Post by petrolino on Sept 11, 2020 19:36:14 GMT
Sheryl Crow : 27 Years Of Longplay Studio Work
Singer-songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Sheryl Suzanne Crow was born in Kennett, Missouri, in the United States of America. Kennett is in the gateway between the American midwest and the south, located in the southeast corner (or "Bootheel") of Missouri, just a few miles walk from Arkansas. Her mother, Bernice Crow (née Cain), was a piano teacher. Her father, Wendell Wyatt Crow, was a trumpeter who practised law. Her great-grandfather was Republican congressman Charles A. Crow of Sikeston, Missouri (located just north of the Missouri bootheel, though some locals consider Sikeston to be a part of it).
Crow studied at Kennett High School where she was a cheerleader, a majorette and an all-state track athlete. She became a member of several prominent youth organisations and was politically active from a young age. She was crowned Paperdoll Queen in her senior year. She was also a versatile member of her high school band.
Crow enrolled at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in music composition, performance, and education from the School of Music. She was considered a musical prodigy back home in Missouri but was largely unassuming about her talents. During her student years, she was a member of the group Cashmere. She also sang at outdoor events with her sorority sisters. Following her graduation, Crow became a music teacher in Fenton, Missouri.
Crow continued to perform with bands locally, which led to her obtaining a regular gig recording advertising jingles at a music studio in St. Louis, Missouri. As her reputation grew, Crow became a select harmony singer, working with Jimmy Buffett and Belinda Carlisle among others. She also landed some acting roles, including a part in the televised crime musical 'Cop Rock'.
Her first studio album was aborted in 1992 due to production issues, though it's been widely circulated through bootleg editions. In 1993, she finally secured a release for her official debut album, 'Tuesday Night Music Club' (1993). She's gone on to release 10 more studio albums over a period of 27 years, with her latest album 'Threads' (2019) possibly being her last, though she does intend to continue performing. Hopefully, she'll be back in the studio before long.
"Getting old is definitely not for sissies, to quote the great Bette Davis. I don’t love getting lines on my face, but I’m not going to get a facelift."
- Sheryl Crow, The Guardian
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[ Albums ]
'Tuesday Night Music Club' (1993)
"Yes, there really was a Tuesday Night Music Club, and yes, it spawned an album that launched a music career. The details of how that happened have been argued about ever since, but as we all now know, the talent of Sheryl Suzanne Crow is inarguable.
Before that somewhat rocky chapter, Crow had certainly paid her dues. Born of musical parents, a music major in college, she started out teaching autistic kids. She spent her twenties singing commercial jingles, doing session work, and then touring with Michael Jackson and Don Henley on backup.
After a bummer of a first album attempt experience, she started going with her then-boyfriend Kevin Gilbert to informal jam and songwriting sessions at the LA studio of producer Bill Bottrell (who produced the Tuesday Night Music Club record, and also worked with Jackson, Tom Petty, ELO, Elton John and Shelby Lynne, and who reunited with Crow for her 2008 release, Detours). Also in the room were David Baerwald and David Ricketts (of David & David), Brian MacLeod, and Dan Schwartz.
Crow was the one with a recording contract, so that’s where their creations landed. She explained the title and the situation, and everyone is credited, of course. But as Steve Huey wrote for AllMusic, Crow found out that “success came at a price,” as beefs arose. Regardless, she powered forward with an extensive tour for what would be the first of the 11 studio albums she’s released through a rich and varied career."
Before that somewhat rocky chapter, Crow had certainly paid her dues. Born of musical parents, a music major in college, she started out teaching autistic kids. She spent her twenties singing commercial jingles, doing session work, and then touring with Michael Jackson and Don Henley on backup.
After a bummer of a first album attempt experience, she started going with her then-boyfriend Kevin Gilbert to informal jam and songwriting sessions at the LA studio of producer Bill Bottrell (who produced the Tuesday Night Music Club record, and also worked with Jackson, Tom Petty, ELO, Elton John and Shelby Lynne, and who reunited with Crow for her 2008 release, Detours). Also in the room were David Baerwald and David Ricketts (of David & David), Brian MacLeod, and Dan Schwartz.
