在Itunes預購的豪華版的用戶能獲得一首不會收到專輯的歌<Angel Needs A Ride>(Acoustic)
專輯介紹
以下下為Jewel自己親手寫給大家的介紹;感謝Jewel吧吧主 ramona13 的翻譯!
jewel這樣解釋為什麼新專要叫這個名字——
I titled the album Sweet And Wild because it showcases both sides of my personality. I seem to be a walking contradiction in life. I am a fairly calm person who reads a lot and writes poetry, but I also like to ride motorcycles and shoot guns. I don't like hunting, but I love bull riding and rodeo as sports.
2) Next is "I Love You Forever"- a pop leaning toe-tapper that has a great story lyric about being close to those we love, even when away
下一首是I Love You Forever,一首會讓你不由自主的用腳打拍子的流行小品,有著故事性的歌詞,即使相隔天涯,也心靈相通
3) Third is my favorite - "Fading" - a song I wrote a long time ago about leaving the ranch and feeling overwhelmed in the cities, traveling all the time and on the road. I'm so glad this has finally made the album. It's definitely in the "wild" category.
4) "What You Are" is mid tempo, and has a "sweet" lyric. I posted a vlog of this song after I had just written it. It has a message that reminds me of "Hands," and it is a topic I really am passionate about.We can relax, because we are already good enough...
“What You Are”是一首中等節奏的有著“甜蜜”歌詞的歌曲,我當時剛一寫好這支歌就上傳到播客上了,它傳遞的信息讓我想到了之前的“Hands”,因為它們共同的主題是我一直關注的。我們都已經很優秀了,無需擔心……
5) "As Bad As It Gets"- this is a ballad that rocks. It's the only outside song on the album. It was written by a friend of mine and I chose it because it was vocally challenging. I meant to get around to writing one that pushed me as a singer, as I have always sung better live, and have tended to write wordier songs, rather than ones the showed my singing off. It was a goal of mine to really sing better on this record than on any I had done. This song is well written, and is a great showcase for some singing, and I want to thank the writers.
這首很久之前就寫了,Pieces of you時期的風格,民謠-鄉村類型的,很難定義。歌詞很異想天開,有點類似“You Were Meant For Me”.當然啦,忠實冬粉們還是一聽就能分辨出來的。我把歌改成四四拍,重寫了副歌,改了和弦,添了個甜美的bridge,加了些鼓點在裡面,就成了一首風格活潑的曲子。(也就是說,這首歌是You Were Meant For Me改裝而成的)。
7) "Stay Here Forever" - my current single, and thanks to you guys the video is a big hit on CMT and GAC. As you know, you calling stations and voting online helps me get my quirky brand of music through - so thanks!
8) "No More Heartaches" - I wrote this a while ago, and am glad it's finally getting a spot. It's sure enough a country song, but has an aggressively articulate blunt yet poetic take on the classic "I'm leaving your no good ass" theme. The first line is "shut up, sweetheart, there's something I need you to hear: I can no longer love the same thing I fear."
9) "One True Thing" - This is a rocker. Theme is finding someone you can believe in and hanging on. We did a cool treatment in the first chorus, where instead of building into an even bigger chorus, we do the opposite and drop everything out except acoustic guitar and my voice. It creates a dramatic and unexpected effect.
10) Track ten is called "Ten." I'm probably the only nerd that gets a chuckle from this, but what the heck. This is one of my favorite story lyrics. I wrote it after Ty and I got in a big fight one day. I was so mad; I had to count to ten before I totally lost it. Love is a peculiar thing - it can inspire the best and the worst feeling because we let someone in so close to us. But the reward is so great too, that always keeping that perspective is key, no matter how intense a fleeting fight can be. I wrote this song as a sort of "count to ten" experience that can help ease you out of bad feelings, and even remind you to be thankful for their best qualities too. I like the opening line "whoever said love is easy, must have never been in love" - I think everyone can relate!
11) "Satisfied" - hands down my favorite message on the album. This is up there with "Hands" and "Life Uncommon" for me. I really believe we don't always know what it takes to be happy and satisfied. Sometimes it's simpler than we know: finding those you love and letting them know you do. To me that is the definition of the word. My favorite spot is the bridge "horses are built to run, the sun was meant to shine above, flowers were made to bloom, and then there's us - we were born to love."
