Sheryl Crow and Friends--Live from Central Park - Movies - http://maxpages.com/xanadu/centralpark

In the era of shallow five-boy-bands who are singlehandedly killing any semblance of good music, there is Sheryl Crow. She is a beacon of light to those of us who want to hear real people play instruments and not just hear music that is made by the push of a button. She does it on this album with a little help from her friends, as Joe Cocker would say.

I am not a real big fan of live albums. Only a few artsist sound good live. The Grateful Dead, Jackson Browne, Bob Seger, and now I have added one more to my list, Crow. She does great renditions of her hits such as "Everyday is a Winding Road," "My Favorite Mistake," "Leaving Las Vegas," "All I Want to Do," "It Don't Hurt," and there goes the Neighborhood." All of these are great live tracks, but that is not where the strength of this album lies.

Crow has another recently discovered attribute, the ability to sing with other great musicians and blend perfectly. She and the Dixie Chicks do a wonderful country version of "Strong Enough," sharing the lead with lead singer Natalie Maines. Then, Crow takes a backseat, singing background vocals for Stevie Nick's rousing version of "Gold Dust Woman." Then she and Pretenders front woman Chrissie Hynde tag team the song "If It Makes You Happy." Rolling Stones great Keith Richards helps her out with "Happy." Then, in one of the most stirring songs on the CD, she teams up with Sarah McLachlan for a rendetion of "The Difficult Kind" which is powerful and haunting. And then, comes the best moment by far in my opinion. The legend himself Eric Clapton doubles with Crow in an incredible version of "White Room." Clapton takes the lead vocals, Crow does the high part on the bridge, and the instrumental support is wonderful. After the last vocal is sounded and the guitar solo kicks in, one can only describe it as "kick ass."

I cannot say enough good things about this CD. It is rivaled only by one other release for the best of 1999. That was the one CD put out early in the year called The Globe Sessions by, well, you know who. There is only one drawback to this CD, and it is a bad one. That is the fact that I was not there in Central Park when this concert was put on. So let N'Sync, Backstreet, 98 Degrees, and whatever other clones there are put out their crap. As long as Sheryl Crow keeps cutting records, real music will be safe.

Xanadu8503@aol.com

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Page Updated Wed May 3, 2000 3:41am EDT