Friday, August 01, 2008

Is it safe to land?

I have just written a review on the new Jars of Clay EP CLOSER (available on iTunes now). It tends to take a while for it to make it up to inReview but I wanted to share it with you. If your one of those who cant afford to buy another EP/CD right now, do yourself a favor and download the song Safe To Land (for $0.99). It could be one of the best Jars of Clay songs ever. Let me know what you think about it. (I wish that I was in love. And that he would write a song like that to me.)


Jars of Clay is at it again. In the studio working on a new CD. To whet the appetite of their fans they have released an EP of songs to iTunes called CLOSER. When I heard the first song released, the title track Closer, I was taken back by the lightheartedness of the song. Usually a Jars of Clay song is deep and multi layered. They can be considered a “deep thinking” mans band. Not that the casual listener won’t like their music, but without much thought you really don’t understand or grasp the full meaning of most of Jars of Clays material. So listening to the casual, almost silliness of Closer had me wondering if I was hearing a new Jars of Clay. The song has a catchy chorus even if the first lyrics are somewhat basic/ elementary. At first listen, I didn’t like it. But I held out criticism until I could hear the whole EP. I am glad I did. With every listen I like the single Closer more and more, however it was love at first listen to the song Safe To Land. WOW this is a powerful song. One that every person in love will wish that their mate would have written to them. I’m coming home if these wheels touch down/ I’m coming home/ I’m waking you up/ in the middle of the night/ I’m not giving up/ I’m gonna stay until we make it work/ We’re not going down even if it gets worse/ We’ll work it out/ I need your light/ guide me in/ is it safe?”

The band has reworked Love Song for A Savior and Flood (New Rain) in such a way that makes you want to listen to these songs again as if they were new. Rounding out the EP is Prisoner of Hope. Yet another classic thought provoking song that invokes true emotions in its listeners, “Let the wind run out of breath/ make you bleed from the heart/ and ache from the mind.... Fall into me/I’ll turn your ashes into flames...Prisoner of hope it won’t be long now/Prisoner of Hope you can be strong now/Prisoner I hope you carry on now/Prisoner your love can’t be held down”

If this EP is indicative of what lies in store for Jars of Clay I’m glad that they are back at it. I’m looking forward to hearing these songs live on the Music Builds Tour and anticipating the full release of their new CD due out in the Spring of ‘09 on their independent label Grey Matters. Jars of Clay has come home, and I think its safe for this EP to land. CLOSER is available on iTunes and will be available at their live shows.

6 comments:

P. Massimo Granieri said...

Ciao. My name is Massimo. I'm a catholic priest from Italy. Ho letto il tuo post, anch'io amo i Jars of Clay e Safe To Land è la mia canzone preferita. Scrivo per ringraziarti: avevo bisogno del testo della canzone e l'ho trovato nel tuo blog (utilizzando così la trascrizione per commentare il nuovo disco dei Jars). Come segno di gratitudine, ho linkato il tuo blog nell'articolo dedicato a Closer. Thank you. God blessed you.

link:
http://maxgranieri.blogspot.com/2008/08/christian-rock-il-nuovo-disco-dei-jars.html

Juca said...

Hello there!
thatz a very good and short review, nice reading =] I see what you mean about all of these songs, they are all so specially interconnected in a single pack =] Hugs to you al the way from Brazil =] Juk Jark

Anonymous said...

JanetRN is right...you must download "Safe To Land". It's a beautiful piece of music and worth every penny of a 99-cent download!

AD said...

Hi Janet,

Great insight and comments on Jars' new EP...

I am actually looking for the complete lyrics to Safe to Land and cannot find them anywhere on the web...I can listen to the song but just want to be accurate - do you know where I can find them?

Many thanks and blessings!

Ainsley

novabaltimora said...

Hello, i m from Brazil and i was looking for this song lyrics entire web i haven´t found yet. Just here i can get it, so thanks for write the lyrics, for us. God bles u!

Yisra'el said...

Jars of Clay is my favorite band. I'm a fan since 1997.

Yeah very powerful songs. I've already heard the entire "The Long Fall Back To Earth" album. It's the bomb! 5 of 5 I should say. Yeah, Jars is at it again!

I'm yet to listen to the Closer EP though. It seems to be a great preview of the LP.

POWERFUL!