| Sheryl
Crow • Globe
Sessions Article |
"It was
a very different record to make," says Sheryl Crow of her
extraordinary new album, THE GLOBE SESSIONS. "The songs come
from a place of real self - examination and reassessment. They're
certainly more personal than any I've done before, kind of like
standing on stage naked. Musically, the arrangements are more
creative than in the past, but it's mainly in laying myself bare
that this record takes risks."
From the power of its indelible first single, - "My Favorite
Mistake," to the harrowing, atmospheric finale, "Crash
& Burn," THE GLOBE SESSIONS is Sheryl Crow's deepest,
richest music. Horns and strings embellishing tough guitar, drum
loops, elegant keyboards and novel percussion, its arrangements
serve songs that aim right for the heart. Confessional in impulse,
universal in appeal, those songs find Crow communicating with
fierce honesty, sharing her soul with rare courage and vulnerability.
"What I want is an intimate moment with the listener,"
she says, and with each of the album's 11 remarkable performances,
she achieves that in spades.
"On the road," Sheryl says of the record's genesis,
"I'd been assembling pieces for a home studio. I wanted the
freedom to create whenever I could." Moving to New York a
year and half ago, she realized her dream of a perfect work environment.
In her own studio, five blocks from home, she set to work on THE
GLOBE SESSIONS.
To further the creative process, Sheryl produced herself. "It
was fun, tough, unpredictable and a mind-stretch in every conceivable
way," she says. As always handling an array of instruments
herself - guitar, bass, keyboards from Wurlitzer electric piano
to Hammond B-3 - she assembled a stunning cast of players. Guitarist
and sometime co-writer Jeff Trott ("my musical alter-ego,"
Sheryl says) joined a stellar rhythm section and a handful of
aces on strings and horns.
Stones fans will recognize Bobby Keyes on sax; Tom Petty veteran
Benmont Tench dazzles on piano as does Lisa Germano on violin;
Wendy Melvoin displays the guitar prowess she sharpened on classic
Prince albums, and Jay Bennett of Wilco also lends a hand. And,
once again, Sheryl Crow proves herself an outstanding vocalist,
her singing alternative yearning, defiance, pride and release.
Sheer poetry opens "Riverwide," one of the album's highlights
("I spent a year in the mouth of a whale/with a flame and
a book of signs"). "I've only had a few songs that have
almost written themselves, " Sheryl comments. "This
was one of them - it came tumbling out, like a complete sentence.
I suspect it will continue to teach me what it's about through
the years. It's the kind of song I cling to - it's pure in its
incarnation, not at all thought-out."
Its drums pure thunder, "Am I Getting Through (Part I &
II)" offers a candid self-portrait ("I am ignorant and
rude/I am fashionably crude/But sometimes when it's quiet/I'm
an angel in white"), then breaks into a high-octane rocker.
"The first part is so heavy," Sheryl explains. "And
it leaves you hanging. I then thought you needed some comic relief."
"Mississippi," another gem, is a gift from none other
than Bob Dylan. "He'd recorded it for his last album,"
Sheryl says, "but chose not to use it. I was so excited that
he thought about me singing it. It's an undeniably brilliant song."
Propulsive and edgy ("...let's turn the radio on/this is
the meltdown"), "There Goes The Neighborhood" is
a surreal character study. Crow says, "My studio's in the
meat-packing district, an area filled with Hell's Angels, transvestites
and very colorful people. The song's about looking at surfaces
and making judgment calls. Sadly enough, people do that all the
time."
Multi-textured, balancing funky Clavinet with pedal steel, Moog
with violins ("I was going for a Mideastern / Appalachian
/ Bobby Gentry-ish feel," Sheryl says of the string parts),
THE GLOBE SESSIONS is steeped in ambience. "I went in with
a clear picture sonicly of how I wanted the record to feel,"
Crow says. "I wanted my last record to sound bratty, rough-around-the-edges.
This time I wanted the listener to be embraced by the mixes -
to move into a very deep and open environment."
For the songs themselves, Sheryl concentrated on the essentials
- rhythm, melody, straight talking lyrics, "I wrote mostly
on bass," she says. "I'm a keyboard player, and, as
such, when I'm writing I don't want to get wrapped up in beautiful
chords. That's not what makes great songs. They're about the directness
of the lyrics and the arc of the melody. Writing on bass forces
me to concentrate on melody. I also wrote a lot in the studio.
You close the door on your frenetic life, let go of the reins,
and everything you want to do creatively surfaces. I never limit
myself, and there's a great freedom in that."
Born in Kennett, Missouri, Crow retains a bond with her small-town
roots. "I was home recently," she says, "And with
the Allman Brothers on the car radio and the cropdusters over
the cotton fields, it seems like a place where time stands still."
Her mother a piano teacher and her father, a lawyer, playing trumpet,
Sheryl grew up surrounded by music - "at first Top 40 and
Fleetwood Mac, then the Stones, Van Morrison and Bessie Smith,
and finally songwriters like Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell,"
she says.
Working first, after attending the University of Missouri, as
an elementary-school music teacher, she also began her apprenticeship
in bands. Setting out at 24 for Los Angeles, she got her break
singing back-up vocals with Michael Jackson (she'd parlay those
skills into gigs with George Harrison, Don Henley, Joe Cocker
and Rod Stewart).
But her own vision compelled her further. "Trying to get
a record deal," she says, "I was playing everything
on piano, while the only females radio was playing were dance
oriented artists. It was new for the time. Other female performers
were more into a visual presentation and dance music."
Signing with A&M in 1991, Sheryl jettisoned her self-titled
debut, deeming it too slick. Its follow-up, 1994's multi-platinum
TUESDAY NIGHT MUSIC CLUB proved her right. Achieving the #3 chart
position and graced with hits like "Strong Enough" and
the Grammy-winning "All I Wanna Do," the album established
her as a force to be reckoned with. SHERYL CROW (1996) continued
the advance. Jewels like "If It Makes You Happy," "Home"
and "Redemption Day" saw Crow growing as a songwriter
and performer. |
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