Album Reviews
Movies
Concert Reviews

Top 10
Resources
Contact Us

Jack Johnson’s second album On and On will likely sound familiar to avid fans since his trademark sparse sound—a combination of mostly acoustic guitar, bass, and subtle percussion—is still there. It’s not a carbon copy, though, as the lyrics have more depth and—surprise!—Jack’s a bit of an unlikely rock star now.

Contributing to the album’s familiarity is the fact that several songs, like "Holes to Heaven" and "Taylor," have become staples of Jack’s live shows and have been distributed widely via the tape-trading and file-sharing communities. Part of the minute-and-a-half interlude "Fall Line," in fact, has in the past been part of live performances of "Inaudible Melodies," the lead track from Johnson’s debut, Brushfire Fairytales. Most familiar, though, is "Rodeo Clowns," the song that first brought Jack Johnson widespread attention after he wrote it for G Love and Special Sauce and provided guest vocals on their recording of it. It appears on this album in stripped-down form but is still funky and catchy.

Lyrically, Johnson has begun to discuss weightier concerns. First single "The Horizon Has Been Defeated" is upbeat and poppy enough to win radio airplay and laidback enough to be enjoyed just for its goodtime vibe, but beneath the glimmery surface is a brief commentary on environmental destruction. And with a line like "Then the rigs begin to drill until the drilling goes too far," it’s tough to interpret the song as apolitical. He subtly attacks American jingoism with the satirical line "God bless these ones, not those ones, but these ones" on lead track "Times Like These," and "Cookie Jar" discusses the blame game that follows acts of teen violence. True, Jack doesn’t offer any solutions to these problems—and political attacks would seem horribly out of place if juxtaposed with this mellow music—but the mere presence of discussions of serious issues shows off real lyrical growth.

There’s still a romantic side to Johnson, though, as evidenced by "Cupid," whose lyrics include "How many times must we go through this? You’ll always be mine, Cupid only misses sometimes," and "Tomorrow Morning," which depicts one singing to his love over the telephone. The best of the love songs, though, is "Cocoon," on which Jack sounds resigned but affectionate over a lilting acoustic guitar melody. His soulful, crooning voice, in fact, doesn’t sound too different from the voice behind Brushfire Fairytales, but hey, who says that’s a complaint?

Also worthy of mention is the packaging. Perfectly matching the music’s laidback atmosphere and alluding to Johnson’s surfer past and fanbase, On and On is literally surrounded by beautiful images of ocean waves. A mix of candid photos of the album’s musicians and pretty nature shots in the liner notes adds to the album’s mellow mood.

But then there’s the question that must be asked of every artist’s sophomore release: how does it compare to the first album? Well, given that the instrumentation and sonic environment here are quite similar to the debut, it would be easy to criticize Jack for not taking any risks with his second album; but since he’s also developed an instantly recognizable personal sound that is again presented well, it’s tough to complain. The concerns may be weightier and the stakes a bit higher, given his higher profile at the time of this second album’s release, but Jack Johnson still does what he does and does it well.

Matthew Luter 6/22/03