100 Miles from Memphis
by Sheryl Crow
  • Record Label: A&M
  • Release Date: Jul 20, 2010
Metascore
66

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
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  1. AllMusic
    80
    There's an ease to this record that's not often heard on Sheryl Crow's albums and its light touch is thoroughly appealing.
  2. American Songwriter
    80
    It may have taken her over 20 years, but today Sheryl Crow is retrieving and expanding upon those parts of her artistic sensibility that had always been there.
  3. BBC Music
    70
    This is an album nostalgic for a time when soul, circa Watergate/Vietnam, had an upbeat message and a positivist agenda. Here, though, Crow puts aside politics for pure fun.
  5. Billboard.com
    77
    A tendency to let the songs run too long notwithstanding, this 100 Miles is a path Crow was certainly wise to tread.
  6. Boston Globe
    70
    Unfortunately, the desire to capture that vibe outweighs strong melodies or a tight sense of dynamics on the first half of the album.
  7. Entertainment Weekly
    75
    Crow's obvious joy is infectious, but even this former Michael 
Jackson backing singer can't make a new I Want You Back seem anything other than redundant.
  8. Los Angeles Times
    50
    Nearly every song overstays its welcome; what may have felt like a bunch of great jams in the studio grows tedious over the course of 12 tracks.
  9. musicOMH.com
    60
    Crow has returned to the kind of music she loved as a kid growing up in the shadow of one of America's hottest soul hotbeds. The result finds her sounding more at home and effortlessly exuberant than she has since Tuesday Night Music Club.
  10. PopMatters
    60
    What makes 100 Years, Crow's seventh album of originals, intriguing is how cathartic all of the soul grooves and slinky funkiness feels coming from Crow.
  11. Q Magazine
    60
    She makes the most with what she's got, along with a decent strike rate for pulling radio-friendly hooks out of the hat. [Sep 2010, p.122]
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  12. Rolling Stone
    70
    Her smoky rasp is thinner than many who've plowed these fields, but Crow is a hook-miner, and her phrasing is tough and sexy enough to put the material over.
  13. Slant Magazine
    50
    While it's admirable to hear an artist with such a well-established aesthetic branch out, 100 Miles from Memphis doesn't stretch far enough to work as either a contemporary soul record or as a purely retro-minded tribute.
  14. The Guardian
    40
    Despite living through cancer and recurring heartbreak, Crow's voice lacks the emotional force for soul.
  15. Uncut
    60
    The best song is Terrence Trwnt D'Arby's Sign Your Name." Slightly damning, that. [Sep 2010, p.91]
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User Reviews

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User Score
3.2

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 19 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 19
  3. Negative: 10 out of 19
  1. aybesea
    Dec 13, 2016
    10
    This is my second favorite Sheryl Crow album (after the eponymous second album). With that being said, this is one of the most played albumsThis is my second favorite Sheryl Crow album (after the eponymous second album). With that being said, this is one of the most played albums in my library. It's got that gritty, good time blue eyed soul feel of Dusty Springfield. The songs are infectious and a whole lot of fun! Wish she'd do another run at soul... she's really very good at it.… Full Review »
  2. Ricko
    May 22, 2016
    7
    After years of high quality albums, touring and general hard work, "100 Miles from Memphis" sounds like a some well deserved self indulgence,After years of high quality albums, touring and general hard work, "100 Miles from Memphis" sounds like a some well deserved self indulgence, a gift from Sheryl Crow to herself. The presence of 3 covers as well as a move away from her own trademark rootsy rock style further points to this. Crow is experimenting with soul music here and this can be heard particularly on the rhythm sections behind some of the songs. "100 miles from Memphis" has a few nice moments (opener "Our love is Fading" and "Peaceful Feeling" are particularly strong numbers) and the production is pretty lush throughout. However, too often across this record I'm tending to miss the country folk/rock Sheryl Crow that I know and love,a genre in which she is so accomplished. Granted, the album does improve on repeating listening but the general point still stands. Worth checking out for fans of hers but newcomers to Sheryl Crow won't want to start here.… Full Review »
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