If you missed the first two parts and feel the need to catch up, don’t worry I’ll wait.
If you’re here, I’m assuming that you’ve caught up or you don’t feel the need to. I’ve been writing about album openers focusing on Jars of Clay’s LP discography (excluding the Christmas albums). This is the final part of the series.
The Long Fall || The Long Fall Back To Earth (2009)
Every band has that album that feels like it is career-defining. For a band with such an expansive discography, Jars of Clay has had a few impactful moments before this one, but I don’t think any album they have released is as important as The Long Fall Back To Earth. Many will agree that it is objectively their best record and even folks who may have other personal favourites cannot deny the quality of this offering from the band. Here, they trade most of the edgy alternative rock elements of Good Monsters for a stylistic retro-pop-infused piano-rock with strong indie leanings.
The title track sets the stage, beginning with warm pianos accompanied by synths and strings. Lyrically, the band repeats the words, ‘…The long fall back to earth…’ from start to finish and there is beauty in this simplicity as the progressive nature of the tune builds to a very satisfying conclusion.
Small Rebellions || Jars of Clay Presents: The Shelter (2010)
If the previous album is my best from this band — and it is — The Shelter is a very close second, albeit for very different reasons. While TLFBTE gets me mostly for the musicianship and the quality of the production, with a number of memorable standouts among the songs; The Shelter is all about the lyrics because it is a worship album in content.
Over the years, I’ve listened to a lot of collaborative Christian contemporary worship or gospel albums, but we have few of these types of collaborations on the alternative rock/singer-songwriter scene. This album featured Mike Donehey of Tenth Avenue North
, Mac Powell of Third Day
, David Crowder of the now-defunct David Crowder Band
, Burlap to Cashmere, Amy Grant, Sara Groves, and many more. The opening track features Brandon Heath and the words of this song have been very dear to me for over a decade now. It’s a moving tune that reads like a prayer, full of humility and subtle truths.
After The Fight || Inland (2013)
Across previous releases, Jars of Clay had infused elements of indie rock into their sound but Inland is the first album that I can say predominately sits in that genre description. As always, they find ways to make it their own and to stand out from most of the indie rock bands that had begun to dominate the music scene in the 2000s.
As someone who loves all this indie rock, it was not difficult to get into this album musically. After The Fight is a great opener and it hits all the right emotional notes. Still, I have to admit that this album took a while to sink in because it is the biggest deviation from their faith-inspired lyrical approach. It’s still there if you’re looking for it, but this album was very much about stories of life. Nonetheless, I have grown to appreciate more as the years have passed.
That’s it for today.
Catch you at the next one!
Also, if you’re open to alternative ways to support my work, consider Buying Me A Coffee.
Feel free to leave a comment. Also, I am always open to hearing from you so feel free to send an email to me at
stismavo@gmail.com