The Jayhawks - Smile

lovely light music with enough grit to stick to your ribs.

I broke this album 4 years ago when I dropped my discman pulling a gumball out of, yes, a gumball machine. The disc itself cracked in half, and I almost cried.

Though I haven't heard its songs once, since, I can still sing many of them, melody and all. These songs are stick in my brain, but not like an irritating Clear Channel single. Instead, they're sweet flitting things that pop in-and-out like a best friend visiting... not staying too long and coming at just the right intervals to remind me how much I like them.

My favorite's "Break in the Clouds," and I also particularly like "What Led Me to This Town." I dislike "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me." Gonna re-purchase it one of these days! March 15, 2006

Great CD, wonderful production

This CD brings together the excellent song writing with polished production. 'Sound of Lies' was the pre-cursor to this and they made a CD even better than that one.

BTW, I like the more bare-boned sound of their earlier CDs however I think the followup, 'Rainy Days Music' is way off the mark.

This is the best Jayhawks CD. December 4, 2005

One of best albums ever -- by anyone

I discovered the Jayhawks through 'Smile.' It's one of my favorite albums ever, by anyone -- all I can say is it turns up in my cd player all the time. It's sort of like Hank Williams, Lennon-McCartney, Bob Dylan and (at times) Jimmy Page all jammed together to create something completely new and unique. I've since gone back and have heard all their albums, and they're all great. It's interesting to see how the band has evolved. This is a band that should have a much, much (MUCH!) broader audience. Can't recommend it highly enough. Or you could, you know, keep listening to the crap that's on the radio... November 19, 2005

A Pop Gem

I suppose I can understand why fans of earlier Jayhawks albums were disappointed with this release. This is not alt-country by any means. However, this was the first Jayhawks CD I bought so, unlike those fans, I had no preconceived notions of what to expect. What I heard was one of the best blasts of pure pop magic of the last several years.

The melodies of songs like "Smile", "What Led Me to this Town", and "A Break in the Clouds" are hauntingly beautiful. Gary Louris' voice is perfect for this material and I love the backing vocals by Jan Gunderman. (Gunderman's piano is also excellent throughout). More uptempo and upbeat songs such as "Queen of the World" and "Wildest Dreams" are also executed perfectly and are supremely catchy.

There are two songs, "Life Floats By" and "Pretty Thing", that give the impression that the band is trying to obtain indie cred. Unfortuantely, these songs are too raucous and feel totally out of place here - and they're just not that good. I just program those two songs out and let the 11 other excellent songs carry me away to Pop heaven. November 4, 2005

Stays in the CD player

This is just a great, great CD. I find myself listening to this one, probably more than any other CD I own---and I own a lot.

Only one negative thing I can say about this CD is that "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" sounds EXACTLY like Fleetwood Mac. Not that there is necessarily anything wrong with that!!!! June 10, 2005

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