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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jewel's Spirit is Amazing, November 15, 2004
This is Jewel's absolute best CD. It's definitely a keeper, definitely worth the money. Great lyrics, great instrumentals, with a different twist from your average young singer. Jewel is really wise and intuitive. There are some real *shining stars* on this cd.
Deep Water: Jewel's voice is really nice in this one. Lovely lyrics. "We have to demand more, not from each other, but more from ourselves." 4/5
What's Simple is True: This is probably one of Jewel's better productions lyrically, as it tends more towards the dark side, which goes really well with Jewel. "Turn to me with frozen lips; your hands are icy cold." 5/5
Hands: Can't even describe it. So beautiful, so wise. "Poverty stole your golden shoes, it didn't steal your laughter...my hands are small I know, but they're not yours, they are my own...and I am never broken. In the end, only kindness matters." 5/5
Kiss the Flame: A really nice song. No complaints, it's warm, beautiful, and sweet like honey. It has some great moments. "Kiss the flame, let's run with the hunted, the untamed." 4/5
Down so Long: A head-bopping song. It's pretty fun. "I got a plastic Jesus and a cordless telephone in every corner of my room; I got everybody but you telling me what to do." 4/5
Innocence Maintained: The lyrics are amazing, the instrumentals are great, if not different. All around a very nice song. "Hitler loved little blue-eyed boys and it drove him to hate." 4/5
Jupiter: It's alright, and has the typical Jewel appeal. The farther you get in, the better it gets. At the end your heart is thumping. "You make me so crazy baby, could swallow the moon." 4/5
Fat Boy: This is a really sad song, in both the style and what it presents. It's not wonderful, like the others. There's part of you that will love it, and part of you that will hate it. "Fat boy...trying to think of funny things to say...'I like me this way.'" 2/5
Enter From the East: Despite the enticing title, this is not a very good song. The lyrics are really sensual and beautiful, but the style is not so good once again. However, like some other songs, the farther you get in, the more you will like it. "My heart has four empty rooms...one waits for you." 3/5
Barcelona: Amazing and mysterious. Amazing style as well as lyrics. "Churches don't have windows, but the graveyards do." 5/5
Life Uncommon: This is a flat out spectacular song. "There are plenty of people who pray for peace, but if praying were enough it would have come to be." 5/5
Do You: This is a fun, slow-moving, groovy song. "He wants to take his monkeys to see the kids at the zoo, `cause the gypsy on the corner said `Hey mister, you can't lose.'" 4/5
Absence of Fear: This is a really nice song, and I wish the CD just ended with it. Jewel's voice is gorgeous in it, and the lyrics are awesome. The instrumentals are phenomenal as well. "Make myself translucent to let you in...here, inside the absence of fear...and it knows that you're no stranger; you're my gravity." 5/5
This Little Bird: This is attached to Absence of Fear. I don't find it particularly enjoyable, but I believe you have to like this kind of thing. "...And she sleeps on the wind..." 2/5
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jewel's Best, December 3, 2002
Of the four albums that Jewel has released to date, this is definitely the most amazing in my book. It's deep and thought-provoking lyrics are what make it the gem it is, along with her angelic voice and the beautiful music. The album as a whole works perfectly and there is literally no low point at all.Among the many amazing tracks, the ones to really look for are "Deep Water," "What's Simple Is True," and "Barcelona." They will have you floating into another world that is full of peace, thoughtfulness and grace. "Hands," the notorious single from the album, is also a very magnificent song. "Down So Long" was a single as well, but it did not to as well as the first - nor did the third, "Jupiter (Swallow The Moon)." This song's Single Version is a lot better than the original, in my opinion, so you might also want to think about either downloading that or buying the Jupiter Single, which also has an amazingly beautiful acoustic version of "Deep Water." "Innocence Maintained" has MAINTAINED it's position as one of my top three Jewel songs of all time. If you're looking for a song to download, this would be it. It's a great take on what the world is like today, and how it is full of hate and has lost it's innocence. "We've made houses for hatred, it's time we made a place where people's souls may be seen and made safe." There are really no huge dissapointments or low points of the album, but i'm not saying that every song will be easy to get into. The song that took me a while to love was "Enter From the East." At first it sounded a little to monotone, but I realized later on that the beauty of it is it's slow, steady pace which is very beautiful actually. As for the other songs, "Fat Boy," which is the shortest track on the album, may also be harder to get into generally but for me I liked it the moment I heard it. It's also very slow, but the lyrics are the most poetic and beautiful of the entire album. "Life Uncommon" and "Do You?" both have country-influenced music, but it's not as influenced as some of the songs on "This Way." "Life Uncommon" is a great song about standing up for what is right and pushing the negativity away. The last song, "Absence of Fear" is probabably one of the most achingly beautiful songs I've ever heard in my entire life. The lyrics in this one are amazing as well, proving that Jewel has is one of the most talented song-writers of our day. Then there is the bonus track, which is a song called "This Little Bird," sung by Jewel's mother. It is a song that her mother used to sing to Jewel and her sibings when she was younger, living in Alaska. I don't really care for that part of the CD too much, but I know it holds sentimental value to Jewel. There couldn't have been a better title to sum up the theme of the entire CD: Spirit. A lot of albums use the names of one of the songs on the album or something else as a title, and sometimes they don't even have to do with the theme of the album. But this one certainly fit the album perfectly. GET THIS ALBUM.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inspiring, September 21, 2005
While many critics have labelled Jewel's lyrics childish, it is important to understand that if the only faith in this world comes from children, then cynicists and critics should suck it up, and realize what Jewel is offering.
