Pros: Incredibly deep and poetic lyrics coupled with lush instrumentation.
Cons: Not as "rock" as fans were expecting after the first album.
The Bottom Line: Definitely more challenging and complex than the first album, which disappointed many fans, but I think it's one of the most beautiful and well-crafted albums in Christian rock today.
divad23's Full Review: Much Afraid by Jars Of Clay
Jars of Clay has had a remarkable success story in the world of Christian music. Their debut album (which was mostly new versions of songs from their Frail demo beefed up with better production) struck an amazing chord with listeners of all ages, offering a combination of acoustic guitars, strings, programmed drums, and poetic lyrics that at the time, was unprecedented in the genre. It practically redefined the industry - almost any Christian band that uses similar elements in their music these days (from FFH to Caedmon's Call to Five O'Clock People) will get compared to the Jar-boys. So you can probably guess that Much Afraid, their second full-length album, faced high expectations from dedicated fans, and that there was a huge amount of pressure on the boys as they were recording it.
Well, when September 17, 1997 rolled around, many eager fans took this CD home, listened to it once, and were left scratching their heads. What happened? In most people's minds, they either mellowed out, chickened out, or just plain sold out. All unfair conclusions to draw after one listen, if you ask me. If Jars of Clay hadn't already put out such a fantastic debut album, people would have been raving about this one. But I suppose I should backtrack and tell you why this album was different. Remember those catchy programmed drums and delicious strings? They're mostly gone from this album, and where they're present, they take more of a supporting role in the background, choosing to let the raw talent of the band stand more on its own. You have to remember, as cool as those strings and drums were, they weren't supplied by full-time members of the band. So this time out they went for some real drums. As for the intense acoustic strumming that dominated the last CD - it's still here on a few of the songs. But we've added a bit of electric guitar to the mix as well. Some of you may have forgotten that there were virtually no electric guitars on the last album - even in the insanely huge single "Flood" that made waves on mainstream radio (and was later remixed with an electric guitar). This time out, the boys took a risk. They dug deeper, definitely not abandoning their clear message of faith, but choosing to tackle some of the more complex and emotional issues of life. And that's what makes this record feel ten times as deep and intricate as their first, in my opinion.
Overjoyed starts things off rather deceptively, with lead singer Dan Haseltine's puzzling new lyrical style and that acoustic strumming we love so much hitting you in the very first seconds of the CD. This song takes a little effort to unravel, but it is a beautiful one, especially when the chorus arrives, and the crashing cymbals and soaring harmonies clue you in that this album is going to have a bit of Beatles influence to it. However, the guys aren't trying to be weird here. They're just playing with a new texture. They've moved even farther into the realm of the intimately poetic. It seems to stumble along awkwardly at first, but you just can't stop lines like "You name me", "Mirror spins wicked tales", and "Missing the me from You, You gave to me" from swimming around in your head until it sinks in that this is a wonderfully compelling tale of forgiveness - being given a new name and a new life after messing up the old one. This is the process of not just becoming a Christian, but remaining one - being in constant need of forgiveness, and being overjoyed that it is so freely given.
Fade to Grey is up next, a song that was originally recorded on the band's demo, but didn't make their first album despite its popularity with long-time fans. I'm glad they waited, because the song has gone from simply being fun to being wonderfully captivating. Our old friend, the programmed rhythm, sneaks in after the somewhat abrupt, ending of "Overjoyed", then Charlie Lowell adds some keyboard chords to introduce this new, ethereal version of an old favorite, and then Dan starts to sing the slightly revised lyrics. They fake you out on the first chorus, only singing bits and pieces of the lyric as strings swirl around in the background, and then they jump back into the second verse as that old familiar guitar strumming joins in. It doesn't dominate this song as much as it dominated the older material - what keeps this song alive is the insistent percussion, with live drums kicking in when they finally do reach the full chorus. And it's a catchy chorus, if somewhat dark and desperate. Not surprisingly, this has been one of the more pleasing songs to the crowd who couldn't get over the group's first album. Lyrically, it's a tough one to decipher, but I think it's about realizing how desperately we need to be rescued from a mindset that blurs together our very concept of right and wrong, which is where you get the black and white fading to grey. The new ending to this song is killer - all of the other elements of the song fall away for the last couple lines, and it's just the guys singing, and it all comes to an abrupt halt after the last line. (This has allowed them to pull off an awesome transition into "Flood" in many concerts.)
