01	My Favourite Mistake						04:07
	02	There Goes The Neighborhood						05:01
	03	Riverwide						04:07
	04	It Don't Hurt						04:49
	05	Maybe That's Something						04:18
	06	Am I Getting Through (Part I & II)						05:31
	07	Anything But Down						04:18
	08	The Difficult Kind						06:19
	09	Mississippi						04:41
	10	Members Only						04:57
	11	Crash And Burn						11:26
	12	Resuscitation						03:59

Sheryl Crow
"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."

"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." It's 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

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.

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.




SHERYL CROW - The Globe Sessions (1998)

Sheryl Crow_s musical career has been interesting; there was a time when she sang Michael Jacksons backgrounds, for example! And Michael never remembered her name, she recalls... How something, isnt this? But so the years went past: Sheryl sang with Don Henley, probably with many others, and finally got her chance to try solo career. The results were refreshing and not just a little folk-rock-like. So, here we had another singer-songwriter: clever lyrics and pretty easy listening, didnt we?

No, we didnt- What makes Sheryl Crow a truly remarkable woman in music is the fact that she didnt choose the easy way. A fact: shes not old, but clearly older than most female artists who make a commercial breakthrough. Shes not a country singer, either, like so many ripe female artists have to be to be believable. Who wants a 30..40 year old female rock singer with only a short folk-rock background? Trends and marketing people probably dont - but we do. Album by album, Sheryl Crow has become more and more a true rock singer. And a bloody good one!

I read an album review where someone criticised this Sheryls third solo album for not being easy and fresh, but momentarily almost heavy metal. I disagree in at least two points. First, The Globe Sessions isnt that heavy at all. It contains a lot of Eagles-like soft country rock, but also some tougher stuff. Secondly, I dont think we have any right to criticise any artist for changing his/her musical direction. It may be so that someone doesnt like the screaming guitar solo of It dont hurt - but its a good solo, anyway! Just for different taste.

So, after this long and boring intro its probably safe to say that Sheryl Crows third album is her best this far. Its many things: sometimes sad and tender, sometimes hard and raw. The lyrics are as great as ever, and theres enough variety without any fillers. Music for years to come from a true rock singer. Long-dead country rock of seventies still lives in Sheryl Crows songs. A good thing, that.

Sounds are a little raw, probably intentionally.

Producer: Sheryl Crow.




Sheryl Crow - The Globe Sessions

Shakin' Asses
by: bill aicher

Sheryl Crow is back with her third full-length major label release. Most of you probably remember her breakthrough album, Tuesday Night Music Club, with the hit "All I Wanna Do (Is Have Some Fun)." Her second album was a smash as well, probably doing a better job of getting her name out than the first. Sheryl Crow included such singles as "If It Makes You Happy" and "Everyday is a Winding Road." The new album's first single is "My Favorite Mistake" and has been receiving heavy rotation on the radio as well as MTV.

The new album is somewhat different than her previous works, focusing more on the music than before. The attention has been taken away from catchy-pop riffs, working for a more artistic approach. The guitars are more raw, with heavier chords. There is actually a guitar solo on the disc, in "It Don't Hurt". Led Zeppelin is a definite influence in the guitar style found on this disc. It is especially apparent in "Riverwide" which is slightly reminiscent of "Kashmir." "There Goes the Neighborhood" includes alto sax accompaniment, providing a backup solo in parts. And "It Don't Hurt" contains harmonica backup and solo work. Another addition is that of strings on some tracks, adding a bit of depth to the music.

What about the vocals? Well she has gone places there too. She sounds more mature, if not more depressing on this album than on those past. Yes, I know she has never been the happy-go-lucky type, but this one sounds sadder than earlier ones. She uses her voice as a musical instrument more as well, keying in to the other instruments and complimenting their sound. In sync with that more depressed song is the seeming lack of radio hit music. There are not as many radio-friendly tracks on The Globe Sessions as on Sheryl Crow. This can be a good thing though - maybe that way I will not be bombarded with Sheryl Crow all the time.

Well I suppose you would like an overall comment on the album. Should you buy it? I really don't care all that much if you do or not. I have the album and that is all that matters to me. It is quality work, much more musical than her early stuff. If you are a fan of her pop sound, you may be disappointed, because the only two songs that are even close to pop on this album are "My Favorite Mistake" and "Members Only". The first of which is on the radio, so you can hear it all the time anyway. The second is a little too lyrically harsh to be a radio song, unless they want to play "And all the white folks shake their asses/ Looking for the two and four/ I'll have mine in martini glasses/ 'Cause I can't take it anymore." It would be a nice single, but we will have to see. If you want to hear what I am talking about, go get the disc. I already have, and it was well worth it.



