Sheryl Crow’s voice is filled with fury and fire. Detours has been hailed a highly political album, and Crow’s messages are certainly belted out loud and proud.

Focused on themes of global awareness, action, and understanding, the tracks are busting with lyrical significance. Every song contains a story or vision which Crow feels strongly about. While “Shine Over Babylon” is a fierce and angry track about global warming and industrialization, “Love is Free”, a song inspired by the devastations in New Orleans, is both spiritual and refreshingly uplifting.  “Peace Be Upon Us” features an Arabic verse and duet with Ahmed Al Hirmi.

Detours is a highly emotional album, which is revealingly honest. The title track alone is sincere and extremely personal. A prayer song about her struggled with breast cancer and her highly-publicized break-up with her fiancée, Crow calls out to ‘Mother’ God for the strength to survive and deal with the physical and emotional hardships along the way. The final track on the North American release is the lovely “Lullaby for Wyatt”, a song for her son.

You can hear a tiredness and strain in Crow’s voice, which has a two-fold effect on this album. In on way, it is negative; her vocals definitely aren’t as strong as they once were. In another way, it is positive; a slightly-weathered and weary voice does well to enhance the tone and mood of the serious themes encapsulating this record.

Sheryl Crow will be performing at the Air Canada Centre on May 21st along with Sting and The Canadian Tenors as a part of One Night Live, a benefit concert to raise funds and awareness for the Women & Babies Program at Sunnybrook.



TRACK LISTING:

GOD BLESS THIS MESS
SHINE OVER BABYLON
LOVE IS FREE
PEACE BE UPON US
GASOLINE
OUT OF OUR HEADS
DETOURS
NOW THAT YOU’RE GONE
DRUNK WITH THE THOUGHT OF YOU
DIAMOND RING
MOTIVATION
MAKE IT GO AWAY (RADIATION SONG)
LOVE IS ALL THERE IS
LULLABY FOR WYATT