Personnel: Jewel (vocals, acoustic guitar); Nedra Carroll (vocals); Jude Cole (acoustic guitar, mandolin, dobro, dulcimer, background vocals); James Harrah (acoustic & electric guitars); David Channing, Josh Clayton-Felt (electric guitar); Marty Rifkin (pedal steel guitar); Paul Jackson, Jr. (12 string guitar); Cameron Stone (cello); Patrick Leonard (piano, keyboards, Hammond B-3, programming); Flea, Paul Bushnell (bass); Vinnie Colaiuta (drums); Brian Macleod (drums, hand drum); Luis Conte (percussion).

Recorded at Groove Masters, Santa Monica, California; Oceanway, Hollywood, California; Sound Stage Studio, Nashville, Tennessee; Bearsville Theatre, Bearsville, New York. Includes liner notes by Jewel.

All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology.

Aided by airy but sparkling production by Patrick Leonard, Jewel comforts one and all with this collection. On "Hands," she sings that if she could tell the world just one thing, "It would be that we're all OK." Outside of her multi-octave, crystalline voice, therein lies a large part of Jewel's true appeal--a seemingly boundless compassion. To the Beatles prescription "All You Need Is Love," she adds one more ingredient: "Fill your lives with love and bravery/And you shall lead a life uncommon." While much of her yearning is spiritual and utopian, Jewel is not immune to the call of the flesh. In "Do You" she wants to stay with a lover because their teeth are straight and "the sex is good."

It's not all about words however. There's a hip-hop touch in the rhythm section on "Down So Long," confirmed in the third verse when Jewel raps for about two bars. The natural sounds throughout the CD dominate the subtler synth touches. Acoustic guitar, tasteful wah-wah and spot-on harmonies make this an extremely intimate, personal sounding release.

Rolling Stone (12/10/98, pp.119-120) - 3 (out of 5) - "...Jewel's sincere sentiment has its attractions in a time of irony overload; she plays John Denver to Dylanesque tricksters like Courtney Love and Beck..."

CMJ (12/21/98, p.24) - "...Her sentimental musings and near-anthemic tunes...explore love, quircky obsessions, and feelings of loneliness in such a gooey, poetic kind of way, you can't help but listen."