...
Stand out tracks = Greatest, Lived In Bars, Where Is My Love
Tracklisting:-
Greatest
Living Proof
Lived In Bars
Could We
Empty Shell
Willie
Where Is My Love
Moon
Islands
After It All
Hate
Love And Communication
Up And Gone
... Read review
Indie-folk singer Chan Marshall has a reputation for onstage unpredictability, but some ... more
erratic (read: often drunken) live performances wont have prepared you for the full-bodied beast that isThe Greatest. Recorded with the help of a few Memphis musici...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Indie-folk singer Chan Marshall has a reputation for onstage unpredictability, but some ... more
erratic (read: often drunken) live performances wont have prepared you for the full-bodied beast that is The Greatest. Recorded with the help of a few Memphis music...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Indie-folk singer Chan Marshall has a reputation for onstage unpredictability, but some ... more
erratic (read: often drunken) live performances wont have prepared you for the full-bodied beast that isThe Greatest. Recorded with the help of a few Memphis musici...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Indie-folk singer Chan Marshall has a reputation for onstage unpredictability, but some ... more
erratic (read: often drunken) live performances wont have prepared you for the full-bodied beast that is The Greatest. Recorded with the help of a few Memphis musicians, including Al Green co-writer Mabon "Teenie" Hodges, his brother Leroy "Flick" Hodges, and present Booker T And The MGs drummer Steve Potts, this is a gentle homage to 70s soul that Chan carries with a sleepy-eyed charm. Element of pastiche or not, though, theres a vitality here thats absent from many of her earlier recordings: "Living Proof" simmers with a just-under-the-surface raunch, Chan cooing "Its not your face/Or the colour of your hair/Or the sound of your voice, my dear" over the simmering organ, while even the restrained "Where Is My Love" boasts a mini-orchestra of sweeping violin and elegiac, wandering piano. Most importantly, The Greatest doesnt suffer from the rather troublesome sense of genre tourism you get when, say, Will Oldham hooks up with a troupe of Nashville old-hands perhaps because its executed so convincingly, or perhaps simply because Chan Marshalls voice could melt your heart under any context--Louis Pattison
Postage & Packaging:Free! Availability:Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Indie-folk singer Chan Marshall has a reputation for onstage unpredictability, but some ... more
erratic (read: often drunken) live performances wont have prepared you for the full-bodied beast that is The Greatest. Recorded with the help of a few Memphis musicians, including Al Green co-writer Mabon "Teenie" Hodges, his brother Leroy "Flick" Hodges, and present Booker T And The MGs drummer Steve Potts, this is a gentle homage to 70s soul that Chan carries with a sleepy-eyed charm. Element of pastiche or not, though, theres a vitality here thats absent from many of her earlier recordings: "Living Proof" simmers with a just-under-the-surface raunch, Chan cooing "Its not your face/Or the colour of your hair/Or the sound of your voice, my dear" over the simmering organ, while even the restrained "Where Is My Love" boasts a mini-orchestra of sweeping violin and elegiac, wandering piano. Most importantly, The Greatest doesnt suffer from the rather troublesome sense of genre tourism you get when, say, Will Oldham hooks up with a troupe of Nashville old-hands perhaps because its executed so convincingly, or perhaps simply because Chan Marshalls voice could melt your heart under any context--Louis Pattison
Postage & Packaging:Free! Availability:Usually dispatched within 1 to 3 weeks...
