Track Listing

1. The Long Fall
2. Weapons
3. Two Hands
4. Heaven
5. Closer
6. Safe To Land
7. Headphones
8. Don't Stop
9. Boys (Lesson One)
10. Hero
11. Scenic Route
12. There Might Be A Light
13. Forgive Me
14. Heart

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3672 in Music
• Released on: 2009-04-21
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

CD Description
Acclaimed rock band Jars Of Clay, known for their innovative, intelligent music and humanitarian work worldwide, have delivered their 10th studio album 'The Long Fall Back To Earth'. This 14 track follow-up to their 2006 album 'Good Monsters' seamlessly segues in themes from the concept of digging into community on their last album, to the day-to-day experience of being within community. Lead vocalist and lyricist Dan Haseltine capitalises on his ability to write reflective and engaging songs that explore reallife issues. Haseltine delves into the bare bones reality of the beauty and tension of relationships and what makes them worth fighting for; a common thread for every listener. 'The Long Fall Back To Earth' melds compelling lyrical content with hints of an upbeat 80s influenced, synth-driven flavour. Anthemic, arena-swelling textures and the band's trademark vocals amount to the biggest sounding Jars Of Clay project yet.

Customer Reviews

Absolutely Stunning
As a jars fan from pretty much the beginning, I've found some albums easier to get into than others. This one, while a departure from the acoustic style of the early songs, and the guitar based albums like 11th Hour, is a fabulously engaging collection. Normally, I'd shy away from such a heavy use of synthesised backing, but there's a real depth and beauty here, the likes of which only Jars can provide.

Keep it up boys. Great Stuff!

The short fall back to excellent!
Having enjoyed the unusual sound of the early JoC albums, I started to wane in my appreciation of some of their other albums. I found they weren't particularly easy to listen to.

This album, however, is just fantastic. They have modernised their sound in that it is a lot easier to the ears and has undertones of many bands that are otherwise in the charts. THis is not to mean that they have sold out and lost their JoC feel. It just means this will be an album you will listen to time and time again - whether digging into the lyrics or just having it in the background as you drive to work or do the housework.

It starts with the beautifully engaging instrumental of 'Long Fall Back to Earth'.

Weapons is reminiscent of some delirious? crossed with a colplay-esque chorus. The balance of keys, drums, vocals etc is just sublime.

'Two Hands' lyrically tackles the struggles that we have in being 'double-minded' - on one hand chasing God and with the other pushing Him away. Musically it has references to The Feeling.

'Closer' has some very odd lyrics e.g. :

Youre my shirt iron on
Im the tick, youre the bomb
Youre the L and the V, Im the O and the E
Am I speaking clearly?

Nonetheless the chorus is excellent and catchy, as is true for most of the songs.

'Headphones' is a much more traditional JoC sound, cut back, wonderfully real lyrics, yet builds in layers towards the end of the song. Beautiful.

'Boys (Lesson 1)' and 'Hearts' feature similar sounds to that Athlete use in many of their songs. Gives them an unusual edge but still fantastic songs, particularly hearts.

Finally the song 'Hero' is the need for a Hero to save us. Musically it would fit perfectly on the soundtrack to a comic book movie adaptation.

I don't have a particular favourite or outstanding song as of yet, but I think that says more for the strength of all the songs than my inability to choose!

So I highly recommend this, whether you are a Jars of Clay fan or not. If you have affinity for music by the likes of Coldplay, the Feeling, the Fray, Athlete etc then this will fit neatly into your collection.

With such strong songs that have powerful anthemic and catchy choruses, I would be very tempted to see them live!