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Jewel - This Way (2001)
Album
Artist/Composer Jewel
Length 59:51
Format CD
Genre Contemporary Folk; Soft Rock
Label Atlantic
Index 384
Collection Status In Collection
Track List
01 Standing Still 04:30
02 Jesus Loves You 03:20
03 Everybody Needs Somebody Sometime 04:08
04 Break Me 04:04
05 Do You Want To Play? 02:55
06 Till We Run Out OF Road 04:46
07 Serve The Ego 04:58
08 This Way 04:17
09 Clevland 04:10
10 I Won't Walk Away 04:46
11 Love Me, Just Leave Me Alone 03:47
12 The New Wild West 05:06
13 Grey Matter 04:40
14 Sometimes It Be That Way 04:24
Personal
Purchase Date 26-2-2002
Price € 14,99
Store Media Markt
Rating 70%
Details
Spars DDD
Rare No
Sound Stereo
Notes
Less a return to the sound of her breakthrough, 1995's 11-times platinum Pieces of You, than a refinement of her original coffeehouse principles, This Way does for female folkies what the Backstreet Boys' Millennium did for teen pop: It questions the very form by diving headlong even further into it, exposing in the bargain all its facets and limitations. And this time, she finds what she's looking for: a dozen WB-ready theme songs that slay in that charmingly plastic way.

Jewel's wordsmithing remains precious and heavy-handed -- and two bonus live tracks, "Grey Matter" and "Sometimes It Be That Way" do little to suggest otherwise -- but she's developed an uncanny ability to blend into her surroundings, and the arrangements by producer Dann Huff boast a radio-ready sparkle, a subtle blending of gauzy rock, pop, and country.

Jewel may ponder materialism ("Jesus Loves You"), celebrity ("Serve the Ego"), and bull riding ("Till We Run Out of Road"), but she doesn't question a decent melody: She rolls ("Cleveland"), she rocks ("Everybody Needs Someone Sometime"), and even pulls off a foray into quasi-spiritualism ("New Wild West") thanks to swirling violins and hip-hop drums.

Brad Cawn
CDNOW Contributing Writer