Goodbye Alice in Wonderland - Dark Publications

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Similar Items:

•	Pieces of You
•	Perfectly Clear
•	Spirit
•	This Way
•	0304

Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com
The word "confessional" is frequently applied to folk of all stripes, including folk-rock and folk-pop, which is where Jewel comes in. Even within the bounds of folk, however, her music is more nakedly confessional than most. (Too nakedly, some have carped.) Along with a coterie of Nashville pros, she began her latest musical journey by laying down another introspective song cycle in the vein of 1995's Pieces of You. Dissatisfied with the results, the Texas-based artist scrapped that effort and re-recorded with Rob Cavallo (Green Day). This lends her sixth album the expected rock edge, but Jewel hasn't changed her spots. If anything, she sounds more like, well, Jewel than she did on dance-oriented departure 0304. She's still pop star ("Fragile Heart"), sensitive folkie ("Long Slow Slide"), and scrappy country gal ("Stephenville, TX"). Her Joni Mitchell-esque soprano soars as high as ever, with more of a sardonic Dylan chaser than before. What's changed is that maturity has granted Jewel, now in her early 30s, greater perspective--"Growing up is not an absence of dreaming," she states in the title track--and a sense of humor missing from her more earnest early work. On "Satellite," for instance, written when she was 18, but revamped since, she notes that "the Pope," "rock and roll," "Valium," even "Miss Cleo" can't fix her broken heart. In her statement about the album, Jewel claims that, after years of ups and downs, she's "not broken, just more myself." --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Album Description
Jewel is about to deliver her most personal and autobiographical record so far-Goodbye Alice in Wonderland. Not content to relegate herself to a traditional music arena, or to be typecast, Jewel has established herself as a culturally significant and relevant brand. Author, songwriter, actress, poet-there are no limits to how Jewel can and will deliver her message. The underlining truth that ties it all together is the integrity of that message.

Album Description
Japanese pressing of pop/rock/folk singer/songwriter's 2006 offering includes an exclusive bonus track. Atlantic. 2006.

Customer Reviews: Read 120 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

"Life is much better without all those pretty lies." Jewel returns with a winning album.. May 2, 2006
64 out of 74 found this review helpful

Three years after the stylistic departure of her last album 0304, Jewel returns in winning style with her 6th album, Goodbye Alice in Wonderland. Weaving her introspective lyrics with fresh and exciting songwriting, Jewel produces her finest album since Pieces of You. You would think that with 25 million albums sold, a successful poetry collection, roles in several major films, and a great romance with rodeo star Ty Murray, Jewel would be happily looking to the future. Instead Jewel looks to the past, opening up her life and rise to fame with a critical and exploring eye.

Long Slow Ride is a track where Jewel's positively sensual vocals clash intriguingly with the dark lyrical themes of falling downwards and loss. This darkness slides right into the outstanding acoustic title track, Goodbye Alice in Wonderland. Here Jewel points directly at herself, noting that "I'm embarrassed to say, the rest is rock and roll cliche..I hit the bottom and reached the top." where "fame is filled with spoiled children." Harshly honest, she wraps her criticisms in comforting melodies and her gentle voice. Jewel faces the uncertainty of adult life on one of the best tracks, Stephenville, TX, as she sings of "trying to figure out who I am..now that the stardust has turned to sand..and the sand turned to stone...on the star making machine.", but she realizes that she's "got nothing to lose..i'm an entertainer." Jewel is learning that she only has to be herself to be appreciated and happy.

This themes reappear subtly throughout the remainder of the album. The incredibly catchy commercial pop of Again and Again, Only One Two, and Words Get In The Way reveal snippets of this lyrical theme in addition to highly addictive melodies. Jewel also takes some stylistic risks with tracks like Satellite, a slinky and funky critique of shallow California lifestyles, Good Day(Clean), which combines a fascinating spoken word vocal with a bouncy rhythm, and the gentle and calming acoustic Last Dance Rodeo. Closing tracks Where You Are and 1000 Miles Away cap off the album perfectly and bring to mind Jewel's earliest works.

Co-producer Rob Cavallo, who has produced hit albums with the Goo Goo Dolls and Green Day, ensures a cohesive sound, with the right amount of strings and electric guitar to balance the acoustic guitar that is Jewel's hallmark. The album offers some of the year's best pop-rock commercial tracks as well as intriguing and complex acoustic and folk-country songs. There is little filler on this album; almost each track could be a single. Goodbye Alice in Wonderland is an enjoyable, fun album that is a welcome return for the "modern day troubadour" that we love. Highly Recommended and on the short list for 2006's Top 5 albums.

