Sheryl crow has paid some labor-intensive dues (backup singing, studio work, cutting an entire debut album for A&M that got shit-canned), and even the comely Hollywood-hootenanny fluff of Tuesday Night Music Club had an insouciant charm to it. But based on Sheryl Crow's lite coat of blues-rock grease and the vampish portraits in the CD booklet, Crow wants us to believe that she has toughened into a trailer-park rock & roll jade – and it's a flimsy act. If there is any soul or character development in these songs, Crow throws it away on bald classic-rock theft – "Hard to Make a Stand" is remarkable for its similarity to both the Stones' "Tumbling Dice" and "Sweet Jane," by the Velvet Underground – or underplays it with white-bread VH₁ poise. "If It Makes You Happy" is as good as it gets, juicing the feel of Tuesday Night with a little Friday night fire. Otherwise, the Janis Joplin vibe on Sheryl Crow is a bust. Crow has neither the flamboyance nor the nerve to pull it off. (RS 750/751)

DAVID FRICKE