From: owner-jewel-digest@smoe.org (jewel-digest) To: jewel-digest@smoe.org Subject: jewel-digest V8 #300 Reply-To: jewel@smoe.org Sender: owner-jewel-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-jewel-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk jewel-digest Sunday, June 29 2003 Volume 08 : Number 300 * If you ever wish to unsubscribe from this digest, send an email to * jewel-digest-request@smoe.org with ONLY the word * unsubscribe in the BODY of the email * . * For the latest news on what Jewel is up to, go to * the OFFICIAL Jewel web site at http://www.jeweljk.com * and click on "calendar" * . * PLEASE :) when you reply to this digest to send a post TO the list, * change the subject to reflect what your post is about. A subject * of Re: jewel-digest V8 #___ gives fellow list readers * no clue as to what your message is about. Today's Subjects: ----------------- [EDA] Re: Jewel sounding like everybody else [Patri Chicken Subject: [EDA] Re: Jewel sounding like everybody else Right on Fabio! Just wanted to point out the mere fact that every song sounds like a DIFFERENT artist. It would be one thing if she put out an entire album that sounded just like Shakira or just like Britney or just like No Doubt (by the way, I hear No Doubt in the beginning of Yes U Can, but I hear Madonna during the chorus). But it ain't the case, she's a versatile performer, we all know that. Why are people reacting as if she's only had one style of music all these years? For those who have only heard Jewel's CD's (or even worse, just the singles on the radio), they don't know how versatile she can be. I thought Jewel was right when she said her fans would understand because we've heard her do all types of music. True, I have my favorites. But I love the country-ish songs and I love to hear her yodel in Chime Bells and I've always loved the fun songs too (Cold Song, Rocker Girl, etc). Now, Haunted gives me a new reaction - creepy chills every time. Jewel is always full of surprises, and I've always loved that about her. Maybe she wasn't right if some of her own fans are agreeing with opinions of people who have only heard singles on the radio. Thanks for hearing me out, ~Patricia :-) "Two peanuts went for a walk. One was assaulted." P.S. I mean no offense to the 9-year-old girl, please don't feel insulted. I love kids and she seems like a smart one. But maybe her reaction to the Intuition video was not because she's smart/mature but because at her age she doesn't yet understand Jewel's message in the song or video. Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2003 01:01:01 -0300 From: "Fabio (wnet)" Subject: [EDA] Jewel sounding like everybody else This thing about Jewel now sounding like everybody else is really interesting. I guess that when she decided to make a pop record about the pop culture in times like these, well, she probably knew she was gonna sound more appealing, therefor, she would sound similar to other people. But, hey, let's see: *Stand - does it sound like anyone else? Not in my opinion. It's very Jewel, just with a few more beats going on. *Run 2 U - yeah, this kinda sound like Kylie Minogue, but I really like it. It's better than any Kylie song by far though. *Intuition - hmm.. I don't hear Shakira here, but some people do. If Shakira sounded this good, I would probably like her, but I don't. *Leave The Lights - Portishead? Bjork? Not bad comparisons at all. But still very Jewel IMO. Very classy. *2 Find U - the verses are 100% Jewel. The chorus has a different feel but still has Jewel all over it. *Fragile Heart - come on! This is the most Jewel-esque song on the record. It's adorable. *2 Become 1 - also very Jewel. Can't compare it to any other artist. I feel the Guy Chambers influence though. *Haunted - Radiohead? You can't go wrong when compared to one of the greatest bands alive. *Sweet Tempation - this has a different vibe, I'm not sure I feel Cure here, as Jewel intended to, but I just hear Jewel. *Yes U Can - ok, now you're talking. No Doubt? Debbie Gibson? Yes. So what? I like it. *U&ME=Love - the verses are very cool, IMO. It's very unique. The chorus are very fun and just light-hearted. Not the usual Jewel, so it may, of course, bring a lot of comparisons: Britney? Holey Valance? Do you really think they would ever sing a song like this? I really doubt. *America - ok, who, on God's green earth, could sing this besides Jewel? *Becoming - I love its lyrics. The production is a kinda "turn-off". It is a kinda Britney-ballad production, but it's not bad. It could just be better. So, after this track-by-track, I can only see 7 songs sounding like some other artists: Run 2 U, Intuition, Leave The Lights On, Haunted, Yes U Can, U&ME=Love and Becoming. And, in most of them, it's just a remote comparison (ie: Intuition. Just because Shakira uses an accordeon in one song, it sounds EXACTLY like Intuition. Give me a break!) I think people really overreact sometimes. Fabio SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2003 14:37:47 -0700 (PDT) From: eliot lemoncelli Subject: [EDA] Re: Toms post re- jewel sounding like everybody else I have to totally agree with Tom... If 0304 wasnt a Jewel album I wouldnt have bought it. Jewel said she wanted to make a fun album and that she did with a 100% success rate. I do enjoy listening to it because it is fun, but i miss the girl and her guitar sound. Thats where Jewel's strengths shine. I hope she continues to grow as an songwriter but as a singer and musician I hope she sticks more to what shes good at. Basically I'd like to see her lyrics continue to strengthen, while going back to the more powerful less produced sounds of her guitar, with little to no band. And one final thing, If (key word- if) they ever made a video for "Yes U Can", am I the only one who could picture the setting being either a night club or a ahem 'gentlemen's club'? Centralfloridaangel