All of which means we shouldn't expect a junior slump, either. Despite its occasionally busy arrangements and a lingering sense of restrained emotional resonance, The Globe Sessions represents another step forward for Crow. Sporting several potential hits—ranging from the Marshall Crenshaw-like opening single, "My Favorite Mistake," to the Stones-get-funky "There Goes the Neighborhood" to the trademark Crow party-rock of "Members Only"—the album finds the pride of Kennett, Mo., striving for greater lyrical depth than in her previous work and occasionally finding it.
In the good-riddance tune "Anything But Down," she sings, "You with your steel beliefs/ That don't match anything you do/ It was so much easier before you became you," while in "Members Only," she sneaks in a potent musical putdown, once again playing the average gal laughing at snobs: "And all the rich kids shake their asses/ Looking for the two and four/ Well, I'll have mine with blackstrap molasses/ 'Cause I can't taste it anymore." One just criticism of Crow is that she is still too much of a vocal chameleon at times, especially on "Mississippi," a cover of an unreleased Bob Dylan tune recorded for, but left off of his Grammy-winning Time Out of Mind. In attempting to Dylanize her singing, she winds up sounding like imitation Chrissie Hynde. Nevertheless, few can match Crow for sheer pop-rock craft, and that, frankly, is not to be undervalued, especially in an era where careers are measured in the weeks one song spends on the charts.
— Bob Remstein (Wall Of Sound)
heryl Crow doesn't know the meaning of the words "sophomore slump." When Bill Bottrell, producer of her multiplatinum 1993 debut album, stomped off in a huff at the start of recording sessions for its follow-up, Crow became her own producer. And though 1996's Sheryl Crow had its shortcomings, the singer's second album proved to be a major success, highlighted by her strongest single to date, "If It Makes You Happy."