Jewel近兩年來的專輯都體現著名副其實的特點。上一張《Lullaby》以柔軟動人的抒情催眠曲作為整張專輯的主體,以實際行動表現出了“lullaby”的真實旨意,創作速度驚人的她在2010年即奉獻了這張《Sweet and Wild》,再次以專輯名稱點出了當中音樂的特徵,即既甜美又狂野,原本就可以被稱得上是甜美的,正是Jewel自己的人聲,而創造出狂野效應的則應歸功於編曲以及後期製作,它們偏向鄉村搖滾和流行音樂的趨勢令Jewel的鄉村歌手形象在這張專輯當中逐漸淡化開來。
先是極具搖滾特性的一曲《No Good In Goodbye》開場,其快速的過門段落以及配樂中省去滑棒吉他的方式,令人感到Jewel往鄉村搖滾或是偏搖滾樂的流行曲上行走,倒也不是不能成為可能,其甜美的嗓音也可擁有狂野的爆發,從第一曲即點了專輯名稱的題,Jewel此棋走得甚是不錯。接下來的《I Love You Forever》則讓人感到尷尬不少,雖然其有著非常吸引人的旋律,Jewel自己的表現也相當不錯,但是,沒有人覺得這首歌和Taylor Swift太像了么?當然,在Taylor主宰了主流鄉村音樂的這兩年,再不向這種偏流行樂式的鄉謠靠近的話,可能很快就會被稱為跟不上時代,只是Jewel的個人色彩在這首歌當中被抹得幾乎不剩蹤跡。專輯接下來的數曲,則都圍繞著這種似鄉村搖滾又偏於流行音樂的形式走著,最後不禁令人才想到,Jewel冷不丁地用著這張專輯在向Taylor Swift宣戰,或說Taylor Swift式的流行鄉村已經把美國傳統鄉村音樂給占領了。
當然這並非批評Jewel這張專輯做得不行,相反這種趨炎附勢的專輯製作方式反而使得Jewel的樂迷層拓展得更為寬泛了一些,她自己也在這張專輯當中展現出了她更為令人感到和諧的一面,《Sweet and Wild》當中所闡述和表達的情感,已經不再是主體,它所想要展現的,其實是美國鄉村音樂逐漸與流行音樂相互滲透相互融合的一種趨勢,而細心之人也早已發現,如今鄉村音樂和流行音樂的區別僅僅在於有沒有使用到班卓琴和滑棒吉他了。
同樣是把鄉村玩成流行,或把流行玩成鄉村,Jewel畢竟不是Taylor Swift,後者說到底還是根紅苗種的鄉村種。而Jewel從出道至今,雖然還曾經在《0304》里玩過舞曲、唱過爵士,但實際上她迄今為止在音樂上最大的兩個成就,一是初出道時首張專輯《Pieces of You》里那種青澀、乾淨的民謠曲風;二就是《This Way》里堪比Alanis Morissette和Sheryl Crow的民謠搖滾和Songwriter范兒。這,才是Jewel的根。
而在新專輯《Sweet and Wild》里,Jewel明顯不再苛求是否把鄉村玩得特別純粹,而是在主題上呈現新視野的同時,在創作狀態上,又回復到自己最為舒服的世界裡,找回自己的那個本我。這一切,由一曲《Summer Home In You Arms》開始,從Jewel出道就一路追隨的歌迷,也許很容易就能從這首作品裡,找回《You Were Meant For Me》的影子,而實際上《Summer Home In You Arms》就是後者的改裝版,一個和弦不同、副歌不同,新增了橋段還改成四四拍的新版《You Were Meant For Me》。在新專輯中重新泛起《Pieces of You》里的那份Sweet,真會讓許多老歌迷唏噓不已。
而開場的《No Good In Goodbye》和《I Love Your Forever》則是典型的鄉村搖滾曲風,前者很容易讓人想起最早讓鄉村通上電並搖滾的祖師Bob Dylan;而後者依稀回到了《This Way》的時期,卻又要比那個時期更多一份簡潔和乾脆,很有種公路音樂的感覺。當然,是美國的高速公路。
《Bad As It Gets》則是專輯中惟一一首非Jewel本人、而是由她的一位朋友操刀作曲的作品。而Jewel最初選擇這首歌的理由,就是可以挑戰她的唱功,雖然這其實並非是一首炫技的歌曲,也遠不如《0304》專輯裡的許多作品那樣花里胡哨,但更需要情緒的升華才能提升聲線效果的處理,反而讓這首歌有一種別樣的盪氣迴腸效果。從外表的華麗到情感的升華,這也是Jewel在這張專輯中的另一種進步。
對於Jewel來講,也許最能明白什麼才是人生的大起大落。想當年,她同樣追隨著國際化和多元化的腳步,《Stand》、《Run 2U》和《Intuition》曾經是何等的時髦,而其中的節奏和韻律,直到今天聽來也不過時。但這又證明什麼?除了三座“格萊美”獎盃之外,卻是一個本色Jewel的失落。而《Sweet and Wild》里的Jewel,則是在一種近似看破主流歌壇之後的一種返璞歸真。將一切的一切,重新回歸到內心,而不僅令只是音樂曲風的表面探索上。雖然簡單,但動人;雖然老土,但感人。至於鄉村死忠歌迷,實際上也並不要拘泥於她現在的鄉村究竟是不是正宗,鄉村,對於現在的Jewel來講,只是返璞歸真的另一種態度。她更希望通過這樣一種方式,來回歸自己內心的純粹和音樂的本質。而她的內心,就是甜蜜,而她的本質,就是那一抹搖滾樂的狂野。
國外媒體
Upon its release, Sweet and Wild received generally positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received a better than average score of 62, based on 6 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".
Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, saying that "She’s saved here--on both the produced main album and its bare-bones acoustic cousin on the deluxe version, which isn’t as different as it might initially appear--by her essential sweetness, which shines through in her melody and mellow moods that aren’t sullied by a hint of wildness".
The Slant Magazine review says that "While "Perfectly Clear" suggested that she has the potential to make a great country album, but the uneven Sweet and Wild certainly isn't it". And it only gave the album 2 out of 5 stars.
The Boston Globe review noted that "Jewel offers basic country tropes both musical (twanging Telecasters, whining fiddles, banjoes bubbling underneath the surface, train-track rhythms) and lyrical (with references to both Wal-Mart and a dying soldier imparting wisdom) in the hopes of rousing the market base she first courted on 2008’s Perfectly Clear".
Greg Kot from Entertainment Weekly gave a B- evaluation, saying that "The pedal steel and fiddle sound like add-ons designed to get her played on country radio, and a few of the melodies could've been hijacked from a Nashville jingles factory. But there's some moving midlife melancholy beneath the surface, especially on the startling Fading".