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Sheryl Crow recently released her sixth studio album titled Detours and the new material has been touted as her most personal and political. Unfortunately, I find the album very uneven and unremarkable as a whole. The album looks great on paper – you have Bill Bottrell (from Crow’s debut Tuesday Night Music Club) back in the producing chair and Crow writing about her personal turmoil and surviving cancer. But what we end up with is an unfocused batch of songs that meander through various styles with not enough of those all important hooks to hang on to. Even though Crow wrote on some interesting topics like the war, president Bush and her relationship with Lance Armstrong, she didn’t dig deep enough to make any of the songs meaningful. the song lyrics simply skim the surface with old cliches and catch phrases. here are some of the lame choruses Crow wants us to sing along to:
- Gasoline will be free, will be free, yeah, yeah, yeah
- Let me hear you say peace be upon us, peace be upon us, be upon us all
- Does anybody want you, does anybody need you, the question is..
Even though Crow went through a lot over the last few years, she didn’t share any new revelations in these songs for us listeners to sink our teeth into. Nothing on this CD makes me want to come back for more. the songs sound tired and uninspired. it’s essentially Sheryl Crow on autopilot. Crow and Bottrell even resorted to using “gimmicks” to try to keep the album interesting including the Tuesday Club sound on songs “Love is Free” and “Gasoline” and middle-eastern flavors on “Peace Be Upon Us” featuring Iranian vocalist Mitra Rahbar. It seems to me that if the songs were strong enough to stand on their own, they wouldn’t have needed to be “dressed up” so much. But I do have to mention that Crow does end the album on a strong note. the song “Lullaby for Wyatt” sounds sincere and heartfelt and stands out among the other fluff.

Detours tracklist:
1. God Bless This Mess 2:09
2. Shine Over Babylon 4:02
3. Love Is Free 3:22
4. Peace Be Upon Us 4:22
5. Gasoline 5:07
6. Out Of Our Heads 4:27
7. Detours 3:29
8. Now That You’re Gone 3:51
9. Drunk With The Thought Of You 2:39
10. Diamond Ring 4:10
11. Motivation 3:47
12. Make It Go Away (Radiation Song) 3:23
13. Love Is All There Is 4:01
14. Lullaby For Wyatt 4:08

watch Lullaby for Wyatt on youtube:

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music, reviews by retroDan