Sheryl Crow

[Brwn_eyes0511]

Who's getting it tomorrow?

I am...

[EnchantedSLN]

Originally Posted by Brwn_eyes0511

Who's getting it tomorrow?

I am...

Ordinarily I would be, but I've heard it, and I have to say, it kinda sucked. I was pretty disappointed. I don't like this new trite, AC Sheryl. I miss the great blend of cynical social commentary and achingly beautiful lyricism that pervaded her earlier albums, and her grittier, pre-C'mon C'mon style.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by EnchantedSLN

Ordinarily I would be, but I've heard it, and I have to say, it kinda sucked. I was pretty disappointed. I don't like this new trite, AC Sheryl. I miss the great blend of cynical social commentary and achingly beautiful lyricism that pervaded her earlier albums, and her grittier, pre-C'mon C'mon style.

Preach it, my darling. It's terrible. If I get it, I get it. If not, oh well. Maybe our not buying it will send her a message that we don't like bland, boring Sheryl. Bring back the tough chick who writes biting, satirical lyrics about society. The Sheryl who could kick your ass six ways to Sunday.

[hayley]

Originally Posted by EnchantedSLN

Ordinarily I would be, but I've heard it, and I have to say, it kinda sucked. I was pretty disappointed. I don't like this new trite, AC Sheryl. I miss the great blend of cynical social commentary and achingly beautiful lyricism that pervaded her earlier albums, and her grittier, pre-C'mon C'mon style.

I agree. I played it a couple of times overhead in the music store I work at part-time, and it was like almost embarrassing me.

In my ongoing quest to not be 100% negative, though, I will say that I thought the artwork was fantastic!

[Brwn_eyes0511]

Originally Posted by EnchantedSLN

Ordinarily I would be, but I've heard it, and I have to say, it kinda sucked. I was pretty disappointed. I don't like this new trite, AC Sheryl. I miss the great blend of cynical social commentary and achingly beautiful lyricism that pervaded her earlier albums, and her grittier, pre-C'mon C'mon style.

I liked C'mon C'mon pretty good. But to me her best will ALWAYS be TNMC!

I think I will buy it anyways, just because I like her and I really do like "Good is Good." I also don't mind AC music that much either!

[Brwn_eyes0511]

Originally Posted by dissention

Preach it, my darling. It's terrible. If I get it, I get it. If not, oh well. Maybe our not buying it will send her a message that we don't like bland, boring Sheryl. Bring back the tough chick who writes biting, satirical lyrics about society. The Sheryl who could kick your ass six ways to Sunday.

Where can I listen to samples before buying?

[TheBlueLamp]

I bought this a couple of days ago. I'd heard on this board it was a bit crap but I don't usually pay attention to other people's reviews but this time they were right! BLAND! I mean, if Sheryl's happy and whatever, then good on her, but there's no bite in this album. I was sitting there listening to it and all the songs sound the same. Oh well, I guess they can't all be as good as TGS.

[kak125]

I am listening to the cd on aol music right now and so far I like it. I dont think Sheryl has to rock to be good.

Go here to listen: http://music.aol.com/songs/new_releases_full_cds.adp

or http://www.aolmusic.com incase that link doesnt work.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by kak125

I dont think Sheryl has to rock to be good.

No, she just has to write good songs.

[kak125]

I dont think that the writing on the Wildflower CD is bad at all. I just finished listening to the entire thing and I love it. I think Live It Up is the best song on the entire cd along with Wildflower. There isnt one song though that I think sucks at all. I find this cd to be mostly uplifting and thoughtful.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by kak125

I dont think that the writing on the Wildflower CD is bad at all. I just finished listening to the entire thing and I love it. I think Live It Up is the best song on the entire cd along with Wildflower. There isnt one song though that I think sucks at all. I find this cd to be mostly uplifting and thoughtful.

Oy, I cringe just thinking about that album, honey. "If butterflies are free to fly"? Gag. "Letter To God" has some of the worst lyrics she's ever penned, and she seems to have infused an inordinate amount of strings to every song for...no...real...reason. She used them sparingly in the past, and to good effect; "It's Only Love" was heartbreaking and the strings on that sucker pierced right through you and exposed your beating heart. With this single album, her use of strings now seems rote. Every song sounds the same with no noticeable change in tempo; ballads so sweet that dentists across the globe will see a resurgence in business due to a remarkable number of newly developed cavities amongst their patients.

"Live It Up" isn't a totally wretched piece of flaming offal, even if it sounds like a lost song from the C'mon C'mon sessions, but the fact that you have to wade through murky waters of lifeless midtempo song after lifeless midtempo song in order to get to it is a pretty challenging feat. Once it's over, you're plunged back into the depths of midtempo mediocrity, hoping that her romance with Armstrong crashes and burns because it will mean that she might possibly show a sign of personality later on down the road. Not once are you treated to single upbeat song after "Live It Up" and the whole affair ends on the dreariest of notes with the ersatz "Where Has All the Love Gone," a song that sounds suspiciously like something Michael Jackson dreamt up as a charity single to be produced by another gay porn director.

