Sheryl Crow - C'mon, C'mon

Sheryl Crow's first studio album in four years shows a woman if not on the verge of a nervous breakdown, then one who has gone a little off the rails and is in the process of pulling herself back on track again. For her past three studio albums, Crow has been known as the quintessential party girl who liked a beer buzz in the morning, but C'mon, C'mon shows her to be much more than that. Breakup, illness, and loss have tempered her good-time persona, and like other life-altering events, both her character and lyrics are stronger for it. This latest offering might not break any new musical ground--again relying on her retooling of '70s country rock--but she displays an honesty and naked vulnerability not witnessed in her earlier work, honing her pain to a fine, lyrical edge. The brooding "Weather Channel" shows a rawboned Crow unafraid to display her emotional bruising, but without losing any of her sly wit: "Just a pill to make me happy / I know it may not fix the hinges, but at least the door has stopped its creaking." Besides songs reflecting her newfound poignancy are a couple of swaggering rockers that recall middle-period Stones, including "You're an Original," featuring Lenny Kravitz, the whimsical and insouciant "Steve McQueen," which finds Crow boasting "I ain't taking shit off of no one," and the deceptively frothy "Soak Up the Sun," which features the long missing-in-action Liz Phair on background vocals. In addition to resurrecting Phair, Crow also has compiled a paparazzo's dream, soliciting the vocal talents of pals Stevie Nicks, Natalie Maines , Emmylou Harris, Don Henley, and inexplicably, the actress Gwyneth Paltrow. --Jaan Uhelszki