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Nothing to Crow about

By Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published February 5, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Sheryl Crow has gone from a refreshing voice to a ubiquitous one, popping up regularly with this duet, that duet, this soundtrack song or that one.

Calling this new disc Detours is as ludicrous as Celine Dion's recent title Taking Chances. Neither reflects what's inside the shrink-wrap.

Granted, Crow is far less offensive and lower-key than Dion in her delivery. Detours has plenty of soft adult rock (the grating Love Is Free) and boomer cliches (Love Is All There Is). I'm sure she has genuine concerns about Iraq and Katrina, but neither of the protest songs about them here add anything to the dialogue or to music.

Criticizing her music, however, feels like kicking a puppy. Her greatest crime is blandness, be it her soulless cover of The First Cut Is the Deepest a few years back or the utterly forgettable chorus of the title track of Detours.

On early hits such as Leaving Las Vegas and If It Makes You Happy, she pushed her voice to its limits and realized that melody was her friend. These days she uses her voice in the same limited ranges, sounding more like a conversation over a cup of coffee than anything you'd care about hearing twice.

Drunk at the Thought of You seems to be welded together from various other hits, from the "casual" count-in left at the beginning of the song to the calculated just-so vocal lines. She sings, "I've been there before / and it's such a big bore." Yep.

Sheryl Crow

Detours

A&M Records

Grade: C-

Comments

  • February 5, 2008

    3:41 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    I_Slay_The_Dragon writes:

    THIS, settles it: Mark Brown, for President.

  • February 5, 2008

    4:31 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    elaineb writes:

    Bought the CD today and listening to it now...kind of disappointing.