I’m Embarrassed to Say the Rest Is Rock n Roll Cliché

Back in the mid-nineties, I was totally on the Jewel bandwagon. Even though the radio edits of the hits were better than the original, I still loved the coffee shop intimacy of her first album, Pieces of You. Spirit the polished the edges but keep the intensity of her debut. But that’s where my love affair with Jewel died down. She seemed to lose something on This Way and her attempt at dance music on 0304 was laughable at best. Now Jewel is back to her more acoustic roots on Goodbye Alice in Wonderland.

The problem with going back to her roots is that it’s been over a decade since she was living in her car back in Alaska. The album finds her bitter at fame and even at one point on the album on the title track says she’s “embarrassed to say the rest is Rock n Roll Cliché. I hit the bottom when I reached the top.” It’s almost as if she’s in on the joke. She then rails against the epicenter of it all, Los Angeles, on Satellite, but the bouncy sarcastic sounds like it’s a leftover from her last album.

Even when Jewel tries to expand, it just doesn’t feel like right. The Shawn Mullins type verse talking on Good Day just ruins what could have been the best song on the album. Then on Words Get in the Way, she goes for a more nasally sound that is more annoying than her usual soothing voice. The too much information Stephenville, TX is her attempt at country, which wouldn’t have been too bad if her delivery of the already dry lyrics was more interesting. Last Dance Rodeo is the closest she comes on this album to anything that would be good enough to be included on her first two albums, but the song still seems to go long. Unfortunately it is too late to ask for the old Jewel back because she is too far gone.

Song to Download - Last Dance Rodeo

Goodbye Alice in Wonderland gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.