Posted June 26, 200817 yr http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c2/PerfectlyClear.jpg Released: June 3, 2008. Genre: Country Lenght: 40:45 Label: Valory Producer: Jewel, John Rich Reviews: All Music Guide It isn't hard to view Jewel's country music makeover on Perfectly Clear with a mildly cynical eye, especially as it follows her dance-pop shakeup on 2003's 0304 by a mere five years. Such whiplash changes in direction are bound to raise suspicion, but Jewel wears her country threads better than her diva hand-me-downs, possibly because it suits her mythical back-story of living out of the back of the truck but it's also a smaller leap from folk to country...at least in theory, that is, as Perfectly Clear isn't quite a full-fledged country album. Like Bon Jovi before her and Jessica Simpson after, Jewel's country move is more about marketing than music, an adjustment that puts her in line with adults raised on Pieces of You but more likely to listen to Brad Paisley than Feist. There are fiddles and steel guitars threaded throughout the album but their presence is nearly subliminal at most points; they're felt, not heard, just enough to give it a country feel. The setting may be country — courtesy of producer John Rich, whose production recalls his hazy, soft solo album rather than the gonzo strut of Big & Rich — but Jewel is not a country singer, no matter how often she affects a twang. She's a folksinger, soaring with her long, lyrical phrases instead of aiming for the gut, something that grates when she does attempt something uptempo but she wisely avoids this pitfall through much of the album, choosing to dole out ballads and midtempo pop. This brings Perfectly Clear much closer to Pieces of You than any album she's made since, as it's filled with poppy, simple songs about relationships, never bogging down in portentous pretension, literary preoccupations, or glossy pop as she has in every record since. This doesn't necessarily make Perfectly Clear a "better" record — some of those albums were pretty good even if they didn't adhere to the Jewel myth — but it does mean it feels more like the Jewel that everybody came to love back in 1995, which is what it was intended to do. So it has the form and feel, but the devil is in the details, the songs that never quite hook and sometimes serve up some patently absurd moments, usually in the form of her overheated lyrics (which also betray how un-country she really is). Such details might be a deal-breaker for some, but Jewel feels and sounds comfortable here, something that will surely help her shift units with this record and will likely give her a long career, if she so chooses. Rolling Stone Jewel's life has always sounded like a country song: Raised by her cowboy dad and discovered while she was homeless, she went on to sell 12 million copies of her debut, only to become the butt of countless zingers. So Perfectly Clear, her first proper country record, should have been her true calling to an art that's one part twang to two parts self-mythology. But the album's biggest setback, other than the fact that its title sounds like a Neutrogena product, is that Jewel doesn't call upon the gritty storytelling of a real Nashville star. Co-producer John Rich of Big and Rich provides plenty of slide guitar, banjo plucks and fiddle, but no memorable melodies. The title track strikes a raw nerve with its slow, stripped-down arrangement. But the album is overcrowded by placid soft-rock tunes like "Two Become One" and "Anyone But You" with schmaltzy choruses and flavorless piano-laden verses. Jewel contributes bland pickup-truck philosophy about relationships in cutesy little-girl vocals that rarely show off her voice's texture (though, yes, there's some yodeling). On "I Do," she says, "Love is a game" — one track later, "Love Is a Garden." Even the girl-power anthem "Stronger Woman" doesn't promise much: "I'm going to love myself more than anyone else." Jewel, prepare to be zinged again.
June 26, 200817 yr Author Some songs are really nice and I like them :) Edited June 26, 200817 yr by Twainman
June 26, 200817 yr Author Charts: The United States of America Billboard 200 8 - 25 - 28 Top Country Albums 1 - 5 - 3 Is it already released in Europe? I hope that after release of I Do it won`t fall down so quick :(
June 26, 200817 yr i dont think it will fall down as quick as u think but it will be a good look for jewel jack fontana
June 27, 200817 yr Author Who knows. Goodbye Alice In Wonderland was amazing album, but it left charts quite fast :(
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