Jars Of Clay Eleventh Hour CD

Jars Of Clay: Dan Haseltine, Stephen Mason, Charlie Lowell, Matt Odmark.
Additional personnel: Flemming Painter (vocals); Tab Laven (banjo); John Catchings (cello); Chris Donahue, Aaron Sands (bass); Shawn McWilliams, Joe Porter (drums).
Recorded at Sputnik Sound, Franklin, Tennessee, The Playground, Nashville, Tennesse and FrontPage Studios, Hollywood, California.
THE ELEVENTH HOUR won the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album.
Personnel: Tab Laven (banjo); John Catchings (cello); Joe Porter, Shaun McWilliams (drums).
Audio Mixer: Jack Joseph Puig.
Recording information: FrontPage Studios, Hollywood, CA; Sputnik Sound, Franklin, TN; The Playground, Nashville, TN.
Photographers: Kristin Barlowe; Jars of Clay.
In September 2001, the alternative pop/rock band Jars of Clay performed their first concert in over a year. The event served to foreshadow the group's March 2002 release The Eleventh Hour, an album heralded as comparable to the band's debut project. With this release, Jars of Clay -- composed of members Dan Haseltine, Matt Odmark, Charlie Lowell, and Stephen Mason -- held fast to the creative reins from start to finish. Serving as writers, producers, designers, and directors, the band was able to return to the vision which drove their self-titled debut. The result was a collection of 11 songs unlike any released from the band since their 1995 album. Musically, the project blends alternative rock and pop with elements of folk. Lyrically, it examines aspects of honesty and transparency, exploring human longing. The album opens with the edgy pop track "Disappear," a song expressing the difficulty people face in accepting the existence of unconditional love. Other notable tracks include the first radio single, "I Need You," a driving and passionate expression of a deep desire for God, and the tender yet haunting ballad "Scarlet." The Eleventh Hour is a much needed album from Jars of Clay. It is a return to the elements that drove the sudden success of the band in 1994 and 1995. ~ Ashleigh Kittle
Jars of Clay made their name as a Christian rock band, but even from the start that created all sorts of incorrect assumptions about the group. With THE ELEVENTH HOUR, they almost completely cast off that mantle, calling for a general reassessment of the band by those who lumped them in with the "God squad." At this point, they're no more overtly spiritual than Creed. Beyond one song referencing a need to pray, this is very secular fare.
That's not to say that JOC have suddenly transformed into party animals singing about sex, drugs and rock & roll. They're still thoughtful young men who wrap their introspection in plangent electric and acoustic guitars and accessible pop-rock choruses. "Revolution," for example, examines the need for self-confidence over a raucous, somewhat Smash Mouth-like arrangement, while other songs move through folk-rock, Americana, and driving modern rock. Jars of Clay expand their scope on THE ELEVENTH HOUR without sacrificing any of their drive.

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