Get this straight: I've despised this band's music for years. I wouldn't have given this album the time of day, at least anytime soon, if it wasn't for a co-worker's suggestion. This critic is blown away! I was just waiting for a dodgy CCM radio slug, but kept being pleasantly surprised by track after track of smart, textured pop. The title track, especially, is a triumph in songcraft, taking a recognizable Jars acoustic guitar melody and building it to fuzz-bomb verses and a sauntering chorus that features a wicked vocal hook. Sure, "These Ordinary Days" is a dog, and "Revolution" is cheesy, but 9 out of 11 is almost perfect! This is almost as good as that Atticus Fault album I'm drooling over.
Editors' ratings - Doug 4/5, Jason 3.5/5
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth April 2002Reviewed by Bert GanglReleasing a watershed project can be a mixed blessing of sorts. While it usually carves out a fairly prominent position on the musical map for the group or artist in question, it oftentimes becomes an impossibly high standard against which the sole success or failure of successive projects is determined. At the time of its 1995 release, the Jars of Clay album was nearly universally praised in…The Rebel Base 2002Reviewed by David MartinBefore I start this review, let me just get one thing out of the way - I've forgiven the guys in Jars of Clay. The news got out while they were working on their latest album, The Eleventh Hour, that they were big Mac lovers and that they were recording and mixing the entire thing, as well as putting together the album art, on their beloved Macintosh computers. Apple had this little tidbit…The Rebel Base 2002Reviewed by Josh HurstNo two Jars of Clay albums sound even remotely alike. The guys in Jars, as well as their various producers, have tried something totally different on every single Jars of Clay release to date. This gives their catalogue a huge dose of variety, but it also leads to much anticipation and high standards for future Jars of Clay albums. Fortunately for Jars of Clay fans, the band definitely knows…Similar sounding releases
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1995Jars of Clay
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2003Furthermore: From the Studio, From the Stage
