Frail (song)

Song infobox
Name = Frail
Type = Song
Artist = Jars of Clay
Album = Much Afraid
track_no = 5
Recorded = 1997
Genre = Christian
Ambient
Length = 6:57
Writer = Dan Haseltine, Stephen Mason, Matt Odmark, Charlie Lowell.
Label = Essential
Producer = Steve LipsonKot, Greg: "Bridges to Babylon". "Guitar World Acoustic", No. 25. Retrieved from http://www.jarchives.com/vault039.htm on 13 May, 2006.]
prev = "Crazy Times"
prev_no = 4
next = "Five Candles (You Were There)"
next_no = 6"Frail" is a song written and performed by Christian alternative folk rock group Jars of Clay which has appeared on many recordings by the group and lends its name to the group's debut demo release "Frail" from 1994. The song has been released on four of the group's recordings, however, it has never been released as a single.

Background

"Frail" was initially the college submission entry for Stephen Mason, guitarist for Jars Of Clay. When written by Mason, the song was purely instrumental. After creating the group with singer Dan Haseltine and pianist Charlie Lowell, Mason put forward the song to the group. The song, still an instrumental, was then re-recorded for the group's demo "Frail" in 1994 and chosen as the demo's title track.

In 1995, the group recorded their highly successful debut full length studio album, the eponymous "Jars of Clay". The song was not chosen to be included on the album, however, like the demo's song "Fade to Grey", the group decided to add it to their next studio album "Much Afraid" in 1997 with a full re-recording. For the re-recording, lyrics were written by the group, which by this time included Matt Odmark also as guitarist. This version is considered to be the "standard" version of the song.

In 1999, following the release of the group's third album "If I Left the Zoo", Jars of Clay released a rarities collection named "The White Elephant Sessions". This collection included Mason's original - instrumental - college submission piece of "Frail".

Most recently, the group re-recorded the song in 2003 for their pseudo-greatest hits collection "", for the studio portion of the album. As all of the songs selected were re-recorded and rearranged, Frail had a similar treatment. The version is the first to change key, as the song has been in E minor for all previous recordings, however the song was transposed the key of G minor, and also contained a very brief introduction unique to this version.

Personnel

This personnel section pertains to the "Much Afraid" version of the song. The personnel may vary from version to version.

Jars of Clay

*Dan Haseltine - vocals
*Stephen Mason - Guitars and backing vocals
*Matt Odmark - Guitars and backing vocals
*Charlie Lowell - Keyboards and backing vocals

Additional musicians

* Greg Wells - drums, bass guitar
* Kate St. John - English Horn in Track 5

Production personnel

* Stephen Lipson - producer
* Robert Beeson - executive producer
* Heff Moraes - engineer and mixer
* Chuck Linder - assistant engineer
* Stephen Marcussen - mastering
* Don C. Tyler - editing

Notes