Experimenting Jars

Why is this band not known at all outside the USA? All the albums have hits and all of them would fit perfectly to european radio. Hmmm....it happened to P.O.D., so why not Jars of Clay. Is Europe really just a totally closed market for christian music? We certainly need a change!

Anyway, this is a review, so let's get to it.

I have been a big fan of Jars of Clay for more than 5 years now, and like the way the band has evolved, I feel like I have grown with the music.

I wasn't really too fond of The Zoo until a couple of years after it's release. I guess I was looking for something like Much afraid, and this album was just too different for me. I did not appreciate the experimentation and quirkyness, but still liked songs such as Goodbye goodnight, Collide, No one loves me like you and River Constantine. Very slowly I found out that If I left the zoo was just the "happier" side of Jars of Clay and today I love it. The acoustic sound, the strange synthesizers and all the funny extra details in the background are great and like most other Jars albums I listen to it over and over. One very important detail about The Zoo is that this album made me finally fall in love with Dan Haseltines voice.

The reason why I "only" give 4 stars for this album, is that I still prefer Much afraid, The eleventh hour and Who We are instead just a little bit more.



My favourites are:



1. Goodbye, goodnight - Very ironic lyrics and a whole lot of good old Beatles-atmospheare with the strings and vocals.



3. Collide - A great rock-song with crunchy guitars and soaring mellotron-strings. The chorus sticks to your brain after just one listen-



4. No one loves me like you - A bluegrass-inspired ballad with pump-organ, mandolin and strong sweet vocals. The lyrics talks about how love can be the most wonderful thing, and how it can also hurt.



6. Sad Clown - Very slow piano-driven ballad with a lot of Beatles-influence. Dans voice reaches new heights on this one.



9. Grace - This song is about God's everlasting grace that always makes us return when we have turned our back on Him. Musically it is very good folk-rock driven by a mix of guitar and accordion.



10. Can't erase it - it's just a strong country-rock song with great lyrics and vocals.



11. River Constantine - A beautiful, somewhat mysterious ballad about letting the holy spirit take over. In the chorus, Dans vocals gives me shivers.

First Exposure!!

I loved it. This was my first exposure to new "Christian Rock/Altenrative" whatever you want to call it. Other than Stryper from and Petra from the 80's, I had never heard any "Christian" music.



Anyway, I picked this up about 2 1/2 years ago and couldn't get enough. So, I bought "Much Afraid" and didn't like it as much. Different type of music. It's interesting to see how a group can have such different sytles in a 2 year period. I haven't picked up any other works of theirs since, but I plan to. I guess I'm "Much Afraid" that I won't like it as much as the "Zoo"!!



I recommend this album to anyone that loves music and God!

This CD Rocks!

I love this CD. My favorites are "No One Loves Me Like You Do" and "Hand". I enjoy all of Jars of Clays' albums. This one is well-done and musically it's superb.