Rank Jewel's Studio Albums

[Trevor]

I have to give this some more thought on how I would rank the albums, but it's very tough because to be perfectly honest, not counting the Christmas albums and Merry Goes Round, the only Jewel song on an album I don't like is U & Me = Love. I can honestly say that I like every other song

So that means between POY, Spirit, This Way, 0304, GAIW, PC, Lullaby, Sweet and Wild and PUTP that's 119 songs, and I like 118 of them. That's a 99.2% success rate for Jewel in my eyes lol.

I can't believe Perfectly Clear could be called Perfectly Terrible! I love that album.

Now of course when you include Merry Goes Round it goes down... I'd have to think about it more. I don't hate every song on that album but I can't listen to them much. I think I would say I only truly dislike 7 of the 19 songs... I can enjoy others actually. They are cute and have a nice melody, and she sounds good on them. But that would bring it down to 94.2% when I throw that album in the mix.


Now the tough question is how to rank the albums... going to require more thought. I think I would still say PUTP is my number one...

She's yet to disappoint me. (Merry Goes Round wasn't a disappointment because I wasn't expecting to love it when I sat down to listen to it. Actually I was expecting to hate it more than I did)

[Nick_00]

the only Jewel song on an album I don't like is U & Me = Love.

I feel the same way about this song. IMHO, it's worse than every unreleased Jewel's song we've heard.

[Nick_00]

I still cannot get into 'LMJLMA' & 'ENSS'

Now I love 'ENSS' so much! Especially "Sister Mary used to be a nun..." part, it's so playful

[Donna Sue]

ENSS is a really cute song. I've been listening to This Way a lot more lately... I never used to like this song but its growing on me now! I can't get enough of I Won't Walk Away.. I don't know where this song has been hiding in my Jewel collection lol. Her voice is fantastic, I listen to it on repeat. 

One song I CANNOT get into no matter how many times I hear it is LMJLMA. I appreciate her trying to sound all rocky, but it doesn't suit her style. No, No, No. Just no.

[Jessica]

That was a pretty great song when it first circulated as Angelfood because it was just so different from the usual, but I agree, it hasn't aged as well.

[Frag]

I'm just gonna re-post what I said a few years ago when we did this on that other board. Not even sure how many albums there've been since then...

1. Spirit
2. This Way
3. PoY
4. Lullaby
5. GAiW
6. S & M
7. TMGR
8. PC
9. Joy
10. 0304

POY drops lower than I thought it would simply bec. of the number of songs I can't listen to any more - I've always hated Adrian & Painters, & I simply cannot hear Foolish Games any more. Sooooo overplayed on Muzak & TV appearances when it was a hit that I can't take it any more.

I've always thought that Spirit & This Way were over-produced, but after all these years I realize that there are so many songs on them that I really like lyrically that the production doesn't bother me as much as it used to.

Alice loses points for horrible versions of 2 of my favorite songs, Satellite & LDR. I like the majority of it, though.

The first disc of Sweet & Wild is such pop-country crap that I won't listen to it, but I enjoy the Mild version at times, so I'll give it a little credit.

If I ignore the songwriting on TMGR, I can make it through most of the disc. Her voice sounds really good, even if I am rolling my eyes at the lyrics.

I didn't remember a single song on PC before listening to it this time. But now I gotta say, Jess is right. That is a seriously terrible disc. Absolute garbage.

I hate Christmas. It offends me on every level. Joy is only saved from last place by The Travesty of the Pink Frisbee.

One thing that really struck me -- all the remade versions of songs from 0304 are just f*cking annoying. Whether they're dance-pop or pop-country, the songwriting is still inane on every single one of them. They're a waste of time no matter what genre they're recorded in.

...so, I'm only missing 2 albums. The second bullshit religious holiday one can go with the first, since they really don't count as separate albums, as far as I'm concerned. And PUtP definitely gets into the top 2 or 3, I think. Honestly, I can't even remember the last time I listened to her at all, but I know I really liked that album a lot when it came out, & thought it was the best thing she'd done in a LONG time.

[moon_over_vienna]

In this thread, we rank Jewel's studio albums from favorite to least favorite.


Studio Albums

Pieces of You
Spirit
Joy: A Holiday Collection
This Way
0304
Goodbye Alice in Wonderland
Perfectly Clear
Lullaby
Sweet and Wild/Mild
The Merry Goes 'Round
Let It Snow: A Holiday Collection
Picking Up the Pieces



I'll start:

1. POY
2. Spirit
3. PUtP
4. Lullaby
5. GAIW
6. This Way (rough to choose btw 5 & 6)
7. 0304
8. Joy
9. Let It Snow
10. Sweet & Wild/Mild
11. The Merry Goes Round
12. Perfectly Clear AKA Perfectly Terrible

1. This way
This was my first full album i owned by Jewel and it changed my whole idea and world of music forever !

2. Spirit
For the „explosion“ of intelligent lyrics on here and the light production (i never found that it was overproduced) and some heartbreaking songs like fat boy and enter from the east, which are some of my all-time favorites.


3. Pieces Of You
Well it all started with this amazing album! The main hits, the signature songs and it still sounds so different when you compare it to anything else at that time! It’s really hard to compare NR.1-4 for me as i love them all very much .

4. GAIW
This was the first „new“ jewel-album to come out for me after i had bought all the albums available at that time so i was very excited for it and i really love it to this day. A long slow slide, good day, gaiw and satellite are my favorites. Tough i never understood why Jewel rerecorded the 0304 version of fragile heart and not the other fragile heart which i really really like.


5. Lullaby
I was so happy to get a little bit of „classic“ Jewel in between her country years. My favorites are all the animals, raven and sov Gott.


6. PUtP
Similar like with lullaby, i was soo happy Jewel decided to make a new POY-styled album and not another country album. I like it’s acoustic approach with strings but it’s nearly too hard/sad for me to listen too - i still have to listen to it more .


7. 0304
Intuition was the first song i ever heard by Jewel - gladly it swapped to the charts in europe in 2003 so i saw it on TV and i always loved the video and lyrics.
I always felt so sorry for the bashing and „sellout-theory“ of 0304 everywhere.. it got some nice tunes and still jewely lyrics (i mean stand and haunted are amazing!).


8. Sweet & Mild
This was just too country for me, although i liked that she put such very old songs like fading or summer homes on it (but i liked the original band version of fading much more). Funny thing, i guess it was the first album that didn’t use photos of the GAIW-shootings anymore ^^.


9. Perfectly Clear
I was so excited for this album after she left Atlantic but the production/arrangements and all these „non jewel exclusive songs“ just made it hard for me to like (and of course the country style). I was very sad about the studio version of Rosey & Mick and i still love the acoustic live version of it till today.

I never really was into the Christmas and merry go round-albums so i don’t count them as „classic“ Jewel albums .

[moon_over_vienna]

P.S. i just read that "angel needs a ride" was a bonus track on itunes on sweet and wild?

Does anyone know if it was a newly recorded version or the one back from POY?

[jewelwiki]

I'm pretty sure it was a soundboard recording from her show in Baltimore the year before Sweet & Wild came out:

http://www.jewelwiki.com/wiki/Concert_2009-10-27_Baltimore_MD