Jewell- Hands

Hands is the first single from Jewel's second album, released in 1998. It built on the pop success established with her debut album, Pieces of You.

For me, Jewell's vocals are a wonderful highlight. Within a single song, they can jump between triumphant, quietly soulful, mourning and enraged- each of which is executed brilliantly. Hands also has some good instrumental hooks, which sit nicely behind the vocals. It all makes for a great pop song with some nicely biting commentaries.

The recording quality is also very good. A particular highlight is the powerful thud of the kick-drum sound. While it might be strange to compliment an acoustic song for "hectic bass, bro", here it is perfectly executed as a gentle, yet reassuringly powerful padding sound.

Innocence Maintained has some great poetry, but edges a bit close to preachy Christian-pop for my liking. Enter From the East is perfectly raw and simple: just a guitar and an extremely talented singer. Brilliant.

Favourite songs

Hands, Enter From the East

Would I buy it again?

Yes. Even though it's "just" a single, there is something very special about two of the three songs.