She's giving interview after interview, saying that now that she's in her forties, it's easier to be an "artist." She must have forgotten to include any of that "art" she's currently producing in middle age because it's nowhere to be found on this record, and there certainly isn't anything to crow about on it. To think that it took three years and whirlwind romance with Armstrong to produce this thing as some sort of final denouement about her past problems with depression and love is a horrifying thought. If she wants time to reflect so that she can write decent material, maybe she should just try going on vacation like everyone else does instead of stewing in her newly found introspective bliss, and boring me to the point where I can't even find the energy to produce tears of boredom.

If this is the best she can come up with, I say she should stay at home starching Lance's briefs. Just my opinion.

[Mari]

I like it when you give just your opinion.

I guess she's going the mac-road, following some really great emo albums with that blandness .. who knows in 15 years she'll do a Say You Will, then.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by trackaghost

I don't think it's that bland though. In fact I find this album much braver than anything she's released recently because the songs are heartfelt rather than commercial. There's not much that could be considered for a single.

I just don't get whysome people are saying it's embarrassing. What I find embarrassing is when older artists try to sound hip, but here Sheryl just sounds like herself, albeit it in a more stripped down way. I heard this album was inspired by old Elton John albums and Neil Young's Harvest, and I think it shows.

I totally disagree that this album sucks. I think it's nearer to Lucinda Williams territory than the false sunnyness (is that even a word?) of C'mon C'mon.

But anyway, that's just my opinion...

Why is it embarrassing? Because it's rote by the fifth track.

I guess it all comes down to the fact that I feel absolutely nothing listening to it. Whereas I could laugh along with songs like Members Only and A Change, or I could feel the heartache in her voice and in the music on It's Only Love and Riverwide, there's nothing on this new record that gets any sort of response out of me. It's just bland, with the same theme parading throughout, but without any clear attempt to freshen each song and give each one a life of it's own. They could have left the disc untracked as one long song and I wouldn't be able to tell that they're eleven individual songs.

I heard her say that about Harvest and Tumbleweed Connection, too, and I laughed. It makes for good copy in the press releases, though.

In any case, I'm glad you enjoy it.

[hayley]

I think my problem with it is just that her vocals, combined with the lovey lyrics, make it sound cloying. Like Sheryl doing a Hallmark card. I'm with Diss on missing the spark that was all over the first three records. She was gritty, you know? And cool, and ballsy, and emotional. Ever since "Picture" and that awful cover of "The First Cut Is The Deepest" and some of the songs off C'mon C'mon, I've just been... underwhelmed. It's like Sheryl-lite.

I don't think the album is terrible- it's just not the Sheryl that I loved.

[Brwn_eyes0511]

Originally Posted by dissention

Oy, I cringe just thinking about that album, honey. "If butterflies are free to fly"? Gag. "Letter To God" has some of the worst lyrics she's ever penned, and she seems to have infused an inordinate amount of strings to every song for...no...real...reason. She used them sparingly in the past, and to good effect; "It's Only Love" was heartbreaking and the strings on that sucker pierced right through you and exposed your beating heart. With this single album, her use of strings now seems rote. Every song sounds the same with no noticeable change in tempo; ballads so sweet that dentists across the globe will see a resurgence in business due to a remarkable number of newly developed cavities amongst their patients.

"Live It Up" isn't a totally wretched piece of flaming offal, even if it sounds like a lost song from the C'mon C'mon sessions, but the fact that you have to wade through murky waters of lifeless midtempo song after lifeless midtempo song in order to get to it is a pretty challenging feat. Once it's over, you're plunged back into the depths of midtempo mediocrity, hoping that her romance with Armstrong crashes and burns because it will mean that she might possibly show a sign of personality later on down the road. Not once are you treated to single upbeat song after "Live It Up" and the whole affair ends on the dreariest of notes with the ersatz "Where Has All the Love Gone," a song that sounds suspiciously like something Michael Jackson dreamt up as a charity single to be produced by another gay porn director.

She's giving interview after interview, saying that now that she's in her forties, it's easier to be an "artist." She must have forgotten to include any of that "art" she's currently producing in middle age because it's nowhere to be found on this record, and there certainly isn't anything to crow about on it. To think that it took three years and whirlwind romance with Armstrong to produce this thing as some sort of final denouement about her past problems with depression and love is a horrifying thought. If she wants time to reflect so that she can write decent material, maybe she should just try going on vacation like everyone else does instead of stewing in her newly found introspective bliss, and boring me to the point where I can't even find the energy to produce tears of boredom.

If this is the best she can come up with, I say she should stay at home starching Lance's briefs. Just my opinion.

With all that said...I think it's important to also remember that, as an artist, you can't always please everyone. Perhaps the songs mean a great deal to her as an individual...it doesn't mean that they are going to be LOVED by everyone else.