Sound of Lies

Reception

Sara Scribner of the Los Angeles Times felt that Sound of Lies was the work of the band "still reaching to discover what it is" in the wake of Mark Olson's departure, though noting that "despite battling emotions, muddled messages and elusive experimentation, this is still a brave album." David Browne of Entertainment Weekly wrote that while "the music can still have a breathtaking, across-the-great-divide sweep", the album as a whole "is caught between two worlds — it's a little bit wimpy country, a little bit wimpy rock & roll — and ends up lacking the power of either." Robert Christgau of The Village Voice assigned it a "dud" rating, indicating "a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought."

In a retrospective review for AllMusic, critic Thom Owen called Sound of Lies "the band's most ambitious album to date" and felt that Louris' lyrics "have a naked, emotional honesty which would have been more affecting if the music echoed its sentiment, yet the record still has a subtle grace and power, proving that the Jayhawks remain a distinctive band without Olson."

Track listing

All songs written by Gary Louris, unless otherwise noted.

1. "The Man Who Loved Life" – 5:00
2. "Think About It" (Louris, Marc Perlman) – 5:37
3. "Trouble" (Louris, Perlman) – 4:50
4. "It's Up to You" – 3:38
5. "Stick in the Mud" – 3:34
6. "Big Star" – 4:25
7. "Poor Little Fish" – 3:56
8. "Sixteen Down" – 5:23
9. "Haywire" – 5:21
10. "Dying on the Vine" (Louris, Perlman) – 5:52
11. "Bottomless Cup" (Tim O'Reagan) – 4:14
12. "Sound of Lies" – 3:56

13. "I Hear You Cry" – 3:48 (Perlman)

13. "I Hear You Cry" – 3:48 (Perlman)
14. "Sleepyhead" – 3:29 (b-side "Big Star" single)
15. "Kirby's Tune" – 5:34 (Kraig Johnson, Louris, Perlman, Karen Grotberg, O'Reagan) (studio outtake – previously unreleased)
16. "It's Up to You" – 3:37 (alternate version – previously unreleased)
17. "Sound of Lies" – 4:24 (rough mix – previously unreleased)

Personnel