While many critics have labelled Jewel's lyrics childish, it is important to understand that if the only faith in this world comes from children, then cynicists and critics should suck it up, and realize what Jewel is offering.
Deep Water: Essentially, one line in this song sums up the album, "It's nothing without love." We can go through our lives doing the day-to-day things we must, but we need to realize that our lives mean nothing without love for eachother, and for ourselves.
What's Simple is True: This is a beautiful love song. It brings it all down to the fact that, essentially, the simplistic things are what really matter. She loves him, and that's all that matters. She paints beautiful pictures here. I love it.
Hands: I love this song because of the message behind it. While taking her lyrics out of their context and just staring at them, they're not so profound, "My hands are small, I know, but they're not yours, they are my own." However, putting them back in, and hearing the song as a whole, you see that what's important is that it's important for each of us individually to surround ourselves faith (for light does the darkness most fear), and to rise above circumstance.
Kiss the Flame: Jewel describes what she wants in a lover. She tells us that she wants those who "whiddle love down at the knees" to be separated from those us of who have faith. She believes we should be a part of those who are "untamed", living by their own internal standards. (A concept echoed in a song by Alanis Morissette called So-Called Chaos)
Down So Long: I've loved this song forever. I love the storytelling in it. I love the reference to the Sun as a feminine force. (And that Sun act like she don't even care.) Here she presents the idea that we've been down, and depressed, and trampled for so long, that it's time we put an end to it. We shouldn't succumb to the negativity we hear, and see daily.
Innocence Maintained: Wow. Love this one... It's pretty obvious, just from the title, that it's about abandoning hate, and preserving our innocence. I love all of this. It's hard to really nail down certain things that stand out, as it's all pretty amazing.
Jupiter: I really enjoy the love painted here. "Lay me out in fire light, let my skin feel the night, fasten me to your side..." There are just many things in here depicting love that are fairly amazing.
Fat Boy: Many people that I've listened to the album with have mocked the title and the song, simply because, just looking at it, it's a little odd. However, the things she says in here can really impress upon you how hard it is to be obese, or even a little overweight in a society that values beauty in . . . thinner forms. Things she says like "Oh, fragile flame, sometimes I feel the same" really are relatable for anyone who has struggled with self-image, even if the issue isn't weight. We all often hide behind pretenses to avoid going within.
Enter from the East: Vocally amazing. Before anything else, the range Jewel presents here is fantastic. The lyrics have some great imagery, and ambiguity. ("The clock became a bullet hole, cruel, and unkind, it hurt me with its second hand, alone another night.")
Barcelona: This song has impressed me beyond what I can express here, but I'll do my best. The song has a lot to do with (as previously stated by other reviewers) alienation. And when we feel alienated, we often attack ourselves, and lose the ability to love ourselves. ("Me and my shadow are wrestling again," "I hold myself hostage in the mirror," "Loving someone else is always so much easier.")
Life Uncommon: Beautiful song about living like we should. Instead of allowing negativity and cynicism to prevail, we should be able to put that aside (no longer lend your strength to that which you wish to be free from, fill your life with love and bravery). There is just so much in this song that is beautiful, and inspiring.
Do You: I've found this song to be an odd sort of neat. I fell in love with it when I first heard it, and it's got a crazy kind of country charm in some way. However, it also has some amazingly thought-provoking lines. For example, "We shake our fists, and say well, good-golly we're mad! That God kills children with our very own hands, we claim innocence, and not to understand, but do we?" I love that line.
Absense of Fear: I love this song because of the idea of warmth that this man brings to her. He is with her in the "absense of fear" which I thought was a great way to word that. I love it.
This Little Bird: There isn't much to say. It sounds great vocally, but Jewel didn't write it, so it's hard to really say much about it.
I love this album, I love the idea of it, and I much prefer it to Pieces of You, or any of her other albums. I don't really understand the heavy criticism of Jewel, as I would much prefer a world of peace, innocence, beauty, and love than a world of cynicism and dissatisfaction. A naivety doesn't necessarily disqualify someone from having something to offer.
It's an interesting paradox: Folk songwriters sing about change, but their fans seem to hate it. Witness the angry calls of "Judas" that met Bob Dylan when he plugged in his guitar. Hoping that the times have a-changed, Jewel has tampered with the endearing girl-with-her-guitar formula of her multi-platinum debut "Pieces of You." Like her previous effort, "Spirit" contains quirky lyrics and the occasional country yodel. The difference is her supporting cast, which has grown to almost decadent proportions. Jewel doesn't play much guitar on the new album, but on some songs there are as many as four guest guitarists to pick up the slack. A lineup that includes Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers spices up the melodramatic "Barcelona," but the added instrumentation plays party-crasher on "Deep Water," interrupting what starts as a sparse song that showcases Jewel's much-improved voice. Lyrically, this best-selling poet seems fixated on fire. At one point, five of six songs focus on flames, including two that compare the heart to "a fragile flame." When not engaging in metaphorical pyromania, Jewel sticks up for the underdog. At best, this results in earnest calls to arms such as "Life Uncommon" and "Do You." Less remarkable are she-can't-be-serious lines such as "Hush,sleep/ Don't think, just eat," from her ode to a "Fat Boy," and "If I could tell the world just one thing/ It would be that we're all OK" from the Tori Amos-like "Hands." Like Amos, Jewel risks alienating her fans by inviting a band on board after rising to fame with intimate solo performances. She'll surely hear her share of "Judas" shouts while touring with her new disciples. But although "Spirit" is no "Blood on the Tracks," it's too optimistic to dislike, and too lyrically intriguing to dismiss.
I usually buy the cd of the moment and within months it is lost and forgotten in my vast collection. This cd is the exception. I was a Jewel fan from the beginning, but I believe this album is her best to date. It is one of the few that I continue to play and I have owned this album for years. In fact I am on my second disc because I wore out the original. Her lyrics have a purity to them and the melodies are very sweet and carry the lines well. My favorite track has to be "Life Uncommon." The line "No longer lend your strength to that which you wish to be free from," has stayed with me since I first heard the song. It seems so simple, yet it is rarely seen. The whole album is incredible. Now her songs are in my head, I think I'm going to have to listen to it now. Enjoy.
Jewel's second is quite different compared to her first album. Her lyrics are simple and yet very hard hitting. This is a different and yet a good follow up to her first album,'Pieces of You.''Spirit' true to it's title is a very deep and spiritual album. However if you're looking for her raw, innocent style from her previous album, you won't find it here.Her song like"life Uncommon" is a fine example of her matureness towards the world and to her beliefs. This is not an everyday listening cd, but very soothing and thought provoking.
Jewel's follow up to her debut release, "Spirit" is an overall worthy successor. Some of the lyrics may seem contrite at times but still, Jewel carries this recording with grace and precision. Much of it is rife with very nice acoustic flourishes and her trademark delivery.
I find almost every track noteworthy barring "Fat Boy" which rings a bit too maudlin to me. But the following don't disappoint; "Hands" the lead single, The nice understated and enchanting "Enter From The East", the plaintive "Innocence Maintained", the determined "Down So Long", the expressively folky "Kiss The Flame", etc. "Life Uncommon", "Do You", and "Jupiter" all hit the right notes as well.
While "Spirit" may lack some of the raw intimacy of its predecessor, it compensates with more overall refined production and maturity. A good find.
