Q: What do Caedmon’s Call and Jars of Clay have in common?

A: They’re both still trying to live up to their first two major label releases in a lot of folks’ eyes.

In groups of people about my age cohort [say, three or so years either side of my age], we associate both bands with all the great music the bands were putting out when we were [finishing high school|going through college|starting post-college life]. Because we associate those songs with those days, anything that comes out since gets shortchanged because it’s not coming at what we see as the prime of our lives.

[Thought prompted by the awesomeness that is "Crazy Times" from Jars's Much Afraid.]

[[Followed by: am I going to associate the absolute awesomeness that is M. Ward's oeuvre to date with the sheer shittiness that has been 1Q2007? Man, I hope not.]]

But think about it: what good music do you associate with a great time in your life, and subsequently consider anything by that band to be sub-par as a result, whether or not it’s really sub-par? [Because I'm still with Derek on the "Share the Well is the best album Caedmon's ever put out" bandwagon.]