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Label: A&M
Sound/Style: politically- and emotionally-charged pop/rock with folk and world music elements
By Steve Morley
On hits like “Everyday Is a Winding Road” and “Soak Up the Sun,” Sheryl Crow demonstrated the making-lemonade-out-of-lemons principle: While their verses overflow with tart social commentary, the songs’ choruses serve up shimmering melodies and phrases that leave a potently sweet aftertaste.
After the release of 2005’s bittersweet Wildflower, Crow’s high-profile relationship with cyclist Lance Armstrong ended, and she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her new disc, Detours, is the result of the alarm sounded by those events. Accordingly, it’s an album about waking up to harsh realities, both internal and external. Crow used her trademark lemonade recipe on part of the record, but the political activist, whose folksinger heart beats insistently beneath her pop and rock sensibilities, leaves little doubt about the seriousness of her agenda.
The wistful opening track, “God Bless This Mess,” was recorded directly to a portable cassette machine for effect. The muffled, lo-fi audio sets the stage for the disc’s darker lyrics, shot through with references to war and an America divided by crisis and political fallout. The slow-motion shuffle of “Shine Over Babylon” underpins apocalyptic-sounding lyrics about a declining culture that “celebrate(s) the golden cow” and “praise(s) the bloated bank account.” (“Freedoms etched on Sacred pillars/ Hollow stones of mindless filler/ Can lead to madman oil drillers/ Won’t be long before we all are killers.”)
But the song’s arcing signature phrase, in trademark Crow style, tosses a hopeful banner skyward.
“Out of Our Heads,” an island-flavored march sporting a sing-along chorus, is buoyant but unyielding in its message of anti-violence. (“Losing babies to genocide/ Oh, where’s the meaning in that plight/ Can’t you see that we’ve really bought into/ Every word they proclaimed and every lie/ If we could only get out of our heads/ Out of our heads/ And into our hearts”)
While “Out of Our Heads” addresses its listeners as “children of Abraham,” “Peace Be Upon Us” moves even closer to the Middle East—a setting that, given the current military activity there, highlights Crow’s peaceful initiative. The gently stirring track is presented as a kind of blessing and features an Arabic translation of “the meek shall inherit the earth” between English verses that speak encouragement to those “trying to reach the light.” (“All the sinners and saints/ All you creatures of faith/ Don’t need to be afraid/ If you know what I mean/ Let me hear you say/ Peace be upon us…”)
Crow’s more confessional songs bare emotional wounds in lines like “Mother, teach me to love with a paper-thin heart,” adding poignancy to her outcry for global harmony by admitting how hard it can be to overcome the fear of loving simply at a personal level. “Make It Go Away,” an eerie and harrowing song about Crow’s cancer scare, also ponders whether it’s preferable to die or relive the pain of lost love. Her tentatively optimistic reply comes on the sublimely melodic “Love Is All There Is,” sung in a vulnerable voice miles removed from the fist-raising crusader heard elsewhere.
Detours finds Crow taking some alternate paths, though its many sure-footed turns may take unsuspecting musical joy-riders down avenues of awareness they might otherwise have opted to avoid altogether.
Note: Detours contains language that some listeners may find objectionable.
Audio Clips
"God Bless This Mess"
"Shine Over Babylon"
"Love Is Free"
"Peace Be Upon Us"
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