Disco de Jars Of Clay: “Greatest Hits”

There are three different reasons greatest hits albums are released:

(1) The band/artist wants to do a retrospective for the fans (Great example: Audio A's Adios);

(2) The band/artist left or was removed from a music label and needs to finish out a contract (great example of this is Jennifer Knapp who had a Best of, Rarities, and a live cd);

(3) The label or artist/band want to do a money grab and make a few extra bucks off of the hits (see all the special budget line CDs out there);

This collection seems like it was more of a contract fulfillment by the label than the band making a collection of hits for the fans. For those of you who don't know Jars of Clay recently split with Essential (owned by Sony/BMG) and is now with a new record label that they created called Gray Matters. Even though this appears to be a contract filler it has been given the endorsement by the band on their myspace page.

About the music:

This is an excellent concise collection of Jars of Clay hits and for the casual fan this would be all they need. The sound is great and they have most all of Jars of Clay's biggest hits and this will definitely be a CD I listen to frequently. I have two big problems with this collection though. The first is that it is missing "Liquid" from their first album. There is plenty of space left on this CD to have included it. It was one of their early big hits and definitely a fan favorite and it's exclusion is unforgivable. My other problem is that the record label only a few short months ago released Jars of Clay: The Essential Jars Of Clay. The "Essential" was a two disc collection that gathered some of the biggest hits and some great album tracks. One plus that "Greatest Hits" has over the "Essential" is that it includes to great hits "Faith Like a Child" and "Show You Love". As for the new track "Love is the Protest", it is a decent song recorded for this Greatest hits package. Though it isn't my favorite, in time it will probably grow on me.

There are hardly any greatest hits collections out there that can please everyone. Though it is missing "Liquid", in this digital age I have the track already and I can just make my own "Greatest Hits" from the tracks I have from this and "the Essential" so in the end everyone can be happy.

Love all these songs, they are great. They help me relax and I really enjoy listeing.

This CD is a must for any Jars of Clay fan. All of JOC's best songs are on this disc. Most of the songs on this CD are from JOC's debut album, which was released in 1995. Their debut album to this day, is without a doubt the greatest christian rock album of all time. So if you are a fan of JOC, you MUST get this CD.

Sometimes when record companies issue 'best of' collections, one wonders what they were thinking. This is one of those times.

Most of the songs are great, but this CD is missing several tunes that should be in it. Additionally, there are a few that should not be on an album of this type.

The songs that could have been left off are these: Frail, Crazy Times, and Love Is the Protest. Although one might be able to make a case for the first two, there is no justification at all for the last of these. It is a new release. My thought is that anything appearing on a greatest hits album should have passed the test of time. This track clearly fails on that count.

There are many songs that could have been included in this collection to make it better. Jars of Clay is a superb group with lots of great music. A greatest hits collection for them could easily contain two discs. Some of the songs that probably should have been on this include the following: Liquid, Jealous Kind, Sinking, Closer, Oh My God, Good Monsters, and Hiding Place. I could also list several others that could have (should have) been here.

The bottom line is that although this is a very good collection, it does not represent their greatest hits. If one does not already have most of the songs on this album, it is probably a good one to get. Otherwise, I'd pass on it.