Spirit - Jewel (CD 1998)

O.K., the title may seem a bit blunt, but it's true. I got the title from reading something about Canadian cities (sorry for all of you Canadians, I love the country, by the way) and I thought "Perfect", for this title at least. Those three words perfectly describe the entire layout of the album Spirit.


Now let me just say this, Spirit is Jewel at her...um...most complain-y and at her most observative. She seems to have somewhat deserted her warmth that she had during her debut (which sold 12 million). I'm not saying that this cd is terrible, but it's just so queer how she repeats herself and I think she knows it. There are some "jewels"(get it?)and then there are those unoriginal songs crammed betwixt two nice ones. I'm somewhat turned off by how protest-ridden this cd is, which is gross. It's not like "Ew, I'm gonna go throw up down my throat" kind of gross, but more of a "Ugh, how many more times can you talk about faith and sh!t?!?!?!?!?" kind of gross.


The Bold
There are songs on Spirit that are a bit listenable and enjoyable. These songs include:

Deep Water- The nice opener for the cd. It has a nice, listenable quality and it's pretty strong. This song sounds so much different than anything she did on Pieces, mainly because she isn't talking about herself, and secondly, I guess there really isn't anything without love.

Down So Long- This song solidifies the complete breakaway from Jewel's debut. This song features something that folk songs usually don't feature: drums. This is interesting and queer at the same time. Is she still folk, or is she something else because there is a drum here, and a cymbal there? The song was an early favorite of mine, mostly because of how it sounds and how it's enjoyable. For you losers, this was a single, and it was slightly altered. The drums were supposedly tuned down, or something. Anyways, they might as well not have altered it. They wasted useless money.

Barcelona- This song starts off as a haunting song and then it takes this weird direction and goes into this loud mess. Well, I don't wanna say "mess", but Jewel holding that long note and everything, goes everywhere. It is a nice song, though. I'm completely ambivalent as to what it means, and trust me, there's nearly nothing in this song about Barcelona.

Life Uncommon- Preach it, sister! Jewel, in this song which was to help Habitat for Humanity takes the whole protest theme and takes it to the nth degree. She's all gospel, she's breaking out her deep voice that she scarcely used on this cd, and she's basically vomiting for this cause. Luckily, Jewel isn't a donation whoOre. She doesn't go to every fundraiser as if they're a hot ticket. I think those are atrocious, and so does she and it's cool. They're not so much as atrocious as they are as obnoxious. I mean, Upper Upper-Class people go to these fancy balls with their designer outfits to these fundraisers that's supposed to preserve a tree, and meanwhile there are homeless people outside and I'm sitting here like "Oh, that's worthy. Oh, and while we're at it, let's go break our backs over the conservation of a penny (K-Fed)". O.K., I'm done. You get the gist.


The Beautiful
The songs that are on Spirit that are listenable and enjoyable without being a snooze-fest:

What's Simple is True- I don't know if that's necessarily true, but whatever. This song is nearly on the verge of being boring, but for some reason, it isn't. I don't know if it's the location of the song, but it doesn't go there. Miss Jewel is some sort of frozen queen and she's expressing her frozen love to her frozen lover. I'm not sure of expressing your love in hypothermic conditions is safe, but she's not complaining.

Hands- This is the reason I even like Jewel, after Intuition. Yes, I'll admit it. The song that most people felt that she turned into a whoOre and became Jewelle, O.K., that's bullsh!t. Jewel may have been inching towards this direction, but 0304 means to "sell out completely" and she took this as a joke, but people with too much time and those huffy-puffy people were all like "(babbling)". This song is supposedly about self-confidence...I don't see that message anywhere, except in Fat Boy.

Jupiter- The best song on the album...hands down. This song is simplistically gorgeous and, for some weird reason or another, I like the pop version Jupiter (Swallow the Moon), which is a completely different composition from the album, much like Foolish Games the single, which I HATED!!!!!!!!!! It was gross and ugly, ugh, don't get me started. The song has an intimacy like Kiss the Flame, but without the boring aspect of it.

Enter from the East- Yes, I like this song. Hate me all you want, you EFTE haters. This song has a nice tranquil, haunting quality to it. Her voice is a whisper and one of the only songs like this that aren't boring...to me.


The Boring
Those God-awful songs on Spirit that are there just to be there. They include:

Kiss the Flame- O.K., this song isn't God-awful, it's just so hollow. I like the song, but it doesn't have any redeeming qualities, whatever those are.

Fat Boy- The story behind this song is not boring. I read on someone's review on this website that this song is about someone Jewel knew who committed suicide. That's sad and all, but why is the song so damn boring? I like this song, but like Kiss the Flame it really goes nowhere. Some of you may be thinking "But it's supposed to be soft and slow like that. What do you expect of this song?" That's bullsh!t. This song didn't need to be this damn boring and you know it!!!!

Absence of Fear- O.K., by this point I have had it, I had sat through some nice songs and some boring-a$$ songs and this was all I needed. She insulted me with this lyric:

Inside my heart there's an empty room
It's waiting for lightning
It's waiting for you

Which is basically the same lyric as this one in ...East:

My heart has four empty rooms
Three wait for lightning and one waits for you

Need I say more? And on top of that...I don't know what tops that madness. My brain is bleeding.


Other Unnecessary, Unimportant, Loser Songs

Innocence Maintained- Jewel b!tches about people who are vulnerable to words and mess. Um, I'm out. No thank you.

Do You- A song, I think, that's about women and their lives. An interesting point of view, but I'm not interested. Well, I like the song and I listen to it all the time, but, yeah, it's just there.

This Little Bird- I love this song, even though it adds nothing to this cd. Jewel's mother sings on here and they sound alike. They could form some weird duo called Mama and the Jewels...don't laugh.


So after 55 minutes of highs and lows, Jewel produces an album that's a shadow of her earlier album. I know, artists don't like to be compared to their earlier work and stuff, but how can you not when there's one that's this mediocre????