On and On is Jack Johnson's follow up to his insanely amazing, pure classic, debut album Brushfire Fairytales. As a realistic music fan, I don't expect Jack to ever put an album as perfect as that one, but I also don't expect him to drop off all that much. Looking back now, I can confidently saw that Jack will never fall off, just because he's that awesome. This album (obviously) isn't as good as his first, but it's quite good. There isn't really a bad song on the album, and there are several outstanding tracks.

Track Listing:
1. Times Like These (4 stars)
2. The Horizon Has Been Defeated (5 stars)
3. Traffic In The Sky (5 stars)
4. Taylor (5 stars)
5. Gone (4 stars)
6. Cupid (3.5 stars)
7. Wasting Time (5 stars)
8. Holes To Heaven (5 stars)
9. Dreams Be Dreams (4 stars)
10. Tomorrow Morning (3.5 stars)
11. Fall Line (3.5 stars)
12. Cookie Jar (4 stars)
13. Rodeo Clowns (4.5 stars)
14. Cocoon (5 stars)
15. Mediocre Bad Guys (3 stars)
16. Symbol In My Driveway (4.5 stars)

Total - 68.5/80 - 85%

This album starts of with the almost solo Jack track (ooo, I like that) Times Like These. It has light bass and hardly audible percussion, which add little to the song. I'm used to Jack opening albums with classic's, but this isn't one, although I believe it was intended as an opener. It sets a great tone for the album. It is subtlely political, like the rest of the album, so it's fitting. The instrumentation isn't anything special and neither are the lyrics. Even though it's mediocre for Jack, it's still better than most people, hence the 4 star rating. On to the next song....

The Horizon Has Been Defeated. We are first hit with nice muted electric guitar - a nice change from the last song. This song has a wonderful island feel to it. It's light, bouncy and bubbly. Excellent music. The guitar is unique, the bass is funky, and the drums follow suit. The lyrics are also great. He has some amazing social commentary on the state of us as a race, while still maintaining that fun and loose vibe that made Jack famous. Sample:

Future complications in the strings between the cans
But no prints can come from fingers if machines become our hands
And then our feet become the wheels and then the wheels become the cars
And then the rigs begin to drill until the drilling goes too far

The next song is a candidate for the song of the album, Traffic In The Sky. Even from the title you can guess what it's about.... 9/11? Remarkably, this song was actually written before the tragedy, making the song that more special. The song has got some great percussion with light cymbals and unintrusive bass. The fingerpicked guitar line is perfect for the lyrics; the first verse and chorus is as follows:

There's traffic in the sky
And it doesn't seem to be getting much better
There's kids playing games on the pavement
Drawing waves on the pavement
Shadows of the planes on the pavement
It's enough to make me cry
But that don't seem like it would make it feel better
Maybe its a dream and if I scream
It will burst at the seams
This whole place will fall to pieces
And then they'd say...
Well how could we have known?
I'll tell them it's not so hard to tell
If you keep on adding stones
Soon the water will be lost in the well

This is an incredible song which needs to be heard, followed by another candidate for best of the album, Taylor. This starts with a bluesy acoustic intro, and then heads into the nice, bassy verse guitar. It's a nice change from the usual chords or fingerpicking Jack is known for. The lyrics are also quite nice. They speak of several people who seem to be lost in their life, ending with the chorus and the lines He just wanders around, unaffected by, the winter winds, yea. A bit depressing but an amazing song.

Gone is similar to On and On in terms of instrumentation. Acoustic guitar, soft bass, light hand-drum percussion. It's pretty good. The lyrics are fairly soft and, once again, social commentary on the materialistic nature of our society. Good lyrics, and a good song, but way too short. This is only followed by the shortest song on the album, Cupid. Clocking in at 1 minute and 5 seconds and only involving Jack himself, it's fairly good for the length. The lyrics concern him and a loved one, which is hard to find on the album. However, too damn short.

Jack brings the album right back to life with the incredible Wasting Time. Actually, saying Jack brings the album back to life is incorrect - this song was co-written by his bandmates Merlo Podlewski and Adam Topol. The instrumentation in this song is incredible. It's got a great rhythm with solid drums and bass. Jack mans the electric guitar for this one and well, too. He intersperses great little hammer-on's and light strumming. He also drops a pretty solid solo as well. Overall, amazing song.

