Sheryl Crow - Detours

Many before her have book-ended records with their best tracks, and six albums on, Sheryl Crow does exactly the same. Opener God Bless This Mess is a surprisingly touching piece of lone guitar naiveté. One senses the contrast between this and the rockier Shine Over Babylon should act as a clarion call, but it backfires. While the former is an interesting change from Crow's expected repertoire, the latter is the usual; a polished blues rock turd. There is a quasi-political slant to her lyrics that just seems trite against the music; Love Is Free counts in for a bit of faux-rawness while the Middle-Eastern twang of Peace Be Upon Us doesn't distract from some painful new age wording. Closing track Lullaby For Wyatt is a piano elegy that Kate Bush could do serious justice to. Despite small flashes of potential this is just another Sheryl Crow album. [Matt Gollock]