'Sessions' Not Much Fun, but Crafted Crow

THE GLOBE SESSIONS

Sheryl Crow

A&M Records

The girl who only wanted to have some fun seems to have finally settled down. Her third album, The Globe Sessions gives us a Sheryl Crow that can still wail and yell with the raspiest of them, but also one who can sing softly and play second fiddle to the instruments that have always supported her. Sessions once again proves that Crow is an artist constantly reinventing her music, and this time she has striven to represent a diversity of rhythms and styles, instead of focusing on lyrics and catchy melodies.

Crow's first two albums, 1993's Tuesday Night Music Club and 1996's Sheryl Crow, include songs that any radio listener could identify and quote from. Who can forget, and indeed consistent radio play makes it hard to forget, the lines "All I wanna do is have some fun," Everyday is a winding road" and "If it makes you happy..."? Crow shaped the songs on her first two albums around these sing-along lyrics and a host of fictional characters, relating anecdotes about a promiscuous neighbor in "Oh Marie," a bored and nosy bar chick in "All I Wanna Do" and a struggling working-girl in "Sweet Rosalyn."

This formula worked very well for the first two albums, which together earned five Grammies, but Sessions is a more introspective, refined album, exchanging the witty lyrics for musical variety.

Whereas the songs on Tuesday Night Music Club could only be called "folksy pop" and those on Sheryl Crow "rock," there is no simple label for the diverse sounds of Sessions. Crow tries out a country, bluegrass style on a few songs, a rocking, bass-heavy sound on others, and experiments on some tracks with new instruments such as the harmonica and violin.

"My Favorite Mistake" starts the album in classic Crow style. Sounding a little tipsy but always determined, Crow laments a bad relationship against the background of a catchy bass line that she plays herself. Things turn hyper with "There Goes the Neighborhood" (first line: "Let's party, let's get down"), but slow down with the gently acoustical "Riverwide", two examples of the wide rhythm and tempo variations that Crow infuses into the album. Crow's idol, Bob Dylan, originally recorded "Mississippi" but was displeased with the result. He gave the song to Crow to record in her own way, and she gave it a distinctly country sound and fast tempo, something that could never be found on Sheryl Crow.

Throughout the CD, one is reminded again and again of the amazing quality and ability of Crow's voice. Her vocal cords get quite a work-out, as she sings in multiple "voices" ranging from a throaty cry ("It Don't Hurt") to a light country twang ("Riverwide") to a low, seductive plea ("Anything But Down"), all the time maintaining an intriguing audibility. Once in a while, though, that unpleasant and annoying wail of hers manages to sneak its way in, but it is once in a great while on this CD.

"Members Only" is the best track on the CD, maybe because it goes back to what Crow does best: fun lyrics incorporated into a driving, though not overly heavy, rock melody. "All the rich kids shake their asses, looking for the two and four," she sings. We like it when Crow pokes fun at society, in this case dancing rich kids who can't quite find the beat, which makes her music as much about lyrical content and storytelling as it is about sound and instrumentation. Even though Sessions includes a nice melange of styles, it could use more songs like "Members Only." The album drags a little in the middle and just isn't as fun as Crow's previous albums. The songs are all unique and well-crafted, but you are not going to remember most of the lyrics, and don't even try singing along.

Sessions is carefully recorded and proclaims Crow as a serious musician capable of drawing from a number of styles to write diverse, solid music. Let's just hope she doesn't forget how to have some fun.