New album: Feels Like Home
Artist: Sheryl Crow
Label: Old Green Barn / Sea Gayle Records / Warner Bros.
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
There’s nothing new about pop acts scooching over into country music. Jerry Lee Lewis and Conway Twitty did it more than 50 years ago, and Darius Rucker and Bon Jovi have pulled it off recently. Sheryl Crow’s new album “Feels Like Home” marks the latest defection from rock/pop into country/pop.
Of course, “Feels Like Home” isn’t really country, but it does pass for Nashville pop in the tradition of Shania Twain and Faith Hill. While all three of these artists look mighty purdy in those videos and have sweet voices, Crow is actually appreciated by many for her musicianship and songwriting ability.
Even the most jaded hipster would have to admit “All I Wanna Do” and “Everyday Is a Winding Road” are well crafted pop songs. Crow’s knack for a hook is still intact on the professional but predictable “Feels Like Home.”
“Shot Gun” opens the album with a good facsimile of Lynyrd Skynyrd riffing, giving Crow a good vehicle to try out her new southern accent. Crow belts out “Shot Gun” in a manner reminiscent of Gretchen Wilson, it straddles the rock/country line enough to bring in fans from both camps. “We Outta Be Drinkin’” is a slower relative of “All I Wanna Do” that sounds like the soundtrack to the requisite trip to the Waffle House after all the fun is done.
No one expected Crow to take a stylistic left turn into death metal or dubstep, but the somber “Waterproof Mascara” is just plain awkward. The subject matter – a child wondering why she doesn’t have a father – is obviously serious, but the performance turns into a desperate lunge for the heartstrings. Anyone who enjoys a good cry will want to set “Waterproof Mascara” as their ringtone; everyone else should invest in ear plugs.
Aside from the odd stumble into Kleenex territory, “Feels Like Home” should please Crow’s hardcore fans and win her a few new ones. Crow’s sound has always been fairly rootsy, so a fiddle here and there shouldn’t bother anyone.
Classic album: Sandinista!
Artist: The Clash
Label: Epic/Sony
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
In truth, The Clash was a rock band dressed in punk clothes. The group had an aggressive sound and sang about all the important topics of the day, but anyone who thinks “London Calling” isn’t a rock song has too many safety pins in their ears.
After the critical and commercial success of the sprawling double album “London Calling” in 1979 (which featured the pop hit “Train in Vain”), The Clash decided to up the ante by releasing the triple album “Sandinista!” in 1980.
Music critics and fans who apparently slept with a copy of the punk rock mission statement under their pillows at night immediately attacked the album as if it had murdered every kitten in the town of London.
The main complaint hurled at “Sandinista!” was that it had no focus. In truth, “Sandinista!” was a continuation of the genre-hopping that began on “London Calling.” “Sandinista!” pulled in reggae, dub and rock influences, and the diamond of the album “Magnificent Seven” somehow managed to swirl reggae and disco into a rather pleasing hybrid.
Other than Frank Zappa’s “Freak Out” and The Who’s “Tommy,” multi-album collections of new rock music have historically had a tough road to hoe with critics. Even The Beatles “White Album” has taken hits from critics (and Ringo) for being too much to process, which frankly, is an idiotic premise. On “Sandinista!” The Clash members were feeling frisky and creative.
While it was risky for a supposed punk band to put out an album which included the spacey instrumentals “One More Dub” and “Shepherd’s Delight,” the results were interesting. Had these songs been left in the vaults and included on a rarities collection 20 years later, they would have been hailed as lost masterpieces.
It’s also interesting to note that pseudo-soul songs such as “Charlie Don’t Surf” and “Hitsville U.K.” pointed toward the northern soul revival that The Jam’s Paul Weller formed the Style Council around not long after. The Clash and The Jam had flirted with many different styles of music after punk started to bleed out of fashion, so the hatred thrown at “Sandinista!” was either from critics too lazy to listen to the whole thing or true believers who didn’t get the initial joke.
Kurt Cobain said “Sandinista!” momentarily kept him from getting into punk music, but then again would you trust the judgment of a guy who married Courtney Love?
Jon Dawson’s album reviews appear every Thursday in The Free Press. Contact Jon at 252-559-1092, jon.dawson@kinston.com or jondawson.com.