Weekly > Reviews
Sheryl Crow - Wildflower
I was about eighteen years old when Sheryl Crow burst onto the scene with her big hit single All I Wanna Do, now you could say I was impressionable still at that age or hormonal. Whichever way you look at it though I thought she was gorgeous as well as (quite) talented.
So I bought the album Tuesday Night Music Club and I guess I’ve just stuck with her ever since then, she’s had some up and down moments album wise and you’d never describe her as being on the cutting edge of things musically. What she does do she does well though, it’s middle of the road American pop rock for the coffee table brigade. Now I wouldn’t put myself into that category, I’d like to think on the whole I like a lot of very edgy stuff and a fair percentage of it is either quite quirky or certainly leftfield at the least.
When it comes to female singer songwriters though I tend to embrace the more easy listening, less challenging stuff easier than I do a male equivalent, which is why you’ll never find a David Gray record in my collection (no it’s not just the wobbly head), but yet you’ll find albums by Bebel Gilberto, Joss Stone and of course Sheryl Crow sitting on my shelves alongside the likes of Bjork, Emiliani Torrini and Sophie Zelmani.
This is the first new album from Crow for a good while now, the Greatest Hits album in 2003 may have made it seem like her absence hadn’t been that long, but for new material you have to go back to the mediocre C’mon, C’mon in 2002. It’s fair to say then that she is due a good album, 25 million album sales can make you complacent and both that album and The Globe Sessions did little to enhance her reputation following the first two successful albums.
Things looked promising when I heard she was writing again with Jeff Trott, who co-penned Everyday Is A Winding Road, If It Makes You Happy and My Favourite Mistake. Add to that the fact that a lot of the arrangement has been done by David Campbell who is none other than Beck Hansen’s father and things seem to be heading in the right direction.
- Sheryl Crow
- Wildflower (2005)
- Category: Album
- Label: AM Records
- Reviewed by: Kev
- Published on: 27 Sep 2005
- Comments: 0
- Beat Surrender Rating:
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Add to favouritesThe recent single Good is Good was a stinker though, fortunately it’s entwined amongst some of the most fragile and beautiful tracks that Crow has ever produced on Wildflower. From the early, gentle acoustic guitar that opens the album on I Know Why it’s a lot more reserved as an album, with Crow’s voice sounding more emotive than ever. Perfect Lie would have been a far better choice of single as would Lifetimes which is a mid paced melodic pop track that would have suited the radio better than Good is Good.
Letter to God is one of the few tracks that doesn’t work for me, the vocals on the track seem over produced with effects and aren’t helped by the whimsical nature of the lyrics. Generally though it’s her strongest album to date and does grow with more listens. The lyrics are clearly personal to her, no surprise really when you consider the highs and lows that both her and husband Lance Armstrong have been through in recent years.
So in summary, if you are a fan of hers I think you’ll love this album, if you aren’t but the thought of listening to her album doesn’t make you hurl then it might surprise you, if you’ve always hated this sort of thing then I’d advise you to stay clear still.
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