Sheryl Crow
The Globe Sessions
1998
A&M
Rating: 3 stars

Review by Martin Monkman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey let's party, let's get down, let's turn the radio on
This is the meltdown
Get out the camera, take a picture
The drag queens and the freaks are all out on the town
And cowboy Jane's in bed nursing a swollen head
So begins "There Goes The Neighborhood", the second track on Sheryl Crow's The Globe Sessions. This song, with its Sticky Fingers-era Rolling Stones horn sound, uses a good-time party groove to paint a bleak picture of urban and/or cultural decay. This is typical of Crow's songs, where uncomfortable subject matter collides with tried-and-true musical forms, and reveals a lot about her ambitions as an artist.

Or is it more accurate to dub her an entertainer? On her first two albums she demonstrated an ability to parlay a range of radio-friendly classic rock styles, which, on the surface, might make her seem to be a female Bryan Adams. Saving Crow from the slag heap of generic radio fodder, though, has been her ability to write songs about the dislocation and disaffection that accompanies urban life in the late twentieth century. The Globe Sessions continues that trend, moving her further away from the "girl with a guitar" singer-songwriter image of her debut Tuesday Night Music Club.


"My Favorite Mistake", the album's first single, kicks things off. This melodic gem is the closest Crow has come to pure power pop, recalling the best of Aimee Mann's recent work. And like many of the other songs on The Globe Sessions, it's about a relationship gone sour. "Riverwide", a song that stirs vague memories of Led Zeppelin through its Eastern string flavorings and Jimmy Page-like guitar fills, is a cryptic tale of loneliness and abandonment. "It Don't Hurt" is another strong song, concerning the resiliance necessary to make a fresh start. And the album's closer (ignoring the hidden track "Subway") "Crash and Burn" is a languid tale of escape, both literal and figurative, from love gone wrong.

Fans of Bob Dylan will be seeking out the album to hear "Mississippi", a song Dylan left off his Time Out Of Mind album. Recalling chain gang songs with the hook lines "The only thing I did wrong / Was stay in Mississippi a day too long", the song fits thematically with the Crow's originals on the album. In it we hear about a relationship that, in spite of suffering some lumps, is likely going to endure at least a bit longer.

Crow's continued growth as an artist has, in some ways, surprised me. The infectious "All I Want To Do" from her debut seemed tailor-made for one-hit-wonder status, but her two subsequent albums have defied the fates. The Globe Sessions is far more passionate and intelligent than AOR pablum, and elevates Sheryl Crow above the crowd. She seems to be settling in for a long and productive career, one that should yield more good albums in the years to come.





"Subway"
The Globe Sessions
Written by Sheryl Crow

Do do do do
Do do do do
Do do do do
Do do do do

I was riding on the e-train
I was whistling to the rhythm
I was thinking about my live-in
I was feeling pretty fine
I asked the time
Got a poke in the eye

When I read the latest news
How we can't believe he wore those shoes
Should we have the man impeached
Or should we shoot him in the foot
Well you waste my time
You waste my time
Looking for two hundred ways to hang a guy

Do do do do
Do do do do
Do do do do
Do do do do

Allegations
Interrogations
Investigations
Then more taxation
National past time is aggrivation
I think I'll move out to a desert isle
Just for a while

To avoid all that's distracting
Like newspapers and magazines
Insipid propagandizing
To tell me what a loser I've elected
But you've neglected to tell the truth
That your politics is tied around his foot
And we too are dangling

Do do do do
Do do do do
Do do do do
Do do do do

Do do do do
Do do do do
Do do do do
Do do do do

Do you think that we are crazy
Low I.Q., that we are lazy
That we sit here watching sitcoms
That we have no clue to what is going on
Well you got that wrong

Wait and see, the boom will fall
The morning eggs will hit the wall
And everyone I know will call
To say that change is hanging in the air
You'd best beware
You'll wake up and Average Joe is in your chair
Just because he'd kinda like to do what's right
But more cause all you politicians do is fight

Do do do do
Do do do do
Do do do do
Do do do do

Do do do do
Do do do do
Do do do do
Do do do do