Deep Water: Essentially, one line in this song sums up the album, "It's nothing without love." We can go through our lives doing the day-to-day things we must, but we need to realize that our lives mean nothing without love for eachother, and for ourselves.
What's Simple is True: This is a beautiful love song. It brings it all down to the fact that, essentially, the simplistic things are what really matter. She loves him, and that's all that matters. She paints beautiful pictures here. I love it.
Hands: I love this song because of the message behind it. While taking her lyrics out of their context and just staring at them, they're not so profound, "My hands are small, I know, but they're not yours, they are my own." However, putting them back in, and hearing the song as a whole, you see that what's important is that it's important for each of us individually to surround ourselves faith (for light does the darkness most fear), and to rise above circumstance.
Kiss the Flame: Jewel describes what she wants in a lover. She tells us that she wants those who "whiddle love down at the knees" to be separated from those us of who have faith. She believes we should be a part of those who are "untamed", living by their own internal standards. (A concept echoed in a song by Alanis Morissette called So-Called Chaos)
Down So Long: I've loved this song forever. I love the storytelling in it. I love the reference to the Sun as a feminine force. (And that Sun act like she don't even care.) Here she presents the idea that we've been down, and depressed, and trampled for so long, that it's time we put an end to it. We shouldn't succumb to the negativity we hear, and see daily.
Innocence Maintained: Wow. Love this one... It's pretty obvious, just from the title, that it's about abandoning hate, and preserving our innocence. I love all of this. It's hard to really nail down certain things that stand out, as it's all pretty amazing.
Jupiter: I really enjoy the love painted here. "Lay me out in fire light, let my skin feel the night, fasten me to your side..." There are just many things in here depicting love that are fairly amazing.
Fat Boy: Many people that I've listened to the album with have mocked the title and the song, simply because, just looking at it, it's a little odd. However, the things she says in here can really impress upon you how hard it is to be obese, or even a little overweight in a society that values beauty in . . . thinner forms. Things she says like "Oh, fragile flame, sometimes I feel the same" really are relatable for anyone who has struggled with self-image, even if the issue isn't weight. We all often hide behind pretenses to avoid going within.
Enter from the East: Vocally amazing. Before anything else, the range Jewel presents here is fantastic. The lyrics have some great imagery, and ambiguity. ("The clock became a bullet hole, cruel, and unkind, it hurt me with its second hand, alone another night.")
Barcelona: This song has impressed me beyond what I can express here, but I'll do my best. The song has a lot to do with (as previously stated by other reviewers) alienation. And when we feel alienated, we often attack ourselves, and lose the ability to love ourselves. ("Me and my shadow are wrestling again," "I hold myself hostage in the mirror," "Loving someone else is always so much easier.")
Life Uncommon: Beautiful song about living like we should. Instead of allowing negativity and cynicism to prevail, we should be able to put that aside (no longer lend your strength to that which you wish to be free from, fill your life with love and bravery). There is just so much in this song that is beautiful, and inspiring.
Do You: I've found this song to be an odd sort of neat. I fell in love with it when I first heard it, and it's got a crazy kind of country charm in some way. However, it also has some amazingly thought-provoking lines. For example, "We shake our fists, and say well, good-golly we're mad! That God kills children with our very own hands, we claim innocence, and not to understand, but do we?" I love that line.
Absense of Fear: I love this song because of the idea of warmth that this man brings to her. He is with her in the "absense of fear" which I thought was a great way to word that. I love it.
This Little Bird: There isn't much to say. It sounds great vocally, but Jewel didn't write it, so it's hard to really say much about it.
I love this album, I love the idea of it, and I much prefer it to Pieces of You, or any of her other albums. I don't really understand the heavy criticism of Jewel, as I would much prefer a world of peace, innocence, beauty, and love than a world of cynicism and dissatisfaction. A naivety doesn't necessarily disqualify someone from having something to offer.
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