The devine Miss Crow

"Detours" is the newest arrival from rock and roll maven Sheryl Crow and it seems to have the same virtues as most of Crow's other offerings. That is to say, Crow can can manage to sound heartbreakingly sincere and completely self serving all in the course of one complete disc.

Self serving Sheryl rears her ugly head on track two... "Shine Over Babylon." This particular track seems produced for the virtue of spectacle alone; Crow's voice singularly rallying against the injustices of a sitting president that she despises.

Freedoms etched on sacred pillars/ hollow stones of mindless filler can lead to madman oil drillers/won't be long before we are all killers/

Not only does this track smack of self involvement, it isn't a very good fit in terms of Crow's vocal range. At times it seems like Crow is struggling to keep the arraignment from overtaking her.

The opening track is called "God Bless This Mess" and it has the same anti war venom in it. Thankfully Crow's disdain for the current state of a certain middle eastern conflict zone is muted just a touch. You have an idea what Crow's lyrics are driving at, but the message isn't sky written into the heavens.

My brother came home yesterday/from something far away/ he doesn't look like I remember/ as he just stares off into space/he must have seen some ugly things/ he cannot seem to say/

Unfortunately. we have to endure self serving Sheryl from track four until track six. "Gasoline" is a bouncy little track tinged with the the Bill Bottrell flavored influence of TNMC but it begs the question..... do we really wanna hear Sheryl Crow when she's trying to save the world?

I've got soldiers on my payroll/standing guard on my front drive/snipers on my roof poised at those who didn't want me alive/my family under threat/ cause I've got a message and a megaphone/and I'll scream it to to the death/

I'm sorry, but I can't imagine a woman who made six million dollars in 2007 waxing poetic about the plight of the disenfranchised.

Unlike "Shine Over Babylon" the opening track "God Bless This Mess" has a very simple arraignment that doesn't force Crow to do a lot of heavy vocal lifting. Crow's vocals have improved since the days of "TNMC" but she isn't an operatic force who can sing her way past an over arraigned track.

Don't get me wrong, "Detours" isn't a total disaster. True, there aren't any tracks that I've targeted for the repeat button, but listening to this disc certainly isn't a chore. I'm ashamed to admit it but I had the shuffle button working over time when I had "Wildflower" cued up. What can I say... I fell in love with "Letter To God" and "Lifetimes."

To me, Sheryl Crow is at her best with tracks like "Drunk With The Thought Of You." On a track like this, Crow is at her most vulnerable. Vulnerable Sheryl is alot easier to relate to than political Sheryl, in my humble opinion.

I could wait my whole life for this moment to come/with a long list of beautiful chances I've blown/well this time I'll toast to your name til I'm blue/I get drunk with the thought of you/I get drunk with the thought of you/

In case you're wondering why Sheryl Crow is considered a premier songwriter, see the aforementioned lyrics. It's easy to write about lost love, but it's another thing to continuously rise above the level of cliched schmaltz. Only a talented songwriter is capable of such a feat and Sheryl Crow is definitely a talented word smith.

Of course, every disc has its clunkers. Even "Detours" isn't immune to this affliction. Its worst track is "Diamond Ring." To hear Crow warble on this track is extremely painful. Bill Bottrell's arraignment on this track doesn't seem to daunting, but Crow seems content to chop her vocals into tiny sputtering stanzas. It's a shame, the lyrics suggest that Crow might've been onto something.

We made love all day/ in our little hide way/ but I blew up our love nest/ by making one request/ diamond ring/

At one point "Diamond Ring" features Crow trying to reach an unnaturally high note; never good. The result is an animalistic growl that makes your ears ache.

Thankfully "Detours" comes to an end with Crow's ode to her son, Wyatt. It goes back to what I said before. Crow has this wonderful ability to be sentimental without sounding like a cornball. "Lullaby For Wyatt" is the title of the track that I'm referring to and it clearly backs up what I said about Crow's ability to be deep AND sentimental at the same time.

How do I keep you from losing your way/hope you'll go out and you'll come back someday/but love is letting go/ and this I'll know/ you were mine for a time/

Listening to this particular track, I couldn't help but think of a track from Crow's debut disc "Strong Enough." Indeed, these two tracks share a kind of similarity. On both tracks, Crow is front and center and breaking our hearts with a dose of unfiltered honesty. It makes me wish that self serving/ anti war/ political Sheryl would take a nice long holiday. No more anti war songs Sheryl and no more attacks on pop culture. See track number eleven, "Motivation." Crow sold a song to Subaru and when she did that, she bought a ticket on the mainstream express. Remember folks, one can not attack the mainstream if they've embraced it at some point.

Well I got a big car/and a flat screen TV/all my loser friends/and my boyfriends family/bring bags of food/ and watch reality freak shows/everybody's faking it but nobody thinks so/

Tsk tsk Miss Crow. Tsk tsk.