Sheryl Crow
Detours

THE REVIEW

Sheryl Crow: the young and carefree budding country-rocker of "All I Wanna Do", the sweet girl of "Strong Enough", the splendid performer of "The First Cut Is The Deepest", the sexy and sunny woman of "Soak Up The Sun", the stunning sui generis femme fatale of "My Favorite Mistake"; simply Sheryl Crow, a pure talent, a treasure of American music and beyond, my favorite singer who, after defeating breast cancer, returned to the scene in 2008 with "Detours", the sixth album of her splendid career: a special album, where the songs follow one another without pauses, between social and personal themes, grit and sweetness, sharp rock, simple and catchy country melodies, evocative folk harmonies, and bursts of compelling pop.

The glue that binds all the facets of the kaleidoscope of "Detours" is certainly the voice of Sheryl Crow, who once again proves to be a unique and personal interpreter in her genre, capable of a rare tonal and stylistic variety, choosing as her first single the pressing folk rock, with a distinctly polemical approach, in a tone almost declamatory and anything but enjoyable for a distracted ear, of "Shine Over Babylon", which in "Gasoline" speaks without mincing words about a complex and articulated theme such as the dependence on oil with a text of great irony and intelligence, against the backdrop of a sharp blues rock and in "God Bless This Mess" sings about the difficult situation of her country, the United States of America, in two wonderful minutes of guitar & voice filled with bitter and disillusioned sweetness.

But "Detours" is an album distinctly autobiographical as well as protest, Sheryl tells her story in the first person among the notes of these songs, with the liberating "Now That You're Gone" and "Love Is All There Is", characterized by catchy choruses in purely Crowian style, light and bittersweet folk ballads like "Detours" and "Drunk With The Thought Of You" or intense and painful, almost harsh like "Diamond Ring" and "Make It All Go Away (Radiation Song)" and especially "Lullaby For Wyatt", an emotional and poignant dedication to her adopted son. As in every Sheryl album, even in this one, there is no lack of more catchy and informal songs such as "Peace Be Upon Us", steeped in fascinating Middle Eastern harmonies, and the carefree country pop of the compelling "Out Of Our Heads" and the sunny "Love Is Free".

"Detours" is an album that doesn't let itself be appreciated immediately but grows with each listen; with its stylistic variety, it represents yet another proof of the talent and personality of this great singer who, around here, is crudely ignored or at best remembered as "the one who was with Lance Armstrong", who, if she wanted, could "prostitute" herself to the more vulgar standards of MTV and sell an impressively larger number of records compared to her still remarkable success but has never done so and never will; even in the future, she will continue to give us gems like "Detours" for the simple fact that she is Sheryl Crow, a true woman, a true artist, unique in her genre.