The newest CD from singer/songwriter Jewel released last week with one of the best titles I’ve heard in a long time, Goodbye Alice in Wonderland. It’s the first new album release I’ve bought in a while.

Jewel has said she wanted to make these songs as personal as her first record, Pieces of You (which has sold over 12 Million copies in the U.S.). She recorded a couple tracks with some of the team who worked on Pieces of You, but then decided instead to work with Rob Cavallo, producer of Green Day and the Goo Goo Dolls. The resulting collection rocks more than her first CD’s, in places, but also allows for a couple of more acoustic tracks. I’ve been playing it five or six times a day since I got it. At the moment, my favorite tracks are the title track, Good Day, and Stephenville, TX.

Jewel published a book of poetry (A Night Without Armor) several years ago, and her love for poetry is reflected in these lyrics. Some verses are spoken, with maybe the last line sung, to give inflection impossible in singing. For instance, in Stephenville, TX she breaks into a t.v. announcer voice and gives a humoristic (and lamentably accurate) summary of today’s culture:

we all read magazines for the latest ways to behave * so hey why not follow me * the blond bombshell deity ~*~ i’ll sell you neat ideas * without big words * and a little bit of cleavage * to wash it all down

In Good Day (one of my favorites) she sings:

i say to myself, self * why are you awake again? * it’s one a.m. * standin’ with the fridge wide open, starin’ * such a sight, florescent light – the stars are bright – might make a wish * if I believed in that shit * but as it is I might watch t.v. * cause it’s nice to see people can be * more messed up than me

If you liked Jewel’s earlier albums, you’ll probably like this effort. I enjoy listening to someone not afraid to write creative lyrics, since these kind of albums aren’t heard that often in mainstream music, or especially in CCM.

You can hear two of her new songs, along with Hands and Who Will Save Your Soul over at Stripped Music.