Sheryl Crow
The Very Best of Sheryl Crow

THE REVIEW

The best of a true diva, an extraordinary interpreter of American music and beyond, a singer whose outer beauty perfectly reflects her enormous talent as a singer, composer, and songwriter capable of creating her own musical recipe using wholesome and genuine ingredients like rock, country, and pop, blended by a voice capable of evoking emotions precisely because of its simplicity and an uncommon expressive ability. One great advantage of this best of is that the songs are not arranged in chronological order but in a way that forms a homogeneous, warm, and exciting musical flow, 73 minutes of high-level pop experience to listen to in one breath. No sampling, synthesizers, dance winks, or other gimmicks. Just voice, guitars, bass, drums, and little else. STRAIGHT TO THE HEART, STRAIGHT TO THE SOUL.

A catchy refrain, an unmistakable rhythm that immediately gets stuck in your head, and a young Sheryl who presents herself with a cheeky and confident demeanor, like a seasoned performer: in a few words, "All I Wanna Do", without taking anything away from this song, which allowed her to kick off a brilliant and successful career, the musical soul of Ms. Crow certainly cannot be summed up in these four and a half minutes: Sheryl is an artist with a thousand facets, who manages to express something different and unique in each composition: take, for example, the single taken from this best: "The First Cut Is The Deepest"; the song is a cover of Cat Stevens, but she interprets it with a style, perfection, and emotional conveyance that make it practically indistinguishable from the rest of her repertoire. A wonderful song by Sheryl Crow and from Sheryl Crow.

The softer and more velvety soul of the Missouri girl also emerges in gentle candlelit ballads like the acoustic "Strong Enough", the ethereal, enveloping, and intimate atmospheres of "Home" and "I Shall Believe" or, better yet, "Picture", a poignant country ballad where Sheryl's voice intertwines with Kid Rock's (despite trying hard to show otherwise, he too is an artist with flair).

The second soul of Ms. Crow is closer to "All I Wanna Do", namely the more rock, more electric, more determined side, expressed in songs like "Everyday Is A Winding Road", with a very "on the road" flavor, and "Leaving Las Vegas", more dazed and drunken, sharing original and intriguing rhythms with the first historic hit, "A Change Would Do You Good" and "There Goes The Neighborhood", songs with a very ironic and pressing feel that wink at black music, or the wonderful duo "If It Makes You Happy"-"Run, Baby, Run", great, almost epic classics with electric guitars accompanying a stunning voice that delivers emotions in every single verse.

Then there's a third soul of Sheryl, one that explores new territories, that broadens horizons, that sets no limits, that gives rise to the alluring and refined pop of "My Favorite Mistake", the more fun, carefree, and playful vibe of "Soak Up The Sun" (for which a rather lavish video was shot), that collaborates with the excellent pop quartet The Corrs for "C'mon, C'mon", the title track of the 2002 eponymous album, giving her sound a delightful, irresistible, and enjoyable Irish touch, and that manages to produce a masterpiece, a timeless evergreen like "Light In Your Eyes", a previously unreleased track that alone is worth the price of the entire album (listen to believe).

All this is Sheryl Crow, a wonderful artist whose soul is captured here in sixteen songs, none of which is the same as the other, like snowflakes, but all equally exciting, true, authentic, each with its own sound and story. It is really sad that in our little Italy, stars like Madonna, Britney Spears, or Beyonce get endless visibility while artists like Sheryl Crow or Kenny Chesney remain unknown to most or, worse yet, are only remembered for trivial gossip stories, but if, like me, you are in constant and frenetic search of Pop music with a capital P, then buy this album, and you will make an emotional investment that will last over time.