Indie-folk singer Chan Marshall has a reputation for onstage unpredictability, but some ... more
erratic (read: often drunken) live performances wont have prepared you for the full-bodied beast that isThe Greatest. Recorded with the help of a few Memphis musicians, including Al Green co-writer Mabon "Teenie" Hodges, his brother Leroy "Flick" Hodges, and present Booker T And The MGs drummer Steve Potts, this is a gentle homage to 70s soul that Chan carries with a sleepy-eyed charm.Element of pastiche or not, though, theres a vitality here thats absent from many of her earlier recordings: "Living Proof" simmers with a just-under-the-surface raunch, Chan cooing "Its not your face/Or the colour of your hair/Or the sound of your voice, my dear" over the simmering organ, while even the restrained "Where Is My Love" boasts a mini-orchestra of sweeping violin and elegiac, wandering piano. Most importantly,The Greatestdoesnt suffer from the rather troublesome sense of genre tourism you get when, say, Will Oldham hooks up with a troupe of Nashville old-hands perhaps because its executed so convincingly, or perhaps simply because Chan Marshalls voice could melt your heart under any context--Louis Pattison
Postage & Packaging:£1.21 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Indie-folk singer Chan Marshall has a reputation for onstage unpredictability, but some ... more
erratic (read: often drunken) live performances wont have prepared you for the full-bodied beast that isThe Greatest. Recorded with the help of a few Memphis musicians, including Al Green co-writer Mabon "Teenie" Hodges, his brother Leroy "Flick" Hodges, and present Booker T And The MGs drummer Steve Potts, this is a gentle homage to 70s soul that Chan carries with a sleepy-eyed charm.Element of pastiche or not, though, theres a vitality here thats absent from many of her earlier recordings: "Living Proof" simmers with a just-under-the-surface raunch, Chan cooing "Its not your face/Or the colour of your hair/Or the sound of your voice, my dear" over the simmering organ, while even the restrained "Where Is My Love" boasts a mini-orchestra of sweeping violin and elegiac, wandering piano. Most importantly,The Greatestdoesnt suffer from the rather troublesome sense of genre tourism you get when, say, Will Oldham hooks up with a troupe of Nashville old-hands perhaps because its executed so convincingly, or perhaps simply because Chan Marshalls voice could melt your heart under any context--Louis Pattison
Postage & Packaging:£1.21 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Indie-folk singer Chan Marshall has a reputation for onstage unpredictability, but some ... more
erratic (read: often drunken) live performances wont have prepared you for the full-bodied beast that isThe Greatest. Recorded with the help of a few Memphis musicians, including Al Green co-writer Mabon "Teenie" Hodges, his brother Leroy "Flick" Hodges, and present Booker T And The MGs drummer Steve Potts, this is a gentle homage to 70s soul that Chan carries with a sleepy-eyed charm.Element of pastiche or not, though, theres a vitality here thats absent from many of her earlier recordings: "Living Proof" simmers with a just-under-the-surface raunch, Chan cooing "Its not your face/Or the colour of your hair/Or the sound of your voice, my dear" over the simmering organ, while even the restrained "Where Is My Love" boasts a mini-orchestra of sweeping violin and elegiac, wandering piano. Most importantly,The Greatestdoesnt suffer from the rather troublesome sense of genre tourism you get when, say, Will Oldham hooks up with a troupe of Nashville old-hands perhaps because its executed so convincingly, or perhaps simply because Chan Marshalls voice could melt your heart under any context--Louis Pattison
Postage & Packaging:£1.21 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Chilled out, Soulful and packed with melody Disadvantages: nothing bad about this cat
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Stand out tracks = Greatest, Lived In Bars, Where Is My Love
Tracklisting:-
Greatest
Living Proof
Lived In Bars
Could We
Empty Shell
Willie
Where Is My Love
Moon
Islands
After It All
Hate
Love And Communication
Up And Gone
... more
Few artists these days can genuinely be called an Enigma - it's usually just clever marketing. When you venture across Cat Power though, there is simply no other word to describe her. First of all, Cat Power is not her real name, it is in fact Chan Marshall and her latest album "The Greatest" is not a greatest hits album. Her live performances too have a variable nature depending on her mood. Cat Power as an artist has drifted into peoples consciousness and might just as easily evapourate out, but let's not take forgranted here and now that "The Greatest" is a genuine masterpeice of an album.
With a barrel-aged voice smoked over influences of dylan, lou reed and good old-fashioned folk songs , Cat Power breathes experiences of love life and being down&out , over you like the sweet bourbon vapour in a half-lit saloon. Listen to track 3 "lived in bars" where Chan sings the line "there's nothing like living in a bottle" and you can almost feel yourself slumped down next to her in a tatty armchair.
The tempo never lifts above walking pace but you wouldn't really want it to either. There's enough light and shade here to ensure that you never start feeling sorry for yourself or her. The formula of simple song arrangements mostly based around folky piano and guitar riffs, you would have thought might start sounding stale, but something about Cat Powers ear for a good hook keeps you coming back for more. By the time you reach the last song Up and Gone, you'll be getting up to follow her out of the bar and wondering where she's disappeared to.
Stand out tracks = Greatest, Lived In Bars, Where Is My Love Tracklisting:-
Greatest Living Proof Lived In Bars Could We Empty Shell Willie Where Is My Love Moon Islands After It All Hate Love And Communication Up And Gone
Advantages: Chan Marshall herself, the lyrical touches and musical flourishes Disadvantages: Where Is My Love, a dull song that shouldn't be on here
the drink began to take it's toll, and the odds were on this new album turning out to be nothing less than a complete shambles.
