Wildflower

1	I Know Why 4:15
2	Perfect Lie 4:34
3	Good Is Good 4:18
4	Chances Are 5:16
5	Wildflower 3:57
6	Lifetimes 4:12
7	Letter to God 4:04
8	Live It Up 3:42
9	I Don't Wanna Know 4:28
10	Always on Your Side 4:15
11	Where Has All the Love Gone 3:40

Barnes & Noble

Throughout her career, Sheryl Crow has been at her best when she throws caution to the winds and simply lets her instincts guide her music. In an effort to recapture the immediacy of her best efforts, Crow says she did her best to write Wildflower's songs on the fly, rather than hunkering down in the studio to hammer them out. The plan worked out mighty well, as it happens, resulting in a disc that's as immediate as Tuesday Night Music Club -- albeit with a good deal more stylistic range than that debut. Wildflower touches on all of Crow's strengths, from the unflaggingly upbeat, burnished rock tone of "Good Is Good" to the poignant piano balladry of "Always on Your Side." A general air of contentment hovers over many of disc's tunes -- it's a safe bet that the singer's relationship with cyclist Lance Armstrong had a lot to do with that -- but Crow hasn't simply wrapped herself in fluff. The title track, for instance, waxes wistful about remembrances of things past, a mood that's underscored by the spare-but-effective string arrangements provided by David Campbell (Beck's widely acclaimed father). Campbell also brings an elegant counterpoint to the country-tinged "Perfect Lie," but Wildflower's true charm lies in Crow's lyrics and voice -- both of which convey an abundance of the untamed delicacy promised by the disc's title. David Sprague

All Music Guide

Originally, Sheryl Crow planned to have her follow-up to 2002's Top Ten hit C'mon, C'mon be two simultaneously released albums, announcing their autumn release at the beginning of 2005, but by the time the fall rolled around, the project had been scaled back to a single album: Wildflower. If C'mon, C'mon was a cheerful, bright record ideal for sunny summer days, Wildflower is its opposite, a warm, introspective record that's tailored for the fall. It's not dissimilar to 1998's The Globe Sessions, which felt like a somber hangover to the wonderfully weird party of her eponymous 1996 second album, but where The Globe Sessions had a weary, heartbroken feel, there's a comfortable, lived-in atmosphere and sense of genuine affection on Wildflower. Celebrity press and pre-release hype attributed this love-mad vibe to Crow's romance with cyclist Lance Armstrong -- the couple announced its engagement the same month Wildflower was released -- and there surely must be some sort of correlation between Crow's personal life and work, but anybody looking for an album explicitly about her relationship with Lance (the way that, say, Eric Benet's Hurricane is all about his divorce from Halle Berry) will be disappointed. There are certainly plenty of songs about love here, but Crow's songs are not about specific events (unless they're neo-protest songs like the lively "Live It Up"). They're open-ended, so it's easy to hear the record and never think about Armstrong. As a matter of fact, the subjects of the songs matter less than the feel of the album. It's easy to spin Wildflower a couple of times before the songs start to sink in -- unlike her other records, there's nothing here that immediately grabs your attention, they're all growers -- but the mood of the record is immediately appealing. That sustained warm, burnished, relaxed feel -- at once rootsy and upscale, modest and classy -- is reason enough to return to Wildflower to give the songs a chance to take root, and once they do, the album seems to be one of her most consistent records and one of her best. Stephen Thomas Erlewine