Well, if it makes her happy…
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[4.43]
Anthony Easton: Sheryl Crow has been on the edge of country for most of her career, and her song with Kid Rock had a kind of push me/pull me melancholic attitude towards desire that seemed terribly country, and seems weirdly prescient — it’ll be the comedown song that will be rediscovered when one of these good ol’ boys either overdoses or goes to rehab or both. The best thing about Crow is that her sourness always reads better in regret than joy, and it has been that way since Tuesday Night Music Club. This is terrible, and it is the worst of Crow, because it’s sour and doesn’t do a good job of either using that emotion or hiding it. I would have much preferred a tenacious and embittered break up song about Lance.
[3]
Edward Okulicz: It’s been a long time since Crow wrote the sort of song that you made you think a country record would be a really good idea — think “Strong Enough” and “Home” — and “Easy” is but mild twang on top of the sort of generic half-country half-rock that would sound OK on any station but great on none. Even when she made her name on fairly generic but sturdily-constructed bluesy pop-rock, at least her voice was distinctive and her lyrics occasionally biting, but this is a hash of her most dubious moment (“Soak Up the Sun”) without even that song’s fizzy, if airheaded, hook.
[4]
Alfred Soto: She tried this sun-kissed L.A. country-rock on “Soak in the Sun,” but it sucked, running aground on referents that were quite beyond a scenester chick and the decision to sacrifice her tautness. Thanks to the slide bits, “Easy” is better. I worry though: she no doubt believes Jack Johnson as the new Don Ho and Don Ho is Charlie Parker.
[6]
Crystal Leww: I am probably in the wrong place and time in my life to be objectively reviewing this song. I haven’t been home to Texas since December, and I miss listening to songs that sound aesthetically like this. The song is easy, Sheryl Crow’s voice is warm and likable, and I would love nothing better than to skip a vacation to see my hometown again.
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Brad Shoup: “We’ll play Jack Johnson/He’s the new Don Ho” is the kind of line that begs to have banana peels tossed underneath. Once upon a time, Crow might’ve done that. But she’s deadly serious about this staycation. The pace is so sluggish, and the arrangement — all hacking guitar chords and clock-watching drums — so anodyne that I was certain Dan Wilson was behind this.
[1]
Katherine St Asaph: Indie cratedigging aside, in 2013’s musical tableau Sheryl Crow fits most neatly near country; Crow admitted as much in 2008. You’d barely even need to change her sound; all you’ve gotta do is tweak a few twangs. And the credits bear this out; Feels Like Home is largely the work of Crow’s longtime collaborators, with just a sprinkling of colleagues like Ashley Monroe on “Give It to Me” and Brandy Clark/Shane McAnally on the “Merry Go Round”-ish “Homecoming Queen.” (There’s mainline country, too, sez Wikipedia: “Writing for the album began with some helpful advice from Brad Paisley.” Discuss.) “Easy” doesn’t have any of them, though, which explains why this is practically a C’mon, C’mon cut. (That’d explain the Jack Johnson line, anyway; he debuted in 2001.) Crow’s still got a crummy job, and it don’t pay near enough to vacation in Cancun. But she’s got beer and her guy, and a guitar that crunches, and that winsome voice that lolls about the melody, keeping the Crow eagerness even as she takes her melisma down country roads. Seems Sheryl Crow doesn’t need to travel far after all.
[6]
Rebecca A. Gowns: My mom loves Sheryl Crow. She only had a few CDs in her car, and Sheryl Crow was on at least two of them. “My Favorite Mistake,” “If It Makes You Happy,” “The First Cut Is the Deepest,” and the interminable “Soak Up the Sun” were played often, loudly, and usually with my mom singing along. That’s all I can think of when I hear a Sheryl Crow song, no matter how mediocre and sleepy it sounds. I’m dropped out of my reverie for a moment when I hear “Who needs Mexico, baby let’s stay home” — who needs Mexico?!?! Hang on, I need to tweet her some curses: #pinchegringa #todas-sus-canciones-son-fáciles #lo-siento-mama
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