Customer Reviews

Blue Belly Sky

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This is a great album. I seriously reccomend it to any fan of Jars of Clay and similar bands. I would also reccomend their others albums as well, particularly, Unfazed. Brad Olsen is the best!!!!

THERE ARE TWO VERSIONS OF THIS CD-- the original, 11-song, semi-indie release (which I bought right after it was released in 1995 and have listened to regularly since,) and the major-label re-issue with 4 extra tracks. Even though all 15 tracks show up for listening on Amazon, NOT all the CDs have all 15 tracks. The one featuring the better artwork -- of the band in front of an airplane -- is the 11-song version; the sienna-colored version with the scratched-in lettering is the 15-song re-release. The extra tracks, which for the most part are good, do not improve the album in a huge way. Nevertheless, you may want to get the longer edition - just find out which version of the CD you're buying beforehand.

This is the very the first CD from the Waiting -- a favorite that I will continue listening to for the rest of my life. "Look At Me," "Mercy Seat" and "Staring At A Bird," seamlessly mix frustration, doubt, honest confession and an almost giddy joy of understanding God's love. The fact that the band can do this WITH happy-yet-creative melodies and withOUT a trace of cheesiness is a testament to the quality of songs contained on just the first half of the album! In addition to those hook-laden tunes, more musically artful songs such as "Israel," "Your Face" and "Big Parade" showcase the same lyrical quality - you can understand them, but not because you've heard it all said like this before. And because what's being said is worth listening to, it's hard to call these merely sermons disguised as pop-rock songs.

If you like guitar-driven pop and melodic rock with hooks, riffs and occasional harmonies -- and can stomach or want it via a mostly overt Christian worldview, Blue Belly Sky is a good buy. It holds up very well, even over 15 years (!) after it's release.