Detours – Sheryl Crow

Over the last 2 or 3 years, Sheryl was engaged to a man wearing tight-fitting lycra almost every day, she beat breast cancer, she voiced a character in animation hit movie Cars and she adopted a two-week old boy. Oh, and she released her weakest album to date “Wildflower.”

But somewhere during that 2 or 3 year period the seeds for this, her latest offering must have been planted and thank heavens for that… What a brilliant return to form for Sheryl and quite frankly, one of the few 2008 musical highlights so far. Even musical bible Rolling Stone agrees and featured Crow in their 21 February 2008 issue calling Detours “Crow's most powerful and most personal record yet."

First single “Love is Free” makes you want to rush out and buy an old beat-up VW Kombi and paint flowers on it, but ironically the song was inspired by the people of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Proof again that something destructive can lead to something uplifting. The next single is rumoured to be “Now that you’re gone,” a song echoing many a lost love’s biggest fear and hope at the same time as reflected in the lyrics “And I’m afraid some long lonely road will lead me back to you again.”

Detours is just one of those albums that puts te final nail in the coffin of artists who believe they can release an album off the back of maybe one or two strong songs. Every single song has something going for it, making it a stand-out track. From “Shine over Babylon,” a song Crow calls “very environmentally conscious, in the tradition of Bob Dylan," to “Peace be upon us,” possibly my favourite song on the album. Or maybe that honour should go to “Out of our Heads,” which cannot be described as a song really… it’s a brilliant musical plight to get into our hearts and resolve the issues of the world.

Simple Plan – Simple Plan

Simple Plan releases their third studio album. The rather boringly titled album is anything but dull I can assure you, although a little more sedated than previous releases, the boys still pound away with raging energy.

These five Canadian boys emerged with their first studio album in 2002, riding high on the crest of the pop-punk wave first started by legends Green Day and Offspring, reinvented by the notorious Blink 182 and fuelled by the like. Their first two studio albums hit platinum and double platinum with singles “I’m Just a Kid”,  “Perfect” and “Welcome to My Life” rocking commercial airwaves and parading on the charts – firmly establishing themselves on the pop punk scene.

But I am not quite sure if this album is a hardcore pop punk statement or an crossover experiment. On the first six tracks the Montreal quintet mixes electronic elements with their classic pop-punk sound. “When I’m Gone”, “Your Love is a Lie” and “The End” sound experimental, including drum loops, keyboards bleeps, intros that sound a bit R&Bish, and the somewhat random horn section at the beginning of “Generation”.

But then you hit track seven and it starts to sound more like a statement. “Time To Say Goodbye” busts on the scene with ripping guitars, fearless vocals and pounding drums, which is tightly followed by “I Can Wait Forever” a chilled power ballad, the way only pop-punkers can.

So, maybe it is a bit of both, but at the core this is still Simple Plan.

Knieë Lam - Eden

Ek, dalk soos baie ander mense daar buite, het die gevoel gekry dat Eden nie kon besluit of hulle ‘n Afrikaanse of Engelse boy band wil wees nie. Dis asof hulle te bang is om op een taal te fokus, dalk is hulle bang om aanhangers te verloor.

Maar, nadat ek met ‘n objektiewe oor na hul nuutste album, “Knieë Lam” geluister het, het ek eintlik besef dis nie nodig vir hulle om te kies tussen die twee tale nie – hulle is dan goed in albei!

Met agt van die veertien snitte op die album beïndruk die drie manne van Eden in Afrikaans. Hulle skop af met die lekker voetstampers, “Vra My” wat ook die eerste treffer van die CD af is en “Ai Ja Jaai” maar vat dinge bietjie rustiger met “Kwart Oor 5” wat  menige aanhanger se hartsnare roer.

Die Engelse snitte op die album stel glad nie teleur nie, inteendeel - dit het my eintlik net meer beïndruk. “Into Me” het dadelik uitgestaan en is ook baie gepas as die laaste snit wat die album op ‘n goeie noot afsluit. Hul weergawe van die ou bekende “Hurt So Good” is goed en die moeite werd om na te luister. En vir almal wat so sukkel om New Romance se “You’re my first love (Head over Heels)” op CD te kry, hou maar op soek… Eden doen sommer hul eie weergawe van die golden oldie saam met Lianie May.

‘n Eerlike opinie: ek was skepties oor die album omdat ek nie regtig ‘n aanhanger was nie, maar ek moet my hoed vir die drie ouens en hul span afhaal en krediet gee waar dit toekom. Hulle kry dit reg om ‘n goeie balans tussen Afrikaanse en Engelse musiek te hou en behoort aanhangers meer as net tevrede te hou. Hou Eden dop, hulle gaan net groter en beter word.