Jars of Clay is the first full-length studio album by Christian rock group Jars of Clay. It was released on October 24, 1995, by Essential Records. The album was released to commercial and critical acclaim, becoming one of the few Christian albums in the mid-1990s to achieve platinum status.
Overview
Jars of Clay's eponymous first full-length album is characterized by a combination of drum loops and acoustic guitar strumming that would become an early trademark of the band. Strings are also used prominently in most of the songs. The album features sonic influences as diverse as Gregorian chants, mandolin, and gothic layered vocals.
The album was mostly self-produced, with the exception of "Liquid" and "Flood" which were produced by King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew.
Several tracks from this album were hits on Christian radio, and as a result they have been staples of the band's live concerts ever since. The song "Flood" became an unexpected hit on mainstream pop and alternative rock radio as well, resulting in a brief period of mainstream popularity for the band during which they toured with artists such as Sting, The Samples and Matchbox Twenty, and were included in several movie soundtracks.
Most of this album consists of reworked versions of songs from the band's demo, Frail, which was recorded as a class project during their senior year of college. The song "He" appears to be almost identical to the original recording.
The songs "Sinking", "Flood", "Worlds Apart", and "Blind" were all unique to this release, as all other tracks had previously been released on the group's debut demo album Frail, and two songs from the demo did not make it to this album"—Fade to Grey" and EP's title track "Frail", though these were both later included on the group's follow-up, Much Afraid, which also introduced lyrics into the previously instrumental piece "Frail".
Notably, Jars of Clay is considered to be a landmark album in Christian rock, even though very few electric guitars are used, leading some to categorize Jars of Clay as folk-rock, alternative folk, or even pop instead.
The album was listed at No. 22 in the 2001 book, CCM Presents: The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music.
Background
Jars of Clay began at Greenville College in Greenville, IL, where the four members, all majors in Contemporary Christian Music, met and discovered friendship through music. Charlie Lowell, Dan Haseltine and Matt Bronleewe had been there for the year of 1992 and played in various bands as well as producing their own studio projects. These bands included Chrysalis, Jazon, Yellow #7, Second Level, and many other school bands involving students from the CCM department as well as others. When Stephen Mason appeared on the scene in September 1993, and had similar interests in music, the friends decided to write a song together. Haseltine had met Mason because he had a Toad the Wet Sprocket shirt on, a band which they both admired for their unique sound. The band wrote and recorded a song called "Fade to Grey", which included many drum loops and samples, a very techno-oriented song. It was a studio project for credit in a recording class. Their friends enjoyed the song and they performed it in late October for a college cafe called the "Underground Cafe", which they had put together to raise money for homeless shelters and jail ministries. The "Underground" was the dormitory that the vast majority of music majors inhabited. The band continued classes and when they found more time, decided to play "Little Drummer Boy" for the Underground Cafe on December 7, as it was nearing Christmas time. A strange and distorted version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was also played impromptu that evening, to the tune of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", called "Smells Like Rudolph".
Following Christmas vacation, the four of them decided they'd like to write additional songs to add to their live repertoire and satisfy the requirements of their recording studio class, but thought it would be appropriate to give a name to these collaborations. Lowell recalled a Bible verse that included the phrase "Jars of Clay", and was the source of the band's name.
On April 27, 1994, Jars of Clay performed for the Gospel Music Association Spotlight Competition at 328 Performance Hall in Nashville, TN. This appearance was the final test of the competition for best new Christian band, and Jars won the competition. They played "Fade to Grey" and "Like a Child" complete with choreography and baby "binkies" in their mouths and met with positive responses from record companies who were present.