The latest album from Jewel Kilcher is, at the very
least, long overdue. Her last album, 1998's Spirit,
was a bittersweet blend of studio savvy and the
prosaic simplicity she does best. Tracks like
"Innocence Maintained", "What's Simple Is True" and
the vastly underrated "Absence of Fear" were confident
and mature. Fans such as myself could only imagine how
much better her new material would be after a long
sojourn. Suffice it to say, on This Way, Jewel still
sounds confident and mature, but for the most part she
misses the mark because she is mired in exploratory
country-ness, which does about as much for me as Pat
Boone doing heavy metal.
It's not that Jewel's voice isn't actually
surprisingly apt to be tackling Nashville riffs.
Actually, her raspy demeanour elevates her above
today's other, more feather-soft country singers.
Unfortunately, her strongpoint has always been the
folk tinge, which is most decidedly absent this time
around. When she crooned on staying comfy in bed, or
asked simple questions about the human race, her meek
curiosity was conversely matched with strong melodies
and vocals. On This Way, the only question I found
myself asking was how soon the strings on the slide
guitar would burst.
Thankfully, there are some moments of classic Jewel
revisited. The best tracks are "Break Me", a quiet and
haunting ballad, "Standing Still", a funky rocker
where she seems liberated from creative gout, and,
surprisingly, the bonus tracks "Grey Matter" and
"Sometimes It Be That Way", percolating with lyrical
gems and simplistic arrangements.
Buyer beware of tracks such as "Everybody Needs
Somebody Sometime" and "Cleveland", which come off
sounding like Jewel and Bonnie Raitt get into a steel
cage match, and somehow the listener is the one who
loses. "Love Me, Just Leave Me Alone" sadly showcases
quite possibly the worst writing -- and singing --
Miss Kilcher has ever attempted, and "Jesus Loves You"
is a close runner-up, where she is unfocussed in what
she really means, casually referring to abortion and
religion with the insightful clarity of a verbal tar
pond.
Jewel remains one of my favourite musicians. She has
shown herself to be versatile, competent, playful and
delectable. This Way represents an unfortunate misfire
in an otherwise accomplished catalogue.
