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JEWEL KILCHER'S debut album, Pieces Of You, sold a whopping 10 million units worldwide, of which about seven copies must have been purchased here in the UK. She's the Lilith Fairy: the embodiment of the sensitive woman-folkie trend that hasn't really travelled that well beyond America.
It's not hard to see why: the sensibility behind Spirit is a little too precious (no pun intended) for sturdier British palates, particularly since Madonna's old producer Patrick Leonard, has attempted to cosset her voice here in a synthetic approximation of the classic Daniel Lanois ambience.
There's a superficial resemblance to the great female singer-songwriters of the past, but Jewel crucially lacks the outgoing, assertive spirit that Joni Mitchell brought to the form. Instead, her songs depict a stereotypically cold, cruel world in which innocence is routinely violated, full of victims and underdogs like the
deluded lad in "Fat Boy". Depressingly, her antidote to all ills appears to be the salvatory power of prayer, pursued with chillingly evangelical talk of a "new army ... armed with faith". Another Christian army? That's all we need.
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