Sheryl Crow’s first new full-length release in three years is a dramatic new direction for the nine-time Grammy winner. The Missouri-born singer-songwriter is celebrated as one of our last true rock stars The new album is a collection of intimate, introspective compositions, heavy on string arrangements rather than guitar solos, If you cue to her third track and also the album’s very first single Good is Good you will get a peek into what the rest of the album is like.

The effect is slow and soft at times.The flush of love and the promise of domestic bliss is the mindset with which Sheryl Crow has approached her fifth album. The singer refers to the album as a “musical re – birth” and her influences have been Neil Young, Elton John and George Harrison. Crow was in Spain when she did the album, and this can be gauged from the fact that being in an alien land she wrote whatever came to her mind.

The album is more autobiographical than her earlier efforts. It is nearest to telling the story of who she is, her change in her life Where Has All The Love Gone is in a strange way it’s a kind of a nursery rhyme while Perfect Lie is about getting to that point where you know that something’s going on in your relationship, even before it’s been brought up of just knowing in your spirit that there’s deception here and it’s taking over.

Her low vocals and slow backup instrumentation give off a more strings arrangements at times, unlike her more peppy pieces in her previous albums. However you can say that the slight upbeat Lifetimes, the conversational dialogue to God in Letter to God and Live it Up falling in the same bracket as her earlier work.

A note to remember is Harrison’s signature slide guitar and our beloved tabla heard on tracks like Chances Are and the first single, Good is Good. There’s also the piano based Elton John influenced track Always on your side.

Sheryl Crow demonstrates once again just how well she can sell a song, an album and herself to her million fans. The album was produced by Crow’s frequent associates Jeff Shanks, string arranger David Campbell and John Trott. You can say that this set is strictly for Crow fans, as except for a few good ditties, there’s nothing really big to ‘crow’ about here.

Rating: *****

Reviewed by Verus Ferreira