Jewel Album: “Pieces of You”

Years now since I first heard the opening track, but still I remember the thrill I felt at its soaring, apostolic tone and its stunningly relevant lyrics about keeping oneself rooted amid the shallow bustle of life. That Jewel was so young when she wrote and performed that masterpiece speaks even today of the power of her talent and creativity.

And that the rest of the cd almost is as good still amazes me. "Pieces of You" and "Near You Always" are wonderful songs that will sneak right into your heart. But there are others, like "Foolish Games", with its heartbreaking, terribly accurate depiction of grief, love, and loss, "I'm Sensitive", with its anthem to hope and the heart, and "You Were Meant For Me", which is as breathtaking, powerful, and raw a musical expression of loss and love as any I ever have heard, that simply climb from the marvelous and into the sublime.

Pieces of You may be the most original, deep, and powerful expression of American music since, perhaps, Blue, by Joni Mitchell.

I rarely praise anything this much, but this is simply a great cd in every sense of the word. If, somehow, you've reached this point, almost inconceivably to me, without knowing of its power and richness, I'm delighted for you, because the music on what should become your newest discovery is such that, once you've heard it, you never will forget.

I am 12, and I have a copies of all of Jewel's album, minus the Christmas one, which I have no interest in buying. Jewel is not my favorite artist-Tori Amos is-but she is one of them, about equal on my favorites list with Alicia Keys. If you think that the likes of Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan are the best you can get from teen singers, you haven't heard Jewel. Some voices get better with age, but Jewel's was at her prime when she was nineteen. In my opinion, Pieces of You's best track is the title song, which is not asimilar to Fat Boy, off of Spirit, Jewel's sophomore release. Jewel's guitar playing is dark, and her voice is crystalline. It has great lyrics. Daddy is another lyrically brilliant song, this time about white supremacists. Sampling: "'Cause I'm your creation/I'm your love/Daddy/Grew up to be and do all those sick things you said that I would do/Well last night I saw you sneak out your window with your white hood/Daddy".

Who Will Save Your Soul would be a five-star songs if not for the somewhat offensive religious overtones. But it's cute and swingy, and also very, very easy to get stuck in your head. Painters is the saddest song I know; it always chokes me up a little. (Great Line: "They thought blueprints were too sad/So they made them yellow.") But the song is also the album's best track vocally. On Adrian, Jewel's voice takes on an Impressionistic tone (Impressionistic, in case someone doesn't know, means intentionally naive and/or childlike) which seems to really fit the song's mood. On You Were Meant For Me, it becomes full and choky, seemingly to call that lover back to her, whoever he was.

In general, this is the only Jewel album comperable to This Way, which was my favorite until I heard Pieces of You, and the only Jewel album comperable to Tori Amos's Boys For Pele, my all-around favorite album. But it also sounds very different from all of Jewel's other albums-for example, the number of all guitar tracks is whittled to none over her 5 albums. It's also the raciest-ex. the poetry in the jacket. But it's an incredible collection of songs that people from all ages and genders can appreciate.

Jewel has the whole package: naturally good-looking, yet still a really great and talented person. Pieces Of You is by far Jewel's best work, representing her talent, songwriting, and vocal abilities at the fullest. I don't understand all this bull about this album being a 1994 or 1995 release, this is really more of a 1997 album, 1996 at the earliest. Whatever, I hear and see different copyrights everywhere. Getting back to the point, this album will always have special place in my heart for years to come. What I was slightly irritated about this album was the fact that two of her three singles ("You Were Meant For Me" and "Foolish Games") were different versions than the ones featured on the radio and her videos. I'm not that irritated anymore being that I was able to find the radio releases available on her promos, not to mention that the LP version of Foolish Games is much better. She sings better and the emotions fit the lyrics honestly, the radio version is just a sellout and it even cut out these beautiful lines: "You'd teach me of honest things/things that were daring, things that were clean/things that made me know what an honest dollar did mean/So I hid my soiled hands/behing my back/Somewhere along the line I must have gone off track with you." "Who Will Save Your Soul" is the best song anyway. This album represents the real Jewel: the album sleeve shows what she really looks like without an overdose makeup job (i.e. *cough* This Way. Really nice pictures, I take it they were taken in Alaska? If you ask me, she looks so much prettier this way without makeup. The flap also includes poetry telling about herself; some of it is complex, and some make you laugh. I realize she's continuing to experiment with different sounds (and cosmetics) but no album is ever going to be good as this one if she keeps that up.

Jewel's debut album, Pieces of You put this gorgeous singer-songwriter on the map. What a beautiful album this is. Well ok, You were meant for me is awful here, buy the CD single version instead, but the rest of the tracks are great.Morning Song, Pieces of You, Near You Always, Angel Standing By, Foolish Games, and I'm Sensitive are my fave tracks. I love her song-writing, so poetic and graceful. She is a true talent. I can't wait til her new CD comes out, Goodbye Alice in Wonderland. I used to hear this album everyday when I came home from school, I bought this album when I was in the 8th grade, hard to believe all that time has passed and I am still a huge fan of Jewel. Love her poetry as well although critics hated it. There a few live tracks on this record, she is at her best live. Jewel is a rare artist, she used to live in her van before she was discovered. Pieces of You is simple and timeless.

I like Jewel as much as the next person. I admire her talents, songwriting abilities and uber-poetic phrasing. '03's shockingly pop-like 0304 is NOT the folksy lived-in-a-van girl that we once all knew with her haunting ballads "Foolish Games" and "Hands," but here on her 1995 debut Pieces of You it becomes crystal clear: Jewel is IT. She has a sound reminiscent of her native Alaska and can compose soft sit-on-your-porch-and-strum-your-guitar melodies. Jewel's music is perfectly suited for listeners who'd like to just sit in their favorite chair with a cup of coffee, read a book and just mooch to the music. No wonder she played in coffeehouses - she's perfect for that mood and lifestyle, especially heard in "You Were Meant For Me." Though her overtly poetic-ness can spoil the mood at times, it is her raw, fresh sound that pulls this record through. Pieces of You is indeed a boxful of Jewel's.