Music: Buy C'mon, C'mon Online

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Mind you, the set gets off to a running start with one of her strongest and most catchy rockers to date, "Steve McQueen." "Like Steve McQueen, all I need's a fast machine," Crow belts over a funky, sample-enchanced rhythm and chicka-chicka guitars. The momentum continues with the album's first single, the irresistible "Soak Up the Sun," one of those California rock songs tailor made for convertibles and the beach. Low in beats-per-minute but still worthy of head-bobs is "You're an Original," a solid jam that sounds so much like classic rock that it makes perfect sense to have Lenny Kravitz crooning in the background.

But surprisingly, ballads make up most of the album, and some are more successful than others. Stevie Nicks lends her chops to a pair of winners, the SoCal country rocker of a title track and the lovely "Diamond Road," which boasts a charming, Beatlesque time change in the chorus. The touching "Safe and Sound," originally performed on the telethon for September 11 victims in a much milder arrangement, is cranked up considerably here; the haunting piano used in the telethon version is unfortunately toned way down, but it's a gorgeous composition either way, and Crow infuses the final section with such fire it's a small miracle she has any vocal cords left. The self-help ballad "Abilene" and "It's So Easy," a duet with Don Henley written by Sheryl and her sister Kathryn, are both agreeable without being spectacular, but two tracks probably could have been left out altogether: "It's Only Love," originally written and produced by Crow for Stevie Nicks' "Trouble in Shangri-La" album, is a solid composition, and actress Gwyneth Paltrow makes an interesting choice for a backup vocalist. But it suffers the same fate as another ballad, "Over You": the tempo, rhythms, and arrangements are so similar to other songs on the album that these two, lacking killer hooks, simply get lost in the shuffle.

Then there are moments, as on the bouncy "Hole in My Pocket" and the aforementioned "Over You," where the new lightness in Crow's touch is almost too much of a jolt. Both tracks could easily have been done by Amy Grant - while that's certainly no insult (one listen to Amy's "Behind the Eyes" album will prove the gap between Grant and Crow isn't as wide as you'd expect), the end results are still a good deal fluffier than we've come to expect from Sheryl, and you almost find yourself longing for the girl who used to like a good beer buzz early in the morning. But her previous incarnations are not fully lost, even though they too are tweaked with: the striking "Lucky Kid" harks back to the wild child stylings of her self-titled sophomore release, but the gritty production doesn't hinder the solid pop songwriting at hand...the end result sounds like something Carly Simon might have come up with after a hit of acid. Then on the stunner of a finale, "Weather Channel," Crow adopts the pensive persona that made up much of the moody and often-dark "Globe Sessions" album, but this time instead of merely giving us a page from her diary, she goes all out and bravely exposes the nerve. Crow's bouts with depression have always been hinted at, but lines like "I've got friends/they're waiting for me to comb out my hair and join the human race/but I don't feel too human" are downright vulnerable. Luckily anxiety doesn't make her lose her sense of humor; anti-depression medication is given the clever metaphor "I know it may not fix the hinges/but at least the door has stopped its creaking." Backed only by guitar, strings, and Emmylou Harris' backing vocals, this is Crow's most effective and touching ballad to date.

Yes, finding more pop than rock on a Sheryl Crow record is a bit of a surprise, as is the cleaner production. And those soundalike ballads are problems (which ones are expendable are in the eye of the beholder). And while it doesn't match her sophomore effort's realm of inspired masterpiece, "C'mon C'mon" is still an immensely enjoyable aspect of one of our most gifted singer-songwriters. The surprise isn't the quality of material, but the fact that we wouldn't have expected Sheryl Crow to give us such a mellow, polished, summer record. Expectations be damned; we still ought to be grateful.