One of my favorite bands, Jars of Clay, has released a greatest hits CD today (or rather their label has) including one new track. And guess what?!? You don’t have to buy the whole album to get the one new song!

Putting together a “best of” tracklist for this band seems at first to be an extremely difficult task. And I have to admit that when I saw this on iTunes and that it’s a single CD compilation, I had serious doubts that this is in fact their greatest hits. But let’s take a closer look…

“Frail” makes an appearance, so that lends credibility right there. As far as I’m concerened that is the best Jars of Clay song out there. And my other favorite slow Jar, “Worlds Apart” is present. Alright. So far so good.

The tracks seem to be grouped together by album in chronological order. So from the breakout debut, they’ve got “Flood” (which is an obvious requirement (produced by Robert Fripp, BTW)), “Love Song for a Savior,” “Like a Child,” and “Worlds Apart.” Hmmm. Not a bad selection. The eponymous debut is a CCM classic and difficult to extract “superior” pieces from the whole, but not bad at all. There are one or two other tacks that I may have picked, but this is a good start.

From “Much Afraid” we have “Crazy Times,” and “Frail.” With the limit of a single CD, these are good choices and I’m not sure much else from “Much Afraid” needs to be represented. This album caused a great falling away for many fans of the debut. No track here succeeded in carrying the torch of “Flood.” But guess what, there was no need to do so. This album, I think, better represents the band that Jars of Clay would be from this point forward. Although they’ve managed several CCM hits in their career so far, they aren’t just a radio hit machine. Instead, they are masterful artists who quite often manage to pluck a string or two in the soul of the listener and let it resonate. If you look at the first album as a whole, ignoring any radio success of individual songs, I think you might see that “Much Afraid” is a pretty natural follow-up.

Then came “If I Left the Zoo.” Which dropped a little bit of the tongue-in-cheek into the mix of insightful lyrics and artistic mood. This is a more fun album than the previous two. Showcased are instruments which are unusual to rock or pop music. Accordion, mandolin, violin, cello… and then you realize these guys always used more than the traditional rock instruments. This time they just make it more obvious as part of the album’s sense of humor. And accompanying tongue-in-cheek humor are power chords. We always knew they could break free and make a few carefree rockin’ tracks to go with all the introspection. The compilation lifts “Unforgetful You” as the sole representative from “If I Left the Zoo.” This might be the worst crime committed. But, we are working with limitations here, so let’s move on.

“The Eleventh Hour” came on the scene next and I still maintain that this is THE BEST Jars of Clay album. From beginning to end there’s not a weak song presented. Chosen for the new hits disc is again a single track, “I Need You.” This is a great song, as all the songs here are great, but I’m not sure it best represents “The Eleventh Hour.” OK, I’m actually positive it doesn’t. But it’s obviously been chosen because it was the radio hit that sold the CD. If you own this one and disagree with my estimation of it, I challenge you to throw it in the car CD player and leave it there for about a week. Or at least just give it another chance. This thing’s got hooks.

“Show You Love” and “Amazing Grace” are the chosen ones from “Who We Are Instead.” This CD is very much akin to the previous one. Many many great songs. Their “Amazing Grace” is an excellent choice (this is not the traditional hymn) and “Show You Love” was again obviously chosen since it was the radio staple. But there is so much wonderful music being passed over for this “Greatest Hits” CD.

“God Will Lift Up Your Head” is another favorite Jars song of mine, so I heartily approve of its appearance. It comes from an album of remade hymns titled “Redemption Songs” which isn’t a CD I would recommend to Jars newcomers. It’s a great CD, but I wouldn’t consider it one of their more accessible. In a time when CCM is saturated with every band’s worship album full of the same songs, these guys took care to select very seldom heard hymns in contrast to modern praise choruses. The language of the lyrics and the diverse instrumentation of the band are a pleasing and fitting match. These are some powerful songs and “God Will Lift Up Your Head” is a fantastic and encouraging song, let alone a solid rock tune. This is one of those that you just NEED to hear every now and then.

“Dead Man (Carry Me)” was the radio single from the latest Jars album, “Good Monsters.” This would make my daughter very happy as it is her favorite song. A bit of a return to their sound before “Redemption Songs,” this is a good choice artistically as well. The other pick here from the same album is “Work” which I consider to be the most superior song on the album. “Do you know what I mean when I say I don’t want to be alone?” Who couldn’t relate with that…

And that, along with the new track “Love is the Protest,” wraps up the disc. I must admit that given the limitations of a single disc, whoever put this together did a very respectable job. Jars of Clay is one of those bands that just cannot be summed up in a single CD. I’m sorry, but it’s just not possible. Any way you cut it, you end up passing over way too much beautiful music. And what better compliment could a group of musicians hope for. That being said, however, I do think that for rock or CCM fans who have never delved into the Jars catalog, this is a very good starting point. Check it out. The rockers are here and a couple of the ballads. Listen to it a few times. And when you’re done rocking out to “Unforgetful You,” and after you’ve fallen deeply in love with “Frail” then branch out from there. Because you’re missing out if you ain’t got no Jars.

If you’re interested in checking out this CD, you can stream it for free for a limited time here.

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