This album signals a return to form for Sheryl Crow after her disappointing 'Wildflower' album. It is largely reminiscent of the hippy style of her first two albums, but musical times have moved on since then and so I doubt it will be as successful.
It does suffer from a number of flaws - sometimes a bit over political, sometimes a bit over personal - she gets away with it unless the music isn't up to scratch. This is the case with the lo-fi and thankfully short opener 'God Bless This Mess', the simply grating 'Diamond Ring', the slightly average 'Drunk With The Thought of You' and the sickly pointless (to me) 'Lullaby To Wyatt'.
The remaining 10 tracks however are very good. The 5 star moments for me are the more commercial ones such as 'Out of Our Heads' (surely this should have been the first single), 'Now That You're Gone' (there is a bit of ELO in here) and 'Motivation'. And surprisingly 'Make It Go Away', related to her own cancer battle, works really well and is a powerful piece which I guess many people will be able to relate to. Everything else gets 4 stars, despite the fact that she at times sounds like just another pop star railing against politicians about global warming, wars etc etc.
Fortunately, where the music is good, I find myself able to let the words wash over me and it becomes a highly enjoyable pop/rock/folk album.
