Sheryl Crow 1996

Don't laugh, but I think that Sheryl Crow's second album is pretty damn good. The music is so much better then the first and it' a bit experimental too. What she did is keep her root music in the forefront and then added loops, noises, and weird sounds to make it a very interesting album. This mix of all these things created an album that is not mentioned as a popular Sheryl Crow album. I remember it came out and people thought it was a pretty good album, but at the end of that year in 1996 on a best of the year music list NPR called it one the best of the year. I liked the music. At this point I really ignored a lot of popular music by then and to hear something like this really made me want to hear what she had to say and also to see all this oddness work on an album.

By this time I saw her three times and each time was actually pretty good. You could sense improvement from her and from her band. The music was very cool and her vocals very strong. Her lyrics were very smart and well versed. I remember going to see her in 1997 and with the new CD in my hand I could see these songs transform into actually really something great. My female vocal music was lacking, but she got me into more female music at that time then I have ever explored. Songs like "Everyday Is A Winding Road" and "The Book" are wonderful songs and quite addicting. The album is one of the most creative albums to come out of 1996.

The music of Sheryl Crow is simple, but you know sometimes that is great. Throughout the record, Crow spins out wild, nearly incomprehensible stream-of-consciousness lyrics, dropping celebrity names and products every chance she gets ("drinking Falstaff beer/Mercedes Ruehl and a rented Leer"). Often, these litanies don't necessarily add up to anything specific, but they're a perfect match for the mess of rock, blues, alt-rock, country, folk, and lite hip-hop loops that dominate the record.(AM) The fun thing about Sheryl Crow is when you see her live, she takes some of these songs and rearranged them to make them sound very fresh and new. I saw her three times and only one setting was a music for the masses type show. She stuck to her formula and did what she had to do, but the club shows were completely different.

Once I do a rare thing and go for some pop thing and really express that some stuff is actually pretty good. When she was the peak of her popular her music was all over the place. Even stations I did not even listen to were playing her music. I caught on to her by seeing her and hearing the overplayed first album. What was interesting back when she first started she did club dates. Now if you were playing everywhere you be in a big state like an open venue. Her club dates were wonderful and not crowded. She got to be herself and make these sound unique in a rare time. I wish that this kind of idea still worked with the music company where original music is not over hyped.

If you need to fix your "Pop Music" collection then you should start here. Listen to this album, it's got I think three hit songs. It's okay though these songs are not played much. You can still play this album and reflect how much she was a talent. Listen and enjoy. This music still is fresh as when it was put out in 1996. Enjoy!!