The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2003 21:41:20 +1000 From: Fredsteve Subject: [EDA] Would I like 0304 if it were sung by anyone else....? Well, this is a question that has been going around in my head in the last half hour based on Tom's posts. I've come to realise that I don't think 0304 *could* be released by any other artist... to me, it's too Jewel. It's not that it's shockingly original, but it has a certain authenticity in the combination of production and lyrics, that I don't think could be associated with any other artist. Why do you think Jewel can never get other artists to SING her songs... they sound too much like her. You've gotta be a generic pop/rock songwriter like Rob Thomas before you can start getting other people to sing your songs! Sure, Run 2 U uses a beat that could be compared to Kylie Minogue, and synth samples that could be compared to Madonna (Ray of Light). But would either of those artists incorporate the lyrics (see the second verse particularly) that Jewel does? Would either of these artists say, "I need you for dark reasons dear/For greed and lust, and seed and fear". I doubt it. I'm not trying to say it's a brilliant line (although the second verse of that song is one of my favourite Jewel love-song verses ever), but it's too Jewel for words. I also doubt either of these artists would base the entire thing around a stark acoustic-guitar line. The same comments could be made about a great deal of the songs on 0304. Yes U&ME=LOVE is mostly techno-pop, production wise (and I actually think the production itself is a lot more interesting than people give it credit for... but anyway...)... and yet I can't see Holly Valance doing such an effective Blondie (Rapture) impression, or even ceasing to take herself incredibly seriously for even a minute to pull off the tone that Jewel pulls off in that song (yes, tongue in cheek - sorry but it is!). Not to mention the live drums right up-front in the mix that cut right through the programming and give the song a whole different vibe. U&ME=LOVE is like Cold Song - - frivolous, silly, charming fun. Only she dared to put it on a record. America - lyrically you've already conceeded to that one. But musically. Again, yes the electronic glitches might be compared to Madonna. But would Madonna then throw rock guitars into the chorus? I doubt it. Fragile Heart - this song is absolutely pure Jewel. It's also one of the most authentic sounding songs on the CD. The vocal tone and really understated guitars, combined with this oddly overpowering bluesy drum beat/bass line... and the whistling! And then there are songs that do channel others (I think that's a much nicer term than "derivative" lol).... but my head goes straight to a series of much more respected artists before it ever lands at Kylie and Britney.... and even you admit there's nothing wrong chanelling another artist if it works. And before you laugh in my face, no Sweet Temptation does not sound like the Cure. Although I can see how they might've used the Cure as inspiration. I actually have a friend who compared America to the Cure (without knowing about Jewel's own comparison in Sweet Temptation) - which I CAN see. However I have heard that song and Doin' Fine be compared to the Sundays (by critics) - kind of jangle-pop. Leave the Lights On is very Portishead. I could almost sing the verses to Glorybox over the verses of this song. It's got that descending bass line. I was the one that originally made the Radiohead comparison to Haunted. I have to preface that I'm a huge Radiohead fan (my second favourite behind Jewel). I stand by the comparison. Sure it's not as good as Radiohead in the production - but then again no band compared to them ever are. They're the masters. That doesn't mean the comparison isn't valid. I listened to Haunted right after I had heard the whole of Hail to the Thief and it worked a lot better than even I thought it would. I agree it's a kind of "junoir Radiohead"... but the atmospheric production combined with that really harsh, almost unnatural sounding electric guitar really reminds me of Climbing up the Walls from Ok Computer. It fits the mood of the song incredibly well - and for that reason I wouldn't say it's calculated, I'd say it's appropriate. She also adds quite a Janis Joplin-esque vocal to the mix which gives it it's own sense of authenticity. I would personally love Jewel to go down that path, production wise, for an entire album. Then there's Yes U Can - which definitely could be compared to No Doubt... but again, let's remember where No Doubt take their influences - - 80's new wave. It works. There are a few songs where I agree with you. I think the production of 2 Become 1 sounds like any female 80's power ballad, and I prefer that song acoustic - although I don't mind the album version at all. However I get the urge to skip that one more than any other song. I also think that the drum loops in Becoming are a little too generic, even though I love the song. I wish she'd taken the string arrangement that comes up in the beginning and built on that rather than overproducing it. And as far as the lyrics go - I happen to like the lyrics on this album more so than any other Jewel album - on the whole. Pieces of You had moments of genius (Amen) and moments of pure embarassment (I'm Sensitive). Spirit was overall too pseudo-poetic and preachy. And This Way (which I still love as an album) had the title track......... 