Tea and Sympathy follows next, which strangely begins with Dan singing "Fare thee well", making for a weird but memorable transition out of "Fade to Grey". It might seem a bit slow for this early in the album, but get used to the ballads, because they dominate this CD and they have a lot to say. If the sweetly emotional song off of the last album was "Love Song for a Savior", then consider this to be a "Love Song for a Disillusioned Girlfriend". The song examines a relationship which is about to end, as Dan pleads to her that "we can work it out" (slight Beatles influence once again), that this doesn't have to end up as a story that he will re-tell one day to get people to feel sorry for him. The message of this song is awesome - don't trade real love for politeness. The strings add a wistfully beautiful backdrop to the song, reaching their full intensity towards the end. Add to that some beautiful harmonies and you've got a pop hit that all the girls will love, but that strays as far as it can from being cliche by using some excellent metaphors such as "All your words fall to the floor and break like China cups" to propel the story along.
Crazy Times is the necessary straight-ahead rock single for the project. If you ask me, it was a mistake to release this one as the first single. It has a good blend of guitar styles - from the acoustics that open the song to Steve Mason's searing electric solo in the middle - but it fooled a lot of fans into thinking this album was gonna rock more than the first, when it actually did the opposite. It's a decent song, with wonderfully desperate lyrics about a girl who is constantly crying over her lack of faith but not really taking much initiative to remedy the situation. It's just that it's not as distinctively Jars of Clay.
Frail is the second of two songs from the band's demo that didn't make the first album, but here you'll notice two things - real drums, and real lyrics! This started out as a beautiful acoustic instrumental, and the guys eventually got around to giving it some lyrics. While you can kind of tell that the lyrics were added later and forced to fit the music, they fit quite well. Again, a difficult song to interpret, but lines like "Blessed are the shallow, depth they'll never find" and "Your dirt removes my blindness, Your pain becomes my peace" make it worth racking my brains to come up with a meaning. If I have one criticism about this song, it's that it takes a while to get going (a full minute and a half before we even hear Dan's voice) and even longer to wind down (running almost seven minutes long). The patient listener will find the instrumental coda to be quite captivating, though, and some faint whispering in the background adds to the intrigue of the song.
Five Candles (You Were There) is a quirky, poppy song that the band originally wrote for the soundtrack for Liar, Liar (but the filmmakers lied and never ended up using it, so the band put it here!) It seems a bit slow and plodding first, especially for its positioning as the lead song on side 2 (at the time, I was still buying cassettes), but it is a nice tale about a boy who needs his father to be there for him more than he needs to be showered with expensive gifts. This became one of the most popular songs from the album, most likely due to its poppy nature and the fact that it was an overdue single anyway. The harmonies are quite nice, and the band adds enough intrigue to keep you coming back (for example, the verses lament a father who is never there, and the chorus says "You were there when I needed you, you were there when the skies broke wide, wide open). So it ended up growing on me a lot.
Weighed Down really amused me at first - not that it's a humorous song or anything, but rather that the band was quite sneaky for using the exact same guitar chords that they did in "4:7" (the bonus track on their first CD). However, this song never quite gets going like "4:7" did, which I guess is appropriate given its title, and its lyrics which lament how the church underestimates the power of God's love and keeps it from the people who truly need it. You expect it to gain intensity and do something powerful near the end, but it just chugs along and fades out before they even get to any sort of a bridge.
