Good Monsters is the seventh full-length studio album from Jars of Clay, released by Essential Records on September 5, 2006. This is their last album of new material from Essential Records and it is said to be lyrically their most aggressive album to date. It features eleven original songs, and a remake of "All My Tears" by Julie Miller. It also features guest appearances by singer/songwriter Kate York (on "Even Angels Cry"), Leigh Nash, of Sixpence None the Richer (on "Mirrors & Smoke"), and the African Children's Choir (on "Light Gives Heat").
"Dead Man (Carry Me)", the first single from the album, was released to radio stations on June 23, 2006.[8] "Work" was released as the second single, along with its music video, in late August. The band also released a music video for the album track "Good Monsters". In the September 2006 edition of CCM Magazine, the band credited fellow artist Ashley Cleveland with inspiring the improvisational sound of the album.
In an editor's fall albums overview in CCM Magazine, Good Monsters was called, "the album that Jars of Clay will be remembered for." It ended up taking the award for the CCM Magazine staff picks as album of the year, winning four out of the five spaces.
Overview
Concerning the album's title and themes, Dan Haseltine explains, "I was not sure how all of the experiences of the last few years would translate into music. There have been so many things to look at and describe. This record is part confessional, part euphoric love poem, bitter separation and part benediction. It was born out of many experiences and conversations between addicts, failures, lovers, loners, believers, and beggars. And so the language of recovery and the honest discourse about our attempts to live apart from God and apart from each other is a theme. Engaging people who are doing the hard work of laying their lives open to others, and avoiding isolation, has allowed me to see that there is both immeasurable evil and unfathomable good mixing under my own skin and it is grace, mercy and freedom that allow me to not simply be a monster, but to be a good monster."[8]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Jars of Clay (Dan Haseltine, Charlie Lowell, Stephen Mason, and Matt Odmark), except where noted
Richard Dodd – mastering at RichardDodd.com, Nashville, Tennessee
Conor Farley – A&R coordinator
Michelle Pearson – A&R production
Tim Parker – art direction
Jonathan Richter – art direction, cover design, packaging design
Wolf Hoffman – photography
Star Klem – stylist
Robin Geary – hair, make-up
Blackbird Studios, Nashville, Tennessee – recording studio
Sputnik Sound, Nashville, Tennessee – recording studio
Blackbird Studios, Sherman Oaks, California – mixing location
TRS West, Sherman Oaks, California – mixing location
Resonate Music, Burbank, California – mixing location
Honors
CCM Magazine named Good Monsters its Album of the Year shortly after its September release, unusually early for such a distinction. Editor Jay Swartzendruber declared it "the landmark album of 2006." He noted that all six members of CCM's editorial team agreed on the selection and that it was "the most profound album the Christian music community has released in years."[9]
Good Monsters was Christianity Today's No. 1 album of 2006,[10] and ranked No. 5 of New Release Tuesday's top 10 albums of 2006.[11]
