Jewel - Pieces of You

Another of those sensitive, somewhat folksy girl singers for whom I have something of a soft spot ("Hands" is the first mp3 that I can remember downloading - how's that for a bit of trivia?); I remember hearing Jewel's first singles - "Who Will Save Your Soul", "You Were Meant For Me", "Foolish Games" - on the radio, back in the day, and they've more or less remained a part of my life since then, in that all-encompassing, vaguely wistful way probably unique to pretty, melancholy pop songs which have had saturation airplay at some point in their existences. Years on, I finally come to listen to the album, Pieces of You, and am surprised by how unpolished and genuinely naïve it is (at least one of the singles - "Foolish Games" - was definitely re-recorded for its single version) given that it was a massive seller in its time. In all honesty, it's not that good - there are too many mediocre, dragging songs and not enough which sparkle with the unaffected grace of the singles - but kind of charming for all that.