Artist Info:Discography Album length: 12 tracks: 50 minues, 27 seconds Street Date: September 5, 2006
Thirteen years into their impressive career, Jars Of Clay is still challenging
themselves as artists to create relevant music with a message worth hearing. After resurrecting classic
hymns last year to give them a modern revisit, the alt rock quartet is returning to what they know
best.
Jars Of Clay has never been a band known for riding a trend or sticking to a set formula. Even
after they've found a sound and process that seems to work for them, the guys push themselves a step
further, despite the risks this may entail. Good Monsters, the band's boldly titled new record,
explores unchartered territory for this once-folk-pop act while combining elements from what we've
come to love and expect from Jars Of Clay. When the opening electric guitar riff of "Work" tears into
the album, many will find a brand new side of this seasoned band revealed. What unfolds is an edgy,
emotional anti-anthem for isolation that boasts a deliciously painfully honest chorus, "Do you know
what I mean when I say, 'I don't want to be alone?'" It's this kind of risky sheer honesty that
permeates Good Monsters, threading its separate parts into a whole.
"Dead Man (Carry Me)" is a fantastic edgy 80's throwback that features vocalist Dan Haseltine
pushing himself in new ways. The album does a sharp turn back to the kind of rootsy southern rock
established on Redemption Songs for a delightful cover of Julie Miller's modern hymn-like
original, "All My Tears." It's after this particular cut that the album begins to feel stylistically
schizophrenic while remaining thematically harmonious. "Even Angels Cry" is a delicate ballad that
abruptly ends the string of rock openers, which is followed-up by the distinctly folk-country sounds
of "There Is A River." The title track shifts gears once again to incorporate a more unashamedly
upbeat and catchy guise to drive home the idea established by Edmund Burke's famous quote,
"The only necessary thing for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing." The song is quirky and
fun, which is offset by yet another abrupt shift with the soul-bearing lament, "Oh My God." This soft
ballad examines the human need to cry out for a Savior from all walks of life, ending with Haseltine's
own personal stream of reasons why he calls on God. It's this kind of openness that makes such material
on Good Monsters all the more impactful.
"Surprise" is another highlight, a moody look into selfishness, which is followed by the album's
last upbeat rock track, the especially memorable "Take Me Higher." "Mirrors & Smoke" is truly the ugly
duckling of Good Monsters, an oddly placed but smartly executed nod to Johnny and June's
"Jackson" that features Leigh Nash singing opposite Haseltine. Things return to a more serious note
with "Light Gives Heat," a song that features the African Children's Choir and examines our approach
to the crisis in Africa, admitting we're just as much part of the problem as we are trying to be the solution.
Good Monsters then ends nicely on a tender, hopeful outlook on committment in relationships with
"Water Under The Bridge."
Good Monsters is a daring new direction for one of Christian music's most important and
relevant artists. While the record may seem to lose a little steam after such a strong opening, the
as a whole, it offers a collection of songs that blend the diversity of If I Left The Zoo
with the class and artistic integrity of Who We Are Instead to create a truly unique and
original project. Good Monsters is a stroke of greatness.
- Review date: 8/31/06, written by John DiBiase
Artist Info: 