Crow was the one with a recording contract, so that’s where their creations landed. She explained the title and the situation, and everyone is credited, of course. But as Steve Huey wrote for AllMusic, Crow found out that “success came at a price,” as beefs arose. Regardless, she powered forward with an extensive tour for what would be the first of the 11 studio albums she’s released through a rich and varied career."
- Laura Fedele, 90.7 WFUV
'Sheryl Crow' (1996)
"Sheryl Crow was drunk during the recording of most of her debut Tuesday Night Music Club. The album (the title of which was inspired by the weekly jam sessions that ultimately produced the disc’s rootsy, beer-logged songs) was in stark contrast to Crow’s pointedly self-titled follow-up. Released in 1996, Sheryl Crow sounded right at home next to other post-grunge, postmodern (and seemingly post-everything) albums like Beck’s Odelay and Ani DiFranco’s Dilate. The mid-‘90s was a sort of wasteland for alternative pop of this kind (the standard was to mix ordinary pop songwriting with samples, hip-hop beats and electronic effects), which produced an endless list of one-hit wonders not unlike the similar synth-driven boom of the ‘80s. But Crow, like Beck, found that rare balance between retro, organic rock and slick, glam-pop on her sophomore effort.
Crow’s voice sounds more assured when she’s sober. The critically-hailed singer took full-reign of the production duties, partially in response to suggestions that she was a mere puppet to her all-male Tuesday Night Music Club. As such, there’s a palpable, fear-driven ambition to the album. Her drive paid off and not only did Crow avoid the dreaded sophomore slump, but Sheryl Crow is easily her greatest achievement. The album’s lead single, the crunchy rocker “If It Makes You Happy,” was both a retort to the criticism she received as well as a fatigued reflection on two years of fame and touring (which included a stint at Woodstock ‘94, specifically referenced here). While the structure of the single is fairly straightforward, other tracks are filled with quirky, stream-of-conscious lyrics (pop-culture references abound: to Kurt Cobain, John Lennon, Ouija boards, etc.) and a collage of drum loops, organs, and layered voices. Songs like “Ordinary Morning,” with its lazy piano figures and raw blues vibe, are cushioned comfortably next to loopy tracks like “Maybe Angels” and understated folk ballads like “Home,” in which Crow recounts the emotional strains of a deteriorating marriage.
As always, Crow’s lyrics take a decidedly moralistic stance but never sound preachy. “Hard to Make a Stand” touches on abortion clinic terrorism while “Love Is a Good Thing” sees the solution to the world’s problems in the same four-letter word so many other rockers have enthusiastically endorsed over the years. Crow makes subtle references to the Beatles’ “Love Is All You Need,” but not before giving us a dose of modern reality: “Watch our children while they kill each other/With a gun they bought at Walmart discount stores.” This is certainly not the same hippie mentality of the ‘60s and ‘70s, and one can’t help but think that Crow is a tad less confident with her miracle product than, say, Lennon ever was. “These are the days when anything goes,” she sings on the buoyant “Everyday Is a Winding Road,” and the sentiment speaks for both the song’s playful optimism and the album’s sonic adventurousness. Crow has had some other great moments (“Leaving Las Vegas,” “My Favorite Mistake”), but none of her other full-length albums have been as consistent, immaculately produced or distinctly modern."
Crow’s voice sounds more assured when she’s sober. The critically-hailed singer took full-reign of the production duties, partially in response to suggestions that she was a mere puppet to her all-male Tuesday Night Music Club. As such, there’s a palpable, fear-driven ambition to the album. Her drive paid off and not only did Crow avoid the dreaded sophomore slump, but Sheryl Crow is easily her greatest achievement. The album’s lead single, the crunchy rocker “If It Makes You Happy,” was both a retort to the criticism she received as well as a fatigued reflection on two years of fame and touring (which included a stint at Woodstock ‘94, specifically referenced here). While the structure of the single is fairly straightforward, other tracks are filled with quirky, stream-of-conscious lyrics (pop-culture references abound: to Kurt Cobain, John Lennon, Ouija boards, etc.) and a collage of drum loops, organs, and layered voices. Songs like “Ordinary Morning,” with its lazy piano figures and raw blues vibe, are cushioned comfortably next to loopy tracks like “Maybe Angels” and understated folk ballads like “Home,” in which Crow recounts the emotional strains of a deteriorating marriage.
