- Label
- A&M
- Release date
- 18th February 2008
- Genre
- Rock
- Buy this album
- Order CD
Coffee-house pin-up makes more music which treads the line between pleasant and irksome
If you drink a lot of alcohol one night, you expect to have a headache the next day. If you eat three tubs of ice cream in one sitting, you can expect to feel a bit queasy. And if you buy a Sheryl Crow album, you can expect to listen to a collection of hair-down, good-time folk rock songs which, perhaps, are the musical equivalent of a toe ring or one of those belts which is made out of a headscarf.
Crow is undoubtedly very talented, and here on Detours she produces some material which is up there with her best. For example, Love Is Free, on which she channels Don Henley and produces a happy, clappy, hippy singalong, is one of this album’s highlights – which is then, sadly, followed by the utterly preposterous story-telling of Gasoline, which just makes your teeth itch. Similarly, Out Of Our Heads is musically wonderful, again hearkening back to the best Seventies rock ‘n’ soul, but is followed and upset by the slightly mawkish title track. Still, on balance, this is a worthwhile addition to her body of work – looking back as it does to some joyous influences, it’s about 60 percent great and 40 percent mildly annoying.
More to try: The Doobie Brothers: Minute By Minute The Allman Brothers Band: Idlewild South Eagles: Eagles The James Gang: The James Gang Rides Again
