Sheryl Follows Tuesday Night
With Something To Crow About
Sheryl Crow by Sheryl Crow
Pop rock's female counterpart to John Mellencamp may well be Sheryl Crow, one of Missouri's most famous ex-elementary school teachers. Parent-teacher conferences that gathered in dads by the droves notwithstanding, Crow's self-titled 1996 followup to the massive hit Tuesday Night Music Club is an enjoyable album that may be more pleasant to listen to if one skips the three massive hits on the album and dives into some of the album cuts.
There are 56 minutes of music across thirteen tracks here. Toss out the big three hits (which included two Top 20 singles) and the final two cuts (The Book and Ordinary Morning which are filler at best, and you still end up with 8 pretty decent songs across a variety of styles sure to please most mainstream/adult listeners.
Grammy Darling
Crow won nine Grammy Awards during the eight year period between 1994 and 2002. This, her second album, may be the highlight of that time and is certainly the most consistent of her releases. Grammy voters selected Sheryl Crow as 1996's Best Rock Album and its biggest hit If It Makes You Happy as Best Female Rock Performance, categorizations purists could easily fault.
That haul on only Crow's second release firmly proved that there wasn't a fluke when Tuesday Night Music Club sold eight million sold copies. Not only was she selling albums by the millions and charting them high, but her musical peers were rewarding her with Grammy hardware, making her one of the lucky few who avoided the Best New Artist Grammy curse.
Perhaps they heard lyrics that sometimes sounded like a Midwestern Springsteen over a crackling riff lifted from The Rolling Stones. And next to 1996's other female Grammy winners like Celine Dion, Toni Braxton and Tracy Chapman, Sheryl Crow was a rock and roll wild child.
The Music
Joined by session drummer extraordinaire Jim Keltner and Pete Thomas from Squeeze, Crow is always front and center on this release. She wrote or co-wrote every song and played guitar, piano and bass throughout. Crow is even given a credit as the release's producer although many of the sound sculpting tricks, distortions and instrumental layers undoubtedly belong to engineer Tchad Blake, one of music's most celebrated tinkerers. Listen closely - in headphones, if possible - to pick up the multiple layers and lots of unique sounding instruments brought in for a few grace notes or a single passage. The pair also do an excellent job blending the backing vocals on virtually every cut. That is not surprising given that Crow's early professional experience included singing backup for the likes of Michael Jackson and Don Henley.
Hard To Make A Stand is one of my favorite cuts on Sheryl Crow. The Springsteen-strong lyrics are sung over a distorted guitar, restrained gospel choir and organ. Never a power singer, Crow alternately snarls and glides over the notes. Another character portrait is featured in Oh Marie, which is a relatively bland song only made interesting by the lyrics and Crow's double-tracked lead vocal.
Another noteworthy cut is Love Is A Good Thing, where Crow drives a wailing vocal over a distinctive bass line. The song made international headlines with its lyrics talking about children killing each other "with a gun they bought at Wal-Mart discount store." The giant retailer caught wind of the lyric before the release and never carried it, effectively shutting down one of the United States' largest sales channels. Finally, the ballad Home is a song worthy of inclusion on any female singer-songwriter's album. The gut-wrenching lyric is sung over a simple strummed guitar with an electric piano providing counterpoint. Crow's voice is not technically great, but is pleasant and provides a nice balance to the acerbic lyric.
The Bottom Line, Skips and All
In an era where popular music was dominated by Celine Dion ballads and The Spice Girls, Crow was part of a renaissance that included Alanis Morissette and Sarah McLachlan. There is half a greatest hits album here for those who simply like Top 40 music, but there are some lyrical depths that never played on any radio station that are worth diving into on Sheryl Crow. Like Mellencamp, her light and basic deliveyr may not win many critics over, but the release was well received by the music industry and fans alike, suggesting its worth a listen.
Five Things To Remember From This Review
1. This is the followup to Tuesday Night Music Club, Crow's debut, which sold 8 million copies.
2. There are three massive hits on this release.
3. Crow wrote or co-wrote every song on Sheryl Crow, and the lyrics are one of its best features.
4. There is a mix of mainstream and classic rock styles here that won't offend anyone, even if they are a trifle safe.
5. Grammy voters adored this release, including awarding it Best Rock Album of 1996.
