Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Crow's fourth studio album shines with a comforting glow not unlike that found on the album's cover art. The songs here are more optimistic, and she wears her Classic Rock influences with all the grace and confidence of a seasoned singer/songwriter. This is the album that puts Crow on the level of her heroes.

On her fourth studio album, Sheryl Crow is beginning to second-guess herself,
underestimating the resilience of her hardy, well-crafted tunes. Perhaps wary of
overwhelming or obscuring those songs with a good rocking out, she invites a studioful of
illustrious classic rockers (Don Henley) and alternative types (Liz Phair) to add a social
richness to an album that lacks a musical backbone. Despite the beach-radio-fun... More >

No dolt, she figures it's in her best interest to sound like one--as well as an insider outsider like Gush and Bore, whose horrible lessons in playing it safe she takes to heart. "We got rockstars in the Whitehouse/All our popstars look like porn," she whines on the first track, which the "hit" tops by claiming, "I don't have diddly squat," while dissing her "friend the communist" (who I bet isn't, and I also bet doesn't deserve the putdown). And those are the good songs. Soon here come Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, turns of phrase like "Lay it like it plays [a little dumb, but OK]/Play it like it lays [wha?]" and "With broken wings we'll learn to fly" and (am I missing some irony here?) "Life is what happens when you're making plans." Over this I'd take not the White House (where she'd go in a second if invited politely) but certainly porn (which I note without prejudice she is). (Grade - C+)