Yet here we are, you reading this review and me stating now, for the record, that "The Greatest" is truly the best album CatPower has ever released. It's a touching, powerful look into her psyche, and is as redemptive and confessional as anything Amy has released, but with a frailty that puts her in another musical league. From the powerhouse ballads to the quiet, lyrical twists she's well-known for, all that makes CatPower the unique musical entity that she is can be found on "The Greatest", along with several new musical strengths. The songs here have a generally sparse feel, even though backing is provided by The Memphis Rhythm band, which creates an ambience that really does take you back through the decades ...
Advantages: A voice you will never forget! Superb songs Disadvantages: Sometimes too dark
CatPower, the other name of Chan Marshall, is one of those female singers that conquer you just by their voice, by the way they whisper or yell?
"The Greatest", her latest album (it's not a greatest hits album!), is one of the most amazing records that came up from the American independent music circuit in the last couple of years.
Whether she is playing the piano, or the guitar, she's always the one in charge, and her presence you can feel in your skin even through the cd record.
In a club atmosphere, "The Greatest" is a record that will make you travel until the places described, through the whistles, and the perfect mixtures of sax, trumpet, violin and cello, always supporting, Chan's amazing voice. In fact, the album was recorded in Memphis, where The Memphys Rhythm Band, joined her with their vigorous horns and the strength ...
Advantages: Her style of singing, as usual! Disadvantages: Old songs covered.
"Jukebox" is CatPower's second chapter on covering other people songs. The first covers album was recorded in 2000, and it represented an amazing step forward in her career.
But for those who know that first covers album, I have a warning, don't you expect from this one, a similar exercise. Then, CatPower almost made a solo album, with her hands always on the guitar or the piano, and her voice, as only companions. Barely no other instruments allowed.
This time, and following the positive experience of her latest original album "The Greatest", CatPower has an entire band (jazz/blues kind of thing) behind her, supporting the reconstruction of these old successful songs. More upbeat certainly, but nothing far off her usual pace. Her swiftness is all there, as well as her shredding moods.
The universal hit "New York" opens ...
Product Information for "Greatest, The - Cat Power" »
Product details
Title
Greatest, The
Performer
Cat Power
Genre
Rock & Pop
Sub Genre
Lo Fi
Release Date
23/01/2006
Original Release Year
2006
Label / Distributor
Matador / PIAS UK/Sony DADC
Pieces in Set
1
Studio / Live
Studio
Format
Performer
EAN
744861069423
Additional notes
Album Notes
Chan Marshall's gorgeous, evocative albums as Cat Power have gained even more critical and popular attention than her idiosyncratic on-stage behavior (and that's saying quite a bit). MOON PIX (1998) and YOU ARE FREE (2004), the two albums of all-original material preceding 2006's THE GREATEST, were spellbinding affairs that pitted Marshall's haunting voice against a stirring melange of spare, low-key indie rock and atmospheric balladry. THE GREATEST, however, one of Marshall's most focused and impressive efforts, surpasses those two superb albums. The album is characterized by elaborate horn and string arrangements and a warm, polished feel, much of which stems from the old-school Memphis soul musicians Marshall has backing her (guitarist Teenie Hodges and bassist Leroy Hodges, both of Al Green fame, appear, as does MGs replacement drummer Steve Potts, among others). The sweet, earthy sheen may lack some of the raggedness that pleased Marshall's indie fans, yet the artist has lost none of her incisive songwriting ability, whether on moving narratives (the title track), countrified lopes ("Could We"), or spare meditations on loneliness ("Where is My Love"). More immediately accessible that previous Cat Power releases, THE GREATEST is no less distinctive or engaging: it sounds less like selling out than buying in.
Album Reviews
Rolling Stone (p.60) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[U]nsettling but intimate....[A]n album full of bittersweet love and tiny pleasures." Entertainment Weekly (p.p.80) - "Marshall recorded the album in Memphis with songwriters and musicians who've worked with the likes of Al Green....She's inching her way toward expressiveness..." - Grade: B+ Mojo (p.116) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "For all their intimacy, there is still something otherworldly about these songs....By putting some warm flesh on her musical bones, Chan Marshall is punching her considerable songwriting weight....THE GREATEST lives up to its gold-plated name." Uncut (p.74) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his is the real thing: a shy, emotionally naked white girl finding common cause with her region's neglected musical greats, delivering an album of perilous depth....An understated masterpiece." Magnet (pp.88-89) - "[Marshall] brings sound and sentiment together on 'The Moon,' an understated evocation of loneliness."
Titles on disc 1
1.
Greatest
2.
Living Proof
3.
Lived In Bars
4.
Could We
5.
Empty Shell
6.
Willie
7.
Where Is My Love
8.
Moon
9.
Islands
10.
After It All
11.
Hate
12.
Love And Communication
Ciao
Listed on Ciao since
02/08/2006
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