Ooh, if there is an example of an artist I outright HATE, Sheryl Crow, would be the definition. Apart from a few songs that appeared earlier in her career, I have no taste for her musical styles and think of her as a leech. Her well documented abuse of her then-bandmates circa Tuesday Night Music Club just goes to show it's always been all about her, with no room for anyone else. To me, she is a cult of personality, yet she doesn't have a personality to begin with. I mean, this is the person who said that we should use one square of toilet paper in the restroom as this would save us so much! She also said she wanted to design a shirt we could a replacement for napkins. Of course, the next day she retracted both of these comments and deemed them jokes that had went over everyone's heads. In reality, I think everyone got just how loony she was. On top of this, she's made such joyously diluted comments along the lines of "war is bad". You think? Are we in high school here? COME ON! Hell, even Lance Armstrong left her, and I've always gotten the impression that had more to do with her enormous ego then anything else. I would expect Lance to have a bit of an ego trip, but Sheryl Crow must have dwarfed whatever he had. Credit must be given to Lance for being big enough about it not to spit venom in public, and that's something I can't say I've seen him do before but she's rather guilty of.
Anyway, I can rant all day about my HATE of Sheryl Crow, but I'm sure most anyone reading this has gotten the point by now. The real point is that Sheryl's first album didn't get released, and for good reason. A rather schmaltzy, adult-oriented rock album, it was produced by Hugh Padgham who is known for having crafted hit albums for Sting and Phil Collins among others. Sheryl apparently could tell something wasn't right about the album and fought for it's non-release. Well, she won that fight and the album was permanently shelved. Prior to that permanent shelving though, a press release and promotional cassette featuring the complete album was released and apparently slipped through enough cracks that it saw illicit release. It has since found it's way into fans' hands online, although most of the time incorrectly sequenced. The version posted here is correctly sequenced and in decent quality for anyone to either enjoy or make fun of, your preference.
As for more info as to why this album didn't see release, Dan Leroy's aforementioned book, "The Greatest Music Never Sold", features a brief section devoted to the album, but there is also THIS website which provides some interesting information. Unfortunately, the site doesn't seem to have been updated since around the turn of the century and the images are only available as thumbnails, but the information is invaluable.
Anyway, enjoy Sheryl Crow's misstep for whatever purpose you wish. I find this album pretty awful, but some may be interested in it's evolution. Some fans may really want to hear this album and I'm sure there are fans who may actually enjoy it. If you are a fan and have endured my disdain for Ms. Crow, I hope I haven't bruised your eyes to severely. What can I say? I don't like her, but that's not saying your opinion of her should change.
Sheryl Crow - Sheryl Crow (1992)
UPDATE: Well folks, IFPI got the DMCA to have mediafire remove this album. I don't really care as you can probably guess from the acidic text above, but it sucks it got yanked anyway. What's funny is this had been up for so long and now they decide to yank it. Whatever. Sorry guys.
01 All Kinds Of People
02 Father, Son
03 What Does It Matter
04 Indian Summer
05 I Will Walk With You
06 Love You Blind
07 Near Me
08 When Love Is Over
09 You Want It All
10 Hundreds Of Tears
11 The Last Time
12 Borrowed Time
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