Although few would doubt Chan Marshall’s abilities to transcend were she to sing the contents of the local telephone directory, the sheer magnificence of her interpretations on the much-lauded “Covers Album” (2000) were threatening to usurp the fact she wrote/ writes remarkable songs of her own.
And, good though it was, 2003’s “You Are Free” never quite had the same impact in the long run. Indeed, in this reviewer’s mind it was in danger of becoming ‘just’ another CAT POWER record, even if that’s still better than most. Nonetheless, Cat Power needed a fresh challenge, and with “The Greatest” that’s exactly what she’s set herself.
She returned to Memphis’s Ardent Studios (Stax Records, Big Star, Dylan, Replacements) to make the album with some of the city’s most famous session guys such as Al Green’s guitarist Mabon ‘Teenie’ Hodges, bassist Leroy ‘Flick’ Hodges (Hi Records soul stalwart from the 70s) and drummer Steve Potts who replaced the late Al Jackson in Booker T & The MG’S. Throw in burgeoning mixing star Stuart Sikes (Jack White & Loretta Lynn’s “Van Lear Rose”) behind the console and the cream of Memphis string and horn players for lashings more feeling and on paper you’ve got…well, if not quite Cat’s own “Dusty In Memphis”, then certainly something very special indeed.
And sho’ nuff, some of that ol’ Southern soul magic sure rubs off on “The Greatest”, especially on songs like “Living Proof” and “Lived In Bars” where Steve Potts’ funky drums, Rick Steff’s warm, Ian MacLagan-style organ and the Stax-y brass punctuates with ease. The subtlety is everything, and no more so than on the divine and sultry “Could We” where Marshall’s vocals add a whole new dimension to terms like ‘breathy’ or “After It All” where some fantastic, Dr.John-style N’Awlins piano, spidery guitar work from Hodges and wolf whistles (!) follow Cat like an expectant breeze though the magnolias.
But despite such marvels, “The Greatest” isn’t by any means devoid of Marshall’s customary introspection either. The title track opens the album, and it’s a gorgeous and mysteriously soulful thing of introverted wonder with deep, mercurial lyrics (“Once I wanted to be the greatest/ no wind or waterfall could stall me”), a dignified and gravitas-fuelled performance from the band and just the merest whiff of Alex Chilton circa Big Star’s influential and harrowing “Third.”
|
The ghost of Chilton past also hovers over the rippling piano and ghostly strings of “Where Is My Love” and the sparse and obsessive “Hate”, where the chorus finds Marshall echoing that nihilistic “I hate myself and I want to die” phrase that seems forever linked with the doomed Kurt Cobain. Then there’s the lo-fi and distant “The Moon”, with its’ scrawny guitar and aching lyrics (“when I lay me down will you still be around? When they put you six feet underground will the big, bad beautiful moon be around?”), which is every inch the otherworldly Cat Power we know and continue to marvel at.
Atypically, she signs off with “Love & Communication”: about as ‘rock’ as “The Greatest” and indeed Cat Power is liable to get, with a surprisingly sturdy backbeat, guitars and strings blustering strategically and as much edge as soul thickening the plot. It’s reined-in, creepy and something of a tour-de-force and the fact the band keep the tension on a tight lead throughout somehow only adds to the music’s heightened state of drama.
It’s unfair to bill “The Greatest” as a ‘return to form’ or some such nonsense, because “You Are Free” was hardly substandard for all that. However, “The Greatest” is surely a sublime piece of work which can more than go the distance with the best of her back catalogue. As far as her greatest self-composed studio work goes? Well, it’s gotta be a contender.
|