0304 never reaches the heights of a song like Amen (or much of Jewel's unreleased material - which is still her best). But it does have Stand, Haunted, America. And ultimately what I'm talking about is consistency. I don't think Jewel has used irony more effectively than on this record - - simply because her meaning in a lot of the songs is so blurred, that the songs can be interpreted legitimately on a lot of different levels - which I think is a huge part of her intent. In the past Jewel has used irony for humour (God's Gift to Women) but even that song is very didactic in it's message - it doesn't use irony to create a duality in meaning... it uses irony to simply be sarcastic. I think it's a lot more simplistic than a lot of what's on 0304. A song like Doin' Fine - we know that Jewel sees this song as potentially ironic/funny. When I hear it that's immediately where my mind goes anyway (from the first line - "we are what everyone wants to be"), because that's the kind of person I am. Whereas another fan might simply see this as a "life is a road" type inspirational song, and they'd be just as valid in reading it that way as I am in reading it as ironic. It stands effectively as both. Yes U Can is another example. In this song where Jewel says "and there's a room or so I'm told/where the DJ rocks and we don't grow old"... my mind immediately jumps to a criticism of that Peter Pan complex, rather than a celebration of it. It reminds me of what Jewel was saying in I Won't Walk Away... except again, much less didactic. However, again, it could be easily interpreted as just pure fun. Even stuff like America - obviously she's being critical - but with a level of subtlety. Hell, a lot of Americans might be proud of the fact that they "shed blood in the name of liberty". Wow this was a long email. Sorry. But that's where I stand on the topic. I have listened to 0304 from the beginning to the end, without skipping, almost every day since I got it. If this tell me *anything* it's that I legitimately like this album and am not just being nice to it cause it's Jewel. I think it's a great pop record - well-crafted, well-produced, catchy and yet full of the depth I've come to expect from Jewel. I guess because I do like it, I can comfortably listen to it knowing that the "old Jewel" is still lurking.. and that she hasn't abandoned her roots. What I don't get is how one pop album all of a sudden invalidates everything else Jewel is capable of musically. Of couse Jewel will play acoustically again! She'll probably release another acoustic album at some point soon. She even played Carnivore even at IntuitionFest! If you're uncomfortable with the possibility of 0304 being the only thing in Jewel's future... remember that many people thought This Way sounded like Jewel was "going country". What happened to that? Jewel will change again. As Tom says, this is just a detour. Knowing that, perhaps some of you can enjoy 0304 in the vein it was intended - which is to be fun! Steve ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2003 20:34:17 -0400 From: "Robert Byrne" Subject: Re: [EDA] Jewel sounding like everybody else >After listening to the CD a lot, I've realised it's not my fave Jewel album, >as I've said before. I like it a lot, it's great background music, but it is >a little too pop for my tastes. Ditto that. >But I understand and support Jewel for >releasing it. Sometimes you just *have* to get something out of your head, >even if it sucks, in order to keep moving. I believe she felt like she *had* >to release this album, so she could move on. I doubt she'll keep the pop >route. I expect the next album to be rockier, but I pretty much enjoy >everything she releases. Jewel has described herself as a child of the 80s. From the liner notes: "This record may seem a little different to you. To me, it's closer to what has been in my head for years." I think that perhaps this album has fulfilled a dream in a way as this is more like the type of music that she grew up listening to you. It may not match the music she has made in the past or will make in the future, but I think it has its purpose for Jewel. >I understand that 0304 had to be This Way... [caps added] >Fabio ;) That made me laugh although I don't think it was intentional. Robert ____________________________________________________________ Get 25MB of email storage with Lycos Mail Plus! Sign up today -- http://www.mail.lycos.com/brandPage.shtml?pageId=plus ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2003 21:32:37 -0400 From: Mike Connell Subject: [EDA] 30 years ago tonight, a baaaaad boy was I.... This was in my local newspaper 30 years ago tomorrow... There are a few non-facts in it...will explain later.... The article: Glassy Dash: a shattering experience A lone naked man, one of a dying breed of streakers, startled persons inside a Broome County ice cream stand last night when he ran in and plunged headlong through a plate glass door. Sheriffs' deputies reported that at about 8:40pm an unclad man dashed into the Dairy Queen 1326 Upper Front Street and ran, inadvertantly, through a locked plate glass door. He shattered the door as he came through it, but was apparently unhurt. Deputies said he jumped into a waiting car, and sped off. Paul Donnolo, manager of the stand, said the streaker, who was in his early 20's, later called the Dairy Queen and offered to pay for the damages. He did not identify himself. Donnolo estimated the damage at $120. The 15 or 20 customers went on licking their ice cream, deputies said. End of article. The non-facts are: 1) I was not in my early 20's, I was 18 2) The caller did identify himself, I told him my name. 3) The door was not locked, I just missed the handle (a dovetail, not a bar handle) and just, well, went through the glass. Just thought I'd share. :-) ...and a lot of you thought I was just a completely bland list-owner ;-) Mike :-) P.S. It's the absolute truth. I even wrote a short story about the whole evening and submitted it to Reader's Digest (who shot it down for "not the kind of material we like to portray to our readers"), a lot of surprising events unfolded that evening....if I find it I'll type it up and make it available at a website near you. It will answer whatever questions you may have (like, "Mike, is this why you do not have any kids?" ;-) ------------------------------ End of jewel-digest V8 #300 ***************************