The Greatest - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com
If you are an artist at a crossroads/ "maturing point" in your career, it's a great idea to seek out the original musicians who played on music you adore and that inspire you greatly-it's the opposite of what Rick Rubin does with the old folks. The results, however, are often lackluster; it can just be too hard to forge a connection in a short period of time with studio dudes twenty to thirty years older than you. Chan Marshall, who took just three years between albums this time, returned to Memphis to record with many of the architects of Southern soul music at Ardent Studios on The Greatest. And from the first and titular tune, a mournful and gorgeous ballad with swelling strings, backing singer and shimmery guitar accompaniment that tells the tale of a boy who wants to become a great boxer, it's clear that the results of this experiment are uniformly awesome. The sultry-voiced artiste sounds fully at home within these songs, these lovely analog Southern sounds that bridge black and white musics. It's not like she's on a trip of trying to be Aretha or anything; besides, the arrangements on all the songs are different. The loping, fiddle-accented "Empty Shell" sounds like the Unholy Modal Rounders backing Bobbie Gentry. All the songs are pretty, slow and melancholy; there's nothing like "He War" on here. We are not in the habit of quoting press releases, but it's hard to beat this line from the Matador one-sheet: "If Alex Chilton were today a beautiful young woman, he'd sound like this." Amen, or something. -Mike McGonigal

Album Description
This is not a greatest hits album, despite the title. It contains all-original songs written by Chan Marshal (professionally known as Cat Power), and features the great Memphis session musicians Teenie Hodges on guitar, Leroy Hodges on bass (Al Green, Hi Rhythm Section), drummer Steve Potts, and more. The combination of Marshall's superbly evocative and flexible voice plus some of the greatest Southern soul players, has produced a masterpiece. These songs explore themes of Southern loss, longing, and marginality. The limited first digipak pressing and regular single vinyl contain a bonus track. After the first pressing sells out, the regular jewelcase version will not contain a bonus track.

Album Description
Japanese digipak pressing with earliest release of 2005 album. This is not a greatest hits album, despite the title. It contains all-original songs written by Chan Marshall (AKA Cat Power), and features the great Memphis session musicians Teenie Hodges on guitar, Leroy Hodges on bass (Al Green, Hi Rhythm Section), drummer Steve Potts, and more. Includes 2 bonus tracks 'Up & Gone' & 'Dreams'.

Album Details
Japanese Edition of the 2006 Studio Album from the Alter Ego of Chan Marshall features Performances from Veteran Memphis Session Players Leroy Hodges (Bass), Teenie Hodges (Guitar), Steve Potts (Drums) and a Cast of Many More. Marshall is Gifted Singer and this Album Could Ultimately Prove to Be her all Time Best Collection of Songs. The Songs Are Supremely Crafted Elegies of Longing, Loss, Isolation and the Human Condition. This Version Includes Two Bonus Tracks Not Available on the Regular Us Edition: "up and Gone" and "Dreams".

Customer Reviews: Read 81 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

Cat Power Goes Memphis with "The Greatest" (4.5 stars) February 27, 2006
40 out of 46 found this review helpful

Cat Power's output will never be accused of being very emotive or lyrically overwrought, yet her latest album goes beyond the austere boundaries of prior releases. This is not to say that Marshall has gone over the edge in any way, yet in The Greatest her voice seems to reach for new tender corners and there's a certain compassion for her songs' characters in this album which- at least to me-have never been this apparent in the past.

This is the case with the title song and opener, a moving piece about a boxer, which already showcases some key musical choices that give The Greatest its particular feel. Whether it's the subtle guitar work, the way the strings and piano unfold its melody, or the drums-which I don't recall being present as often or featured as they are throughout these tracks-ease you into a different kind of Cat Power album.

A similar feel to the opener returns in "Living In Bars," "Where Is My Love" and "Willie," yet not all songs comply to this formula, by the way, songs like Living Proof," "Could We," "After It All" or "Islands" are-in their own ways and by Cat Power' standards-more accessible, more willing to reach out than past material.

Still, this is a Cat Power album, "The Moon"-one of my favorite songs-as well as "Empty Shell" or "Hate," each in its own way, proved this and may remind you of prior albums.

So, enjoy and be moved by a special singer and interesting songwriter who's still willing to explore the music outside her usual world, and had the shy observer she's always been, step out into new moods.

5 out of 5 stars

Mature, Sultry Approach Wins Me Over February 27, 2006
33 out of 39 found this review helpful

The Greatest by Cat Power is a great place to get introduced to this original songwriter. Slowed down, acoustic, dreamily textured, these songs reflect the maturity of a songwriter at the top of her powers. Those who warm up to these slower acoustic songs will probably want to check out kindred spirits in the bands Beaumont, The Big Phony, The Clientele, Club 8, The Concretes, Hope Sandoval, Le Mans, The Monglfier Brothers, Ronderlin, and Simpatico.

