Nice
Cameron | Sydney, Australia | 10/15/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Well Jewel has taken a large step in a different direction for this album. There is no Foolish Games or Hands on this one.
In fact you'd almost be forgiven to wonder who it is if you didn't know. It's not that it's all gone bad, just different.
The difference I wasn't in favour of are songs like Everybody Needs Somebody Sometimes and Cleveland.
They have a distinct country feel to them which I'm not a fan of. However, there are very good dissimilar songs
like Serve The Ego which is real rocking for Jewel. The interesting I Wont Walk Away sounds like Dido singing to
the music of Jakatta. An extremely different song which without a doubt is my absolute favourite, is The New Wild West.
A dark, political tune with many different elements that are unusual for Jewel, like electronic keybords and a raw,
harsh sounding cello. All combining to make a real dynamic song. You have your upbeat songs like Love Me,
Just Leave Me Alone and the first single Standing Still. The whole album is quite an acomlishment. Jewel shows of her
amazing vocal range and abilities once again, plus in different ways like a bit of yelling in Love Me,
Just Leave Me Alone. The only classic Jewel song on the album is Break Me. A slow, melancholy love song which is what
we have come to know and love. The bonus songs are simple. Just Jewel and here guitar. So don't listen to this one
expecting anything like the previous realeases. Be prepared for difference, but embrace the change.
Jewel is moving into different avenues with each new album and it's always interesting to see what she is going to do next."