Sheryl Crow – ‘Pick You Up’ reviewed: a short album about healing and togetherness
The US singer's twelfth album runs only about 25 minutes. Hot Press gives it 7.5/10 and RIFF 7/10 – musicOMH finds it too safe (2.5/5).
Photo: Zach Catanzareti Photo / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (cropped and resized)
Single video: YouTube · Sheryl Crow · youtube.com
Single: Freedom Bus
Sheryl Crow released her twelfth studio album ‘Pick You Up’ on Thirty Tigers on 9 October, the follow-up to ‘Evolution’ (2024). According to RIFF Magazine, she wrote the seven songs with longtime collaborator Jeff Trott; the record runs about 25 minutes. Ultimate Classic Rock and musicOMH say it was first intended as an EP until the closer ‘Freedom Bus’ with songwriter Jesse Welles was added – the track also has an official music video.
The album deals with healing, loneliness and the search for common ground. Hot Press (7.5/10) praises Crow for not resting on her hits but looking at the present – for example in ‘Flat Earth’, which takes aim at climate-change denial. RIFF (7/10) hears a return to the rock and Americana sound of the 1990s, enjoys the humour of ‘I've Got Your Number’ and ‘Freedom Bus’ – but notes that Crow never arrives at sweeping answers.
musicOMH (2.5/5) is more critical: the album feels as if on autopilot, well played but too middle-of-the-road; the strongest songs are the more muscular ‘Perfect’ and ‘Freedom Bus’. Ultimate Classic Rock says the record feels quickly assembled rather than definitive. On Album of the Year, the critics' average after three reviews is 62 out of 100.