Jewel: The Essential Live Songbook

An audiovisual companion to Jewel's 2006 Goodbye Alice in Wonderland (and a preview of her country-oriented follow-up, Perfectly Clear), The Essential Live Songbook also serves up a slew of hits in two high-def-filmed overlapping 2007 concerts: one from Dallas's Meyerson Symphony Center (a 20-song set) and the other from the Rialto Theatre in Joliet, IL (27 songs). Jewel begins with a hollow-body guitar, but after the first seven tracks on the Dallas gig, she's joined by a five-man band for the 13 remaining selections, which include “Hands,” “Standing Still,” and “Who Will Save Your Soul.” Occasionally, the backup band is too loud, which doesn't suit Jewel's folk-pop style, even if her voice is strong enough to rise above the fray. Between numbers, she talks about growing up in Alaska, her affection for reality TV, and sounding like Kermit the Frog on “Who Will Save Your Soul.” Different outfits, stage setups, and set lists aside, the two shows are fairly similar (she even repeats the Kermit story in Joliet), although a chamber orchestra accompanies her for the second half of the Rialto show, during which she incorporates covers of Cole Porter's “Anything Goes” and Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg's “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Presented as a double-disc DVD set in Dolby Digital 5.1 and a single-disc Blu-ray release boasting superior image quality and crystal-clear DTS-HD 5.1 audio, extras include an interview with Jewel, a glam-country video for “Stephenville, TX” (featuring a cameo from her rodeo star husband Ty Murray), and—exclusive to the Blu-ray disc—four bonus live tracks from a concert at Colorado's Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Recommended. Aud: P. (K. Fennessy)