The album continues solid with Holes to Heaven. This song was my favorite on the album for a great long while, and even though I'm not so sure anymore, it's still incredible. The lyrics have a great retrospective feel to them, as he speaks of situations in the past. Then he proclaims: There were so many fewer questions when stars were still just the holes to heaven. So, true, Jack, I think of that myself all the time. The music is also top notch. It's got that quintessential Jack Johnson vibe to it. It's also has multiple layers of guitar (acoustic and electric) which mesh beautifully. Towards the end some conga percussion kicks in as well as a great outro that's either ukulele or guitar played really high on the neck. This song is an absolute must hear.

Now onto the "B" side of the record (I have it on vinyl). As you can see from the ratings, the second half drops off a bit. There's really only one incredible song and there's a few songs that I would say are very poor by Jack's standards. The first song on this side, Dreams Be Dreams is actually quite delightful. It's very short so perhaps it didn't get the rating it deserved, but the instrumentation is wonderful. It starts of with a cymbally (word or not?!) drum intro, then nice hammer-on guitar line before the fingerpicked verse. The lyrics are about a lost girl in a poor relationship, which is something not often seen on this album. The lyrics are a bit preachy in my opinion, maybe corny, but the song is beautiful nonetheless.

Tomorrow Morning is the good song gone bad. It sounds amazingly Jack Johnson-esque, but it lacks in many areas. It's got a fairly unneeded intro, and the lyrics aren't that exciting. The music isn't too bad - light, airy, acoustic. It's all very indicative of the great man himself, but it really doesn't get my juices flowing. The same is for the next song as well, Fall Line. Another short solo Jack song, which bothers me a bit. The lyrics are pretty good and they speak of the downfalls of society (yet again). The lack of creativity and the rushing of the lyrics make this song not to exciting to listen to. Next track, please.

Cookie Jar takes the cake as being, hands down, the most political track on the album. Undeniably influenced by the Columbine tragedy, this song speaks of how we can't point fingers at any one person and we have to realize that it's our fault as a society. This song was actually written pre-Brushfire Fairytales, but not recorded in the studio until now. It's got great percussion which really makes the song amazing.

Rodeo Clowns is the Jack Johnson song you never knew you heard. This song was originally released on G.Love's album Philadelphonic and, if I'm not mistaken, it was a single. This version is fairly similar, with a strange percussion intro with a very nice guitar line before kicking into the song. The lyrics in this song are excellent. My only complaint that they replaced the wonderful guitar/whistling solo towards the end with some very unexciting conga. This bothers me very much, and keeps the song from getting five star rating. I actually prefer the version on Philadelphonic.

The next song, Cocoon, is absolutely incredible. This is Jack Johnson at the height of his emotion power, and this song drips with emotion on every level. The drums are soft and sweet, the fingerpicked guitar is absolutely amazing, and the way the bass subtlely mirrors the guitars is incredible. This is also the longest song on the album, clocking in at 4 minutes and 10 seconds. The lyrics, however, really make this song incredible. You really need to hear this song, but until you do, here are a sample of the lyrics:

Well based on your smile I'm betting all of this
Might be over soon But your bound to win
Cause if I'm betting against you I think I'd rather lose
But this is all that I have

So please Take what's left of this heart and use
Please use only what you really need
You know I only have so little
So please Mend your broken heart and leave

I know it's not your style I can tell by the way that you move
It's real, real soon But I'm on your side
And I don't want to be your regret I'd rather be your cocoon
But this is all that you have

The next song drops off from the last drastically. Mediocre Bad Guys may be Johnson's worst song of his recorded career. It fades in and has a remarkable uncharacteristic guitar line, laced with wierd effects that are completely unlike Johnson. I'm a fan of expirementation, but here it seems like he makes a half-hearted attempt at doing something different and completely loses sight of the lyrics. The lyrics are stale and stagnant and seem like they mean nothing. I'm very dissapointed with this track.

The album is brought up slightly by the feel-good closer Symbol In My Driveway. It's got a great ocean feel to it, courtesy of the nice wave sounds laying the backdrop. Jack coming in on the guitar and Topol drops some nice percussion. There's also what sounds like subtle horns in the background, which adds to the strange musicality of this song. This song succeeds where Mediocre Bad Guys failed - it creates a strange musical landscape, while still retaining that classic Jack sound. This song was actually recorded live on Jack's brothers porch, then they added some instrumentation in the studio. This explains the ocean and the talking towards the end. The lyrics in this one are pretty ambiguous, but I like them. A strong way to end the album, and also a great retrospective way to end it as well.

Related Albums:

Brushfire Fairytales - Jack Johnson

In Between Dreams - Jack Johnson

Sing-a-longs and Lullabies for the film Curious George - Jack Johnson

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Sleeping