Much Afraid (1997)
Much Afraid is the second studio by the American rock band Jars of Clay, released on September 9, 1997 by Essential Records/Provident Music Group and Silvertone Records. The album was produced by Stephen Lipson, who's best known for producing albums by Michael W. Smith, Annie Lennox, Rod Stewart and Paul McCartney among others and it was recorded in London, U.K. at The Aquarium and in Franklin, Tennessee at Secret Sound. Robert Beeson served as executive producer.
Much Afraid is the official follow up to their successful 1995 self-titled debut album Jars of Clay and marked a significant shift lyrically and musically. There are more electric guitars this time around, but has kept some acoustic guitars on some of the tracks that worked well previously heard from its predecessor. The album's lead single, "Crazy Times," immediately topped The CCM Update's Christian CHR chart and was moderately successful at mainstream radio where it peaked at No. 38 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks (renamed Alternative Airplay) chart.
The second single "Five Candles (You Were There)" was another Christian radio success topping the Christian CHR chart. The track was initially written for the soundtrack to the film Liar Liar starring Jim Carrey, but it was cut from the credits in favor of a blooper reel. A working title of the song during the writing and recording studio sessions was "The Wish," which fits with the themes of Liar Liar, just as the eventual title "Five Candles," because the story revolves around the wish Max made as he blew out the five candles for his fifth birthday. The song was later used in the 1998 Michael Keaton film, Jack Frost, and was featured on that film's soundtrack.
"Fade to Grey" and "Frail" were both originally from the group's demo recording Frail in 1994. All other tracks from that demo were recorded for the debut album Jars of Clay in 1995, but due to time and budget constraints they weren't able to record the track. The versions of these songs included on Much Afraid have changed significantly with some lyrical and overall arrangement changes, especially "Frail," which was previously an instrumental piece and now contained lyrics. Notably, these songs were two of the first songs written by Jars of Clay. "Fade to Grey" was released as the third Christian radio single and topped the Christian CHR chart and "Overjoyed" (the album's opener) also topped the CHR chart, giving Jars of Clay four number ones hits off of Much Afraid. Other singles were released such as "Hymn" (No. 38 Christian AC) and "Truce" (No. 1 Christian Rock).
Much Afraid debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the Top Christian Albums and at No. 8 on the Billboard 200, giving the band their highest charting position on the latter chart, compared to Jars of Clay which peaked at No. 46 in 1996. Much Afraid's album sales slid down significantly after its debut peak on the Billboard 200, but despite that, it was still a best seller going Gold and Platinum selling over a million copies by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
In 1998, Jars of Clay won their first Grammy Award for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album at the 40th Grammy Awards and at the 29th GMA Dove Awards, the band won Group of the Year for the second consecutive year. The Japanese CD edition of Much Afraid also contained two bonus tracks: "The Chair" and the instrumental "Sleepers." Both tracks were originally found on the "Crazy Times" CD single. In 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the band rerecord Much Afraid and performed the album in its entirety in the studio and issued it as In Studio Performance of the "Much Afraid" Album on their own label Gray Matters selling it for a limited time with only 400 vinyls sold on black vinyl. The sales of the album benefited COVID-19 relief and prevention programs in Eastern and Southern Africa by way of the website bloodwater.org.
Track listing
All songs written by Jars of Clay, except where noted.
1. Overjoyed (Jars of Clay, Mark Hudson, Greg Wells) -2:59
2. Fade to Grey (Jars of Clay, Matt Bronleewe) -3:35
3. Tea and Sympathy (Dan Haseltine, Mark Hudson, Greg Wells) -4:52
4. Crazy Times (Dan Haseltine, Steve Mason, Mark Hudson, Greg Wells) -3:35
5. Frail -6:58
6. Five Candles (You Were There) -3:49
7. Weighed Down -3:40
8. Portrait Of An Apology -5:44
9. Truce -3:12
10. Much Afraid -3:54
11. Hymn -3:54
Personnel
Jars of Clay:
Dan Haseltine -lead vocals, percussion
Charlie Lowell -organ, acoustic piano, keyboards, backing vocals
Stephen Mason -guitars, bass guitar, backing vocals
Matt Odmark -guitars, mandolin, backing vocals
additional musicians:
Greg Wells -bass guitar, drums and percussion (tracks 1 -5, 7 -10)
Neil Conti -drums on track 6
Kate St. John -English horn on track 5
Ronn Huff -string arrangements (tracks 2, 5, 8 and 11)
Nashville String Machine -strings (tracks 2, 5, 8 and 11)
Gavyn Wright -conductor (track 6)
The London Session Orchestra -strings (track 6)
RIAA certifications
Gold certified in 1997.
Platinum certified in 2000.
Accolades
Grammy Award -Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album (Much Afraid)
Dove Award -Group of the Year
Radio singles
1997 "Crazy Times" -#1 Christian CHR, -#35 Christian AC, -#38 Billboard Modern
Rock Tracks
1998 "Five Candles (You Were There)" -#1 Christian CHR, -#17 Christian AC
1998 "Hymn" -#38 Christian AC
1998 "Fade to Grey" -#1 Christian CHR, -#37 Christian AC
1998 "Overjoyed" -#1 Christian CHR for 2 weeks, -#32 Christian AC
Previous release: Drummer Boy (EP) (1995)
Next release: Front Yard Luge (Live EP) (1999)
Watch the music video of "Crazy Times" here:
Watch the music video of "Five Candles (You Were There)" here:
Listen to the track "The Chair," taken from the "Crazy Times" CD single:
Listen to the instrumental track "Sleepers," taken from the "Crazy Times" CD single:
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