and death appear more benign and less worrisome than they are. -- Entertainment Weekly [Jewel] continues to display a knack for using cosmic ruminations to connect with other sensitive beings, but her points remain maddeningly simplistic.... -- Los Angeles TimesASIN: B00000F1CYVSKU: GGV.B00000F1CY.LNCondition: Like NewAuthor/Artist:JewelBinding: Audio CD