Portrait of an Apology takes a similar approach to "Tea and Sympathy" in that it is similarly melancholy and seems to be about a broken relationship, but this one has a more intricate rhythm (which gets it even more stuck in my head). This time Dan takes the point of view of an artist who, try as he might, cannot paint the picture he intends to paint as he tries to explain himself to the person he has hurt. He longs for her to stay and hear him out, but he just can't find the right words and he keeps digging himself in deeper. I know exactly what this feels like; sometimes you just have to stop explaining, admit you were wrong, and ask for forgiveness. It's never an easy thing to do, and the band captures that feeling perfectly here.
Truce comes next, starting off with a strangely mechanical beat and some brooding keyboards from Charlie. Once the full intensity of the song kicks in at the chorus, it begins to sound like a strange attempt at a dance number, except that it's much more organic in its instrumentation and deeper in its lyrics that most of what the dance music genre has given us recently. Maybe it's more of a jam session for the band - it certainly becomes one in their concerts, but in any case, it works. It has s similar mood to "Fade to Grey", but this one takes a step further in contemplating what we need to be reconciled to a God that we clearly cannot reach on our own. God calls a "truce" and meets us more than halfway across the chasm of our own sin. For those of you who are familiar with contemporary Christian music, think of Point of Grace's "The Great Divide", except much more poetic, and completely different on a musical level.
Much Afraid starts in immediately after "Truce" suddenly disappears into outer space - this is a surprisingly slow, but very effective ballad that appropriately sums up the theme of the album. Based on the main character from the book Hinds' Feet on High Places (which the band had been reading at the time), it describes a person who has fallen so far that they are afraid to get up again, to approach God in the light of all that they have done wrong. Rather than continuing in the tension and melancholy lamenting that most of the music on this album implies, it has a comfortable, almost Southern Gospel feel to it as its soft, 3/4 beat moves effortlessly along. For those of you who are wondering if the band is offering any clear resolution to these issues of doubt and brokenness, the band makes it quite clear - "Sweet Jesus, You never ever let me go." To be so straightforward and yet so poetic at the same time take a lot of guts for band which at the time, was posed to make major breakthroughs in the "secular" music market. They knew they couldn't do it at the expense of honesty about their beliefs.
Hymn closes the album with a gentle, acoustic ballad, which feels similar to "Much Afraid" in its rhythm and instrumentation except that there are no drums. As its title implies, this is the band's attempt at writing a praise song in the sort of language used by hymns of old, and it ends up sounding almost medieval, but in a way that is more light than dark (which is probably a relief for those starting to feel bogged down by all of the complex issues of faith this CD has raised). While you could definitely sing this one in church, it takes a while to digest lines like "In ragged hour or salt-worn eye, be my desire, my wellspring lye", just like it takes time to delve into the expression of faith found in "Amazing Grace" or "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" or most other hymns that are vastly overlooked by the younger generation of Christians (I say this because I belong to that generation). Though not one of the songs on the album that jumps out at you with impressive playing, its simple and beautiful chorus will definitely remain with you as the album comes to a close.
This CD definitely has to grow on you - you may get bored with it at first. Take some time, ponder the lyrics, and listen to the captivating musicianship - it's not designed to jump out and impress you, but to soothe you and make you think, in its darkest moments ("Crazy Times", "Tea and Sympathy", "Weighed Down") and in its lightest ("Overjoyed", "Hymn", "Five Candles). Don't write this one off as a sophomore slump like so many fans have - it may just be my favorite CD of all time.
TRACK REVIEW SUMMARY Excellent: Overjoyed, Portrait of an Apology, Fade to Grey, Tea and Sympathy, Truce, Much Afraid, Hymn
Good: Crazy Times, Frail, Five Candles (You Were There)
Decent: Weighed Down
Weak: NONE
Skippable: NONE
Band Members:
Dan Haseltine: Lead vocals and occasional accordion
Charlie Lowell: Keyboards
Steve Mason: Acoustic & electric guitar
Matt Odmark: Acoustic guitar
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.