For some fairly shallow performers, there comes a time when their craft becomes a chore, when scribbling songs for the big follow-up album turns into a black-and-white deadline. Clever composers can almost disguise this ennui, burying it in a smarmy, sunshine-beaming mix. Key word:almost. Ergo, a trial spin through clever composer Sheryl Crow'sThe Globe Sessionsevokes the faintest hint of a feeling that grows stronger with each successive listening--there's no sense that the artist intended this material as anything more than tepid album filler. A conversation with your local supermarket checkout girl would prove far more riveting than Crow's pretentious and all-too-casual observations (set to the tune, it must be noted, of some likable, jangly hooks). "Get out the camera, take a picture / The drag queens and the freaks are all out on the town," she purrs over chucka-chucka choogling on "There Goes the Neighborhood," which is probably what any self-respecting drag queen or freak would mutter once Crow moved in, scrounging for her now-patented vicarious cool. The closestThe Globe Sessionscomes to any palpable sincerity is during an actually-might've-lived-it, whoops-I'm-in-trouble-again "Mississippi." Even then, Crow drowns the moment in perfectly enunciated syllables, more prissy than alleycat-prowling. Crow started out with a credibleTuesday Night Music Clubpedigree, surrounded by visionaries such as David Baerwald (For this disc, she relies heavily on ex-Wire Train mainstay Jeff Trott). But they're gone, and things change, to the point where, if you support this silly sycophant with your hard-earned dollars, there's only one question that you'll need to be asked: Do you want paper or plastic?--Tom Lanham

Best Rock Album of 1999
Sheryl Crow's third album, "The Globe Sessions", is by far her most subdued. The mellow tracks here allude to a depression that has been present, but not blatant, in all of her albums thus far.

The record kicks off with "My Favorite Mistake", a mid-tempo guitar number which finds her hanging on to an unfaithful lover. The Celtic-inspired acoustic track "Riverwide", the slow grunge of "Maybe That's Something", and the hushed "Crash and Burn" further proclaim Crow's melancholy. Not all the songs here are downers, though. "There Goes The Neighborhood" uses a clap track, horns, and loose guitar riffs to make a great party song, and "Mississippi", a southern-style Bob Dylan cover, is very upbeat.

The best track on "The Globe Sessions" is undoubtedly "The Difficult Kind." Crow uses slide guitars and a string section to present an amazing piece of southern blues rock. Her vocals are outstanding, and the songwriting, which is at its most honest, states: "They're ain't nothing like regret to remind you you're alive."

Using every kind of sound effect from phone noises to radio static to underscore the instrumentals, which are great on their own, this is truly a fantastic rock album. After all, it was named Best Rock Album at the 1999 Grammy Awards.

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