Comments on: Jars of Clay – “Good Monsters”

By: Allan, Bristol UK

Allan, Bristol UK — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 10:01:19 +0000

Great review, Susan.
Bought this album only last week (shame on me) and can’t stop listening to it. A masterpiece indeed. But, in your super review Susan, you called my favourite album (‘Much Afraid’) forgettable!!!! I listen to this much more than #If I left the Zoo’

Allan, Bristol UK

By: CrimsonLight

CrimsonLight — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 04:15:38 +0000

Hi Kristen. Thanks for your input. About CrimsonLight

By: kmvgr

kmvgr — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 23:22:38 +0000

Thank you, Susan! I’ll link to it from our site at http://www.calvin.edu/sao.

-Kirstin

By: Susan L. Prince

Susan L. Prince — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 22:45:33 +0000

Thank you for the suggestion kmvgr, it is a good idea. I will forward that onto the webmaster.

My name is Susan L. Prince, and the review of Jars of Clay “Good Monsters” that you see here was done by me.

By: kmvgr

kmvgr — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 19:52:38 +0000

I’m interested in this site, particularly in linking to the Jars review for a student activities office web site, but can’t find any information about who’s behind it. Is that intentional? Would you be willing to post something under an “about” or “history” heading to make your site more credible and transparent?

By: Ben

Ben — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 09:29:34 +0000

Much Afraid forgattable? You’ve gotta be kidding, don’t you?

By: Ash

Ash — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 04:15:49 +0000

Not that I don’t completely agree that Good Monsters is an amazing album, but I must also argue that Jars of Clay has always demonstated this recently acclaimed musical/lyrical genius in every one of their albums. As a long-time listener, not one has ever disappointed me, and Good Monsters is no exception. It simply displays the same standard of outstanding musical and lyrical excellence I’ve always expected from a Jars of Clay album. I’m just glad to see that their creativity, talent, and heart are finally appreciated for what they are.

By: AR

AR — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 22:22:13 +0000

I would say that their most forgettable albums are and will be The Eleventh Hour and maybe Who We Are Instead. Most of Jars followers today remember Jars for their first three albums. Many of whom stuck with them after Much Afraid (which did not meet the expectations of a repetition of the first), really value that album (Much Afraid). People who have given it a chance, have found it growing more in them than any of the others has. Just go to Amazon, and see how so many people have taken back their spite for it. So, even if Much Afraid wasn’t their biggest success (even when it sold more than any of their following albums), does not mean at all that it was forgettable.

At least from their first 6 album, I personally find Much Afraid to be their most accomplished work artistically speaking: with superior lyrics that are perfectly put in music, with a cohesiveness that has never been paralleled in their history, and with a dark rock that was powerful enough to set you through a dim mood into a happy humble peace. Although these are my personal views, I hear them from many people, and even from one of the bands members, who also found it their most accomplished cd (it is on a not too old interview online, you’ll have to take my word for it, or search it).. It all really blended in magnificently in that album, without the beginner’s flaws of the first, or the hard to avoid ones in their following albums. Much Afraid’s only fault was giving out what wasnt so highly expected: a repetition of the style they had already almost tiredly repeated within their first album alone.