As always, Crow’s lyrics take a decidedly moralistic stance but never sound preachy. “Hard to Make a Stand” touches on abortion clinic terrorism while “Love Is a Good Thing” sees the solution to the world’s problems in the same four-letter word so many other rockers have enthusiastically endorsed over the years. Crow makes subtle references to the Beatles’ “Love Is All You Need,” but not before giving us a dose of modern reality: “Watch our children while they kill each other/With a gun they bought at Walmart discount stores.” This is certainly not the same hippie mentality of the ‘60s and ‘70s, and one can’t help but think that Crow is a tad less confident with her miracle product than, say, Lennon ever was. “These are the days when anything goes,” she sings on the buoyant “Everyday Is a Winding Road,” and the sentiment speaks for both the song’s playful optimism and the album’s sonic adventurousness. Crow has had some other great moments (“Leaving Las Vegas,” “My Favorite Mistake”), but none of her other full-length albums have been as consistent, immaculately produced or distinctly modern."
- Sal Cinquemani, Slant
'The Globe Sessions' (1998)
“The Globe Sessions isn’t a big pop record figured out within an inch of its life: ‘Here are just some things I recorded,’ the album title suggests. In the end, it is Sheryl Crow’s singing that unites the record and conveys its passionate thrust.”
- James Hunter, Rolling Stone
- James Hunter, Rolling Stone
"Despite its desperately serious title, The Globe Sessions should help lay to rest any doubts concerning Crow's talent. A self-produced, remarkably consistent album, The Globe Sessions brings out the potential that has always been evident in her music. As a singer, Crow has a powerful voice and knows how to stop short of overdoing it. As a songwriter, she has an ear for a catchy melody that puts that voice to good use, and this album finds the two talents combining fruitfully."
- Keith Phipps, The A.V. Club
"It might not be considered hip to carry Sheryl Crow tapes around in your walkman, but her third album, 'The Globe Sessions', is another raw, compulsive set that bursts with sheer musicality. There is nothing about this record I don't like."
- Gaye Archer, Rock 'N' Roll Time Trial
'C'mon, C'mon' (2002)
"It's hard to call The Globe Sessions a stumble, but its stripped-down, straightforwardness paled in comparison to the dark pop-culture kaleidoscope of Sheryl Crow's eponymous second album. That's why C'mon, C'mon, Crow's long-delayed fourth album, is such a delight -- it's the sunny flip side of that masterpiece, a skillful synthesis of classic rock and modern sensibilities that's pretty irresistible. Crow has turned into the professional she always acted she was -- she not only crafts songs impeccably, she knows how to record them, filling the record with interesting sonic details, whether it's the Steve Miller-styled "woo hoo"s on "Steve McQueen" or subtle Mellotrons on "Over You." That kind of sly sonic adventure was missing from Globe Sessions, as was her predilection for almost-absurd lyrical asides -- check the digital cable reference on the lead single, "Soak Up the Sun," along with its opening line of "My friend, the communist" -- and the return of both makes C'mon, C'mon a delightful return to form. There's so much to enjoy on the surface of the record, particularly in its unashamed glossy sheen and classically structured hooks, that it's easy to enjoy just on that level, yet it also works as a set of songs nearly as consistent and rich as those on her second album. Where Sheryl Crow was a quintessential fall album -- even at its happiest, there was an undercurrent of melancholy and weariness -- this is a record designed for the sunkissed open road of spring and summer. Even when she's singing about heartache, there's an assured sense of purpose, even a swagger, to this album that shines through. Yet it doesn't just work a mood, it showcases her skills at a peak. It's Sheryl Crow at her best, delivering music that is firmly rooted in the past, yet recorded and performed with a modern feel and flair, something that was absent from The Globe Sessions. It's pretty much what the follow-up to Sheryl Crow should have been and what she needed to release for her fourth album, but even better than expected."
- Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic
'Wildflower' (2005) / 'Detours' (2008) / 'Home For Christmas' (2008) / '100 Miles From Memphis' (2010) / 'Feels Like Home' (2013) / 'Be Myself' (2017) / 'Threads' (2019)
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Stone The Crows
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Sheryl Crow Musically Quarantines With Her 1964 Gibson Country Western Signature Acoustic
