[GDRussiayear]

Sheryl Crow has a new album OUT NOW so let's discuss her! It's called 100 Miles From Memphis and has a 70s R&B sound going on.



Tracklist:
1. Our Love Is Fading
2. Eye to Eye feat. Keith Richards
3. Sign Your Name feat. Justin Timberlake (originally by Terence Trent D'arby)
4. Summer Day
5. Long Road Home
6. Say What You Want
7. Peaceful Feeling
8. Stop
9. Sideways feat. Citizen Cope (originally by Citizen Cope)
10. 100 Miles From Memphis
11. Roses and Moonlight
12. I Want You Back (originally by Michael Jackson)

You can find clips on Irish iTunes and here's a video of the first single Summer Day:


A bunch of the clips sound very promising and I love the new song. I don't know if she'll ever be able to top her 90's albums (CLASSICS!!!) but she hasn't put out a single bad album, IMO.

[soprofaxel]

^I agree, she's fairly consistent. Even her two worst received albums (C'Mon C'Mon and Wildflower) have some great tracks. Detours was a return to form, but it's nice to see her trying something new.

Based on clips, I'm extremely excited to hear the full album. The sound is definitely R&B leaning but it suits her. Not to mention, her voice sounds natural and raw, no more auto-tune and Adult ACness.

[GDRussiayear]

Based on clips, I'm extremely excited to hear the full album. The sound is definitely R&B leaning but it suits her.

It really does seem like a great sound for her to explore and it's unsurprising since she's dabbled in this kind of sound going all the way back to her debut (e.g., What I Can Do For You seems like country-soul to me) and even on the last album (Beautiful Dream really hinted at this direction). The album doesn't seem to be gathering too much steam unfortunately. Maybe she should have released the song with Justin Timberlake on it or the Michael Jackson cover to get the word out.

[soprofaxel]

^Totally. I think had she released her I Want You Back cover around this time, in commemoration of MJ's passing, she'd probably have more attention on the album. Then again, people may accuse her of trying to capitalize on his death or something.

Regardless, I'll be picking up the album for sure.

[GDRussiayear]

It's leaked! It's leaked!! And it's fucking AWESOME!

[Fvmfrctt]

Hands down the most consistent album she's released since The Globe Sessions. I'm totally digging her doing white girl/Dusty Springfield/Memphis soul.

[GDRussiayear]

Hands down the most consistent album she's released since The Globe Sessions.

Agreed! I think Our Love Is Fading may be my favourite though. It's amazing!

ETA: How awesome is the Sign Your Name cover? I kinda hate Justin Timberlake but his BVs are actually pretty good here.

[GDRussiayear]

Here's the official Summer Day video:

[IamRobot]

Agreed! I think Our Love Is Fading may be my favourite though. It's amazing!

ETA: How awesome is the Sign Your Name cover? I kinda hate Justin Timberlake but his BVs are actually pretty good here.

Love the Sign Your Name Cover!!! Someone has awesome taste in music and MEN!

[GDRussiayear]

Love the Sign Your Name Cover!!! Someone has awesome taste in music and MEN!

That's just a fact.

[nithhysfusy]

"Summer Day" deserves to be all over radio. Seriously. I get that she's approaching 50 and that's just not going to happen, but it has "hit" written all over it.

I am SO excited to buy this album! FYI ... the Barnes & Noble version will have a few bonus tracks (stripped down versions of a few album cuts).

[BigBobdd]

really enjoying this album so far too...i love "Sideways with Citizen Cope and definitely the "Sign My Name" cover with JT. i like that his background vocals are so understated.

[soprofaxel]

While it's hard to compare this against her back catalogue, there's no denying this is one of her strongest records to date. She had a vision for what she wanted this to sound like and accomplished it perfectly. The album has a nice flow and feels really organic; she sounds like she's enjoying herself and loving the songs she's singing. You can even tell by the lengths of the tracks that this isn't an album made for radio. It's pure expression and takes me back to the reason why I love Sheryl in the first place. A from me, and I can't wait to spend more time with it this summer!

[SarSerceSaice]

While I can appreciate what she was trying to go for, unfortunately the album leaves me cold. I have listened a few times but the sound of the record just isn't for me. This is the only record of hers that I have disliked totally.

[DrKirkNoliss]

Same here; I think it's well-crafted, well-produced and she met all of her goals. It's just not my genre, I guess. None of the songs will be in my Sheryl Top 20 list at any point unless something clicks soon. I don't even really want to listen to it again at the moment, which is a bummer. i don't hate it, just completely 100% ambivalent. Between this, Patty Griffin's gospel album, and Natalie Merchant's poetry album, I'm really starting to lament the absence of non-theme/genre albums this year

[GDRussiayear]

100 Miles From Memphis is released today! I actually can't wait to pick up a copy since my love for the album has only grown with repeated listens. I said in the first post that I didn't think she couldn't ever top her 90's output but I really see this album as standing alongside Sheryl Crow and The Globe Sessions as her most consistent offerings to date. I've grown to love every song on the album and can't wait to hear some of the stripped down versions from the iTunes and Barnes & Noble bonus tracks.

Here's the EPK for the album, which has tons of studio footage and is actually pretty entertaining:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/...d=167729751001

The album is sitting at a 70 right now on Metacritic, which is pretty much smack dab in the middle of Detours (75) and C'mon C'mon & Wildflower (both sit around the 65 mark). Reaction to the album has actually been fairly mixed (which is evident in this very thread). Hopefully once people spend more time with the album they'll pick out more of the subtle highlights like Stop, Roses & Moonlight and 100 Miles From Memphis.

[Sanremogirl]

the record sounds really good.

on a completely different note: i'd always thought Sheryl had gotten a lot of work done, but she looks very natural in that EPK. Super excited to get the new record

[nithhysfusy]

I think it's very good. Time will tell where it ranks for me among her albums, I've only listened once.

The ones I am not responding to right away are "Say What You Want" and "Peaceful Feeling." Everything else seemed solid to me. Her voice sounds VERY good, and I like that she's doing a soul record on her terms. If she tried to be Aretha all of a sudden, it would never work.

"Stop" and "Long Road Home" were standouts for me after just the first listen. And how sexy does she sound on this record? Her cover of "Sign Your Name" totally works. I like that she's no longer autotuning over all of the appealing raspiness of her voice.

I bought the Barnes and Noble version to get the acoustic versions of "Summer Day and "Say What You Want." To those who have it ... how is the iTunes acoustic version of "Long Road Home"?

One gripe ... I hate the cover of "I Want You Back." It's decently executed, I guess, but it sounds SO much like the original that it is the definition of "unnecessary." She could have done something, anything different to it and it would have been better. This is a total throwaway. At least it's labeled as a "bonus track," so I guess we can think of it as something not really attached to the rest of the album ... although it's on every released version of the album.

[GDRussiayear]

So the new album debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 55,000. A great debut but only a little over half of Detours first week sales (92,000) which reached #2 in '08.

[nithhysfusy]

That's not surprising. It's been a while since radio has touched anything she's put out, and Detours had the "she talks about cancer and Lance" angle going for it. That's reductive, of course ... I think it's a great record, but it had more selling points than this new one. Factor in that even fewer people are buying music than they were two years ago, and there you go.

I have to say ... I have been really enjoying this album. I've pruned it a bit for my iPod, but it has a lot of great songs. "Stop" is making the "best Sheryl songs ever" list.