A.G. Corwin
St.Louis, MO

4 out of 5 stars

Jewel's reflections shine May 2, 2006
39 out of 50 found this review helpful

Quite a change from 2003’s “0304”, this sixth album from Jewel slows down the pace considerably, mixing pop, folk and a generous helping of country. There’s a lot of music here for your money, running nearly an hour, with three tracks that are more than five minutes long.

First single “Again and Again” is a standard pop ballad, but done Jewel-style with that little yodel. You’ll love the lyrics of this one, and probably play it again and again and again:

“But you, you're always on my mind.
It's like this all the time.
Say it's cause you're mine
All mine...”

Second track “Long Slow Slide” is just as the title implies, a long, slow, touching country-style ballad, and is followed by the title track, which is more folk-oriented, but with a lot of personal reflection. The chorus of “Good Day” is one you can almost hear Melissa Etheridge singing, and “Satellite” sounds more like a Shawn Mullins song.

One of the best tracks is “Only One Too”, with its excellent chorus, and then comes “Words Get in the Way”, another good song with country roots. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but “Drive To You” reminds me a lot of “I Drove All Night”, and this one is another attention-getting track.

“Last Dance Rodeo” is, as you may have guessed, a full fledged country song, and the longest on the album at just over 6 minutes – too slow and too long for my taste. If you’re in the mood for more slow music, stay tuned for “Fragile Heart” which sounds more like vintage Jewel and the folk-country auto-biographical “Stephenville, TX”.

Winding down the album are “Where You Are” and “1000 Miles Away”, and by the time you get this far you feel emotionally drained, having shared some very personal moments and a lot of angst with Jewel from various phases of her life.

Her most revealing album so far, long on the trademark poetic storytelling, and one for quiet listening moments.

Amanda Richards, May 2, 2006

2 out of 5 stars

WHY DO THEY CHANGE THIS MUCH!! May 2, 2006
17 out of 41 found this review helpful

Ok here is an honest from the heart review. First the 0304 album completely threw me off. I must admit that I've listened to it only a hand full of times. If I wanted a Madonna album, I'd put one in. I COMPLETELY understand that artists want to keep it fresh and try some different things but you don't completely change your styles that dramatically. Fans buy albums because they like the music and the artist and what they have to say. We love Jewel for the simplicity of her music and her heartfelt lyrics. They touch a place in all of us and made us think and feel. First 0304 almost lost me and now she's gone rock. She's turned some of her oldest classics into uptempo rockabilly songs.

I'm not saying do a duplicate of Pieces Of You but can't you do something similiar since that is what the fans want. It's just getting old all these artists making MILLIONS of dollars and then doing albums complaining about how hard their lives are as rockstars and how being a pop star is such a nightmare.

People just want to see her sit down with a guitar and sing to them. I know she's tired of playing Pieces Of You and doing show after show but that is why we fell in love with her and admired her. Now we've waited how many years just to get a rock album. Nothing close to Don't, Near You Always, Fat Boy, Enter From the East, or even I Won't Walk Away...not even close. 1000 Miles is as close as you're gonna get and it's also from the good 'old days. First pop and now rock. Why won't the old Jewel come back! Again, I'm not saying do the same old thing but geesh just give us a little of what we love.

2 out of 5 stars

I'm Embarrassed to Say the Rest Is Rock n Roll Clichy May 3, 2006
17 out of 29 found this review helpful

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 Clich?. 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 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.

1 out of 5 stars

Complete Self-Absorption= Maturity?!! May 6, 2006
15 out of 56 found this review helpful

I'm so tired of people praising Juel for "maturing." For a supposed folk singer, Juel has yet to look OUTWARD. She's completely caught up in her own tiny world. Why that's interesting I have no idea. But if that's all you expect from a supposedly gifted "poet" then I guess you love hearing Juel blather on about herself ad nauseum. More power to ya.

Is she 30-something now? She sounds like an awkward, insecure teen...STILL! Anyone more interested in the state of the world than in the state of Juel's perpetual self-examination? Just checking.

And maybe it's me but I don't need to hear one more famous person wax philosophic about being famous. Do you? Really? Talk about "rock and roll cliche." Quit the biz if fame is so bad, Juel. I certainly wouldn't miss you. Here's an idea, buy a diary and ponder your deepest of deep self-centered thoughts all day long. Complete self-absorption is obviously the goal. Oh wait, that diary would probably end up published as "a fearless, brave, inspirational and painfully self-confessional piece of..." something-or-other.

NOW THAT WOULD REALLY SUCK!

What passes for art these days...

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