Love Is the Only Soldier [Extra tracks, Import]

Someone mentioned in another review that they felt Jann was drifting in the wrong direction. I think she got back on track with "Love is the Only Soldier". While I really liked "Blood Red Cherry", it will undoubtedly go down in history as Jann's "experimental" album.

I don't think Jann is capable of writing a bad song. I've liked everything she's put out so far, and I see no signs of that stopping here.

Her humor is intact on songs like "Only One":

If I come back
If I find you there
I'm calling on my daddy
And he'll kill you I swear

And "If You Loved Me":

If you loved me, I would not need my drunken friends
And if you loved me, my loneliness for sure would end.

"Anna Rebecca" is a great song about loss. You don't know the details, but you know she's singing about a friendship that crumbled:

Remember that December night
Talking ourselves into day
Waving goodbye from the back of a cab
Please remember me that way

"When You Left Me" is quite possibly one of her saddest songs:

When you left me nothing mattered
All my life undone
Only stillness, only quiet
Not one ray of sun

It's an absolutely gorgeous song. Very haunting. Some people can't seem to tolerate sad songs. I don't get depressed by them. I dig them. They mellow me out in some strange way. There's nothing like a sad song to get you to thinking about your own life in an introspective manner. I think they can be very therapeutic. They are for me, in any case.

"Fighting for the World" is another great melancholy tune. She sings from the perspective of a family persisitng through the holidays while a loved one is away in the armed services.

"Love is the Only Soldier" is the first single and is one of my favorite songs. It doesn't seem an obvious choice for a single, but I love this song. It's a great showcase for her songwriting and vocals, and I think the arrangement is excellent. She really soars on the chorus:

Hide me inside your heart let me wash away
Hold me beneath your body all night and day
I pray that the morning comes and with me you'll stay
Hide me inside your heart let me wash away

There's a lot to like here with this album. I rank it very highly in my Jann Arden collection, which consists of everything she's ever released, even the rare and hard to find stuff, singles, etc. I'm such a big fan, I only wish she had more exposure in the US. I hope to catch her on this tour. I saw her during the symphony tour in Winnipeg and it was a phenomenal show.

This CD is easy to drive to and hum to.

Listen to every song four times and it will completely grow on you.

It is better than her last CD, Blood Red Cherry

I think this is certainly Jann's best album ever. She recorded it in her basement and I think that made this album sound so much more intimate.

While there are only 10 tracks on this album, I think it's better to have 10 amazing tracks than 3 hits and 10 or 12 filler songs like many artists do. From the whimsical and haunting songs like "Anna Rebecca" and "When You Left Me" to the simply rocking songs like "Only One" this album contains a beautiful variety and mix of sounds. This is one of the very best studio albums I have ever heard.