5 out of 5 stars

Never heard of Cat Power before this one .... September 9, 2006
29 out of 29 found this review helpful

... So the other reviews here, necessarily, have me baffled.

I just found out about Cat Power via this CD. So my impression as a first-timer, completely ignorant of her previous works:

Wonderful.

Of course, I grew up in the South, hearing Janis Joplin, Dylan, Van Morrison, and other "blues/gospel-inflected" music (even if these artists are mostly "before my time," and not necessarily from my area).

So I, personally, was thrilled to find this album. And I can honestly say -- in a "scene" where I am constantly bombared with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Killers, etc. -- Cat Power is the only musician that has had me personally excited in a few years.

So take it for what it's worth. I guess my next step will be to check out Chan's other albums.

But those other albums don't matter to me, at the moment.

I give this a very happy and enthusiastic 5 Stars.

3 out of 5 stars

More misses than hits July 10, 2006
10 out of 17 found this review helpful

I'm floored by all the glowing reviews by other customers. I own all of Chan Marshall's cd's (and even her "Trees" dvd), and I find this cd mostly a disappointment. Clearly she felt the need to loosen up and shake off the seriousness that accompanies her music, but these songs come off more as experimenting with a different pose than with inhabiting a different pose. I don't have any need for her to stay the same, but some of these songs sound like the last couple of Cowboy Junkies cd's, when they were beyond "washed up" and really at "seriously boring." Many of these songs are boring, and in many of them it's hard to understand her lyrics due to her voice being low in the mix in way that sounds overly produced. There are a few wonderful songs, but in general it's hard to stop yawning. I hope she feels like she's stretched and had some breathing room, and perhaps her next album will find the voice that was so self-assured on "You are Free" (still her best album).

5 out of 5 stars

Who says this isn't a greatest hits album? September 5, 2006
10 out of 11 found this review helpful

Matador records keeps pointing out to anyone who cares that The Greatest isn't supposed to be a greatest hits album. Oh yeah? Well with songs this good, it might as well be. This album is filled with quite a fine selection of Chan Marshall's R&B, soul, and country-flavored numbers. One of the previous reviewers suggested this is an acoustic album. That is incorrect. The songs are performed by a full studio band (electric guitars and bass, Hammond organ, drums, horns etc). The songs are well written, well arranged, well produced, and performed by the kind of studio pros that most any artist playing Stax-era R&B would be proud to have. Best of all, Marshall's voice has never sounded better.

This album is overflowing with winners: "Living Proof", "Willie", "Lived in Bars", "Where is my Love", "Love & Communication", "Could We", "The Moon". Even the B-list songs are still pretty good. I'm even willing to forgive an old styled Cat Power song like "Hate", with Marshall playing one of her signature cloddish guitar parts. I mean, the rest of the album is so good; who cares if she wants to goof around on her crappy Silvertone for a couple minutes while the tape rolls and the band takes a break?

My only real complaint is that some songs are too short. When you get a great rhythm and horn section going on a song like "Could We" you don't pack up shop after 2:21 minutes. Let the horn players take a solo. Let the Telecaster guy or the Hammond B3 guy take a wack at it for a few bars. Build up to a crescendo and then drop back down. For heaven's sake, go back and listen to your Booker T and the MGs albums a couple more times--you'll see what I mean.

Another small quibble is too many songs are built around a single unchanging progression. A cool song like "The Moon", with its rotating Leslie speaker vibe, is robbed of some drama because there are no breaks or changes. Marshall's career-long love of repetative song structures is too reductive, particularly when she's got a really great band like this one.

I've spent the last few months working my way through the entire Cat Power catalog only to discover she really has nothing else like this album. The Covers Record has hints of this album--with pared down covers of folk and country blues songs. Her remaining albums are a different world entirely. Some are better than others, but virtually everything that ever bothered me about previous Cat Power albums is fixed in The Greatest (above all, Marshall has focused on writing and singing while allowing better musicians to handle the accompaniments).

As much as I like the album, I recognize The Greatest is not for everyone. Fans who prefer the haunted pathos, disorder, and rawness of the Moon Pix era (as well as the sense of an album long suicide note) will miss the old Cat Power sound. There's nothing on this album that sounds like "Metal Heart", "Nude as the News", "Rockets", or "He War". Well, actually there's "Hate". But a single old-style song out of an entire album may not be very satisfactory.

On the other hand, if you appreciate vintage 60's and 70's era soulful R&B, you've come to the right place. Marshall has a top notch band and a voice to match. If you could mix Bobby Gentry with maybe a touch of folk singer Sandy Denny and a hint of Janice Joplin, you'd have something that sounded pretty good indeed. To my ears, that exactly what you have with Marshall's singing on The Greatest.

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