Various Artists: VH1 Storytellers : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

If, say, you don't enjoy reading back issues of Crawdaddy!, you probably don't need to hear the stars of VH1's Storytellers recite the often less-than-compelling histories of their songs. Some of us do, though, and the lineup on this collection of live performances is pretty stellar - David Bowie, Sheryl Crow, Stevie Nicks and Elvis Costello, among others, make appearances. Among the highlights: Annie Lennox croons expansively on an acoustic rendition of the Eurythmics' "Here Comes the Rain Again"; David Bowie's pared-down take on "China Girl" has more heart than his Eighties version (though it still can't flick a Bic to Iggy Pop's rendition). There's also a perverse fascination in listening to a flutish Sheryl Crow flailing against Stevie Nicks' worldly growl in their duet of Crow's "Strong Enough." The disc suffers from the lack of visual accompaniment, but like the duet, Storytellers is strong enough. (RS 842)

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