It's nine years since Sheryl's masterpiece, Tuesday Night Music Club
first emerged from the shadows. That album - a potent mixture of folk, blues, a whiff of country, and a lot of rock - became the classic sleeper hit when atypically upbeat single "All I Wanna Do" set records for ubiquity at the end of 1994. The success of the throwaway drinking song overshadowed a melancholy, reflective album for a four minute sugar rush. Four more singles were released from TNMC, but none could break into the top 20 on either sales or airplay. Crow looked set to become flavour of the month, albeit a month that lasted around twenty weeks.
The second hit album, 1996's Sheryl Crow
was a make-or-break for her career in the UK. It was a make album: opening single "If It Makes You Happy" was a slow burner, and the least melancholy track on the album, "What I Can Do For You" was also a top 10 smash on both sales and airplay. A diversion into a Bond theme followed before 1998's The Globe Sessions
album. That only spawned one big hit single, "My Favourite Mistake". Since an ill-starred cover of Guns 'n' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" in late 99, all has been quiet from Ms Crow.
The silence was finally broken on March 9, when "Soak Up The Sun" appeared. This marks a subtle change of direction for Sheryl: the blues roots that have been a common theme through all her previous work have fallen into the background, in favour of an unusually glossy, almost Californian, sound. Her previous works have been near-acoustic albums; this is, if anything, slightly over-produced. Any worries that Crow has sold out are dispelled with the opening line; there aren't many people who can combine a sleek guitar riff with a line about a Communist friend, and most of the people who can don't sell more than a handful of albums.
So, what's it all about? The Commie turns out to be more interested in money than politics, so he's clearly a Stalinist in the neighbourhood. His hectorings annoy, but - ah - what the heck. Life is more than acquisitions, it's enjoying what one has. Hence the summery chorus, albeit one with a sting in the lyrics.
The lay-off - slightly longer than between her previous two albums, but about par for the course - has clearly refreshed Sheryl's eye for the sharp song. Some of the tracks on The Globe Sessions felt rather hastily put together, as if the song needed some more work before being released on an unsuspecting world. This track, along with the rest of the album, has come into the world with its bootlaces done up and ready for the march. I've no clue what the coda - about a loaded 45 and dropping off - is all about, but that's half the sign of a good song. It leaves you wanting more.
Erstwhile Verruca Salt member Liz Phair gets a credit for this track, instantly giving her the highest profile of any former member of the band. In a completely flat field, a molehill can be the high point.
The album, C'mon C'mon
has already been #1.