Jewel: Spirit

Review by HI-FI LUC

Sophmore Syndrome has become the nickname for an
artist's inabilty to follow up their first effort with a strong
second album. Critics love to throw this word around. Look
for it, folks, you'll see what I'm talking about. This was a big
contriversy surrounding "Spirit", Jewel's follow-up to her
last successful album "Pieces of You".

So, is "Spirit"...*gasp*...better than "Pieces of You"? Was
The Artist Who Formerly Lived in Her Van able to avoid
Sophmore Syndrome? Is "Spirit" better than her book of
collected poetry which is guaranteed to make your eyes
roll? In a word - yeah. Or if not, it certainly comes close.
VERY close.

If you saw Jewel on "MTV Unplugged", you might
remember how she told the audience that she "thought
she WAS unplugged". (In fact, for those of you who eared
"Pieces of You", you heard an album filled with pleasant
acoustic songs.) So, on "Unplugged", Jewel says she
decided to "get more plugged in" and she assembled a
full band to back up her guitar and vocals. The result was
great.

"Spirit" is like that "Unplugged" performance - a more
"plugged-in" Jewel. The result makes the artist's music
sound more developed. And the result is a sohpmore
album that I have enjoyed a great deal.

When I saw Jewel a couple of summers ago, she put on a
heckuva' live show (along with a band to back her up).
"Spirit" is a nice reminder of that performance and for
fans, that for Jewel there is life after "Pieces of You".

LUCAS: A

For more reviews go to: Hi-fi Geeks