The Power of the Juke Box
Cat Power freely flows through Americana with classic artist covers.
Cat Power
Juke Box
Released on Nov 30, -0001
Part of the appeal of singer-songwriter Chan Marshall's last album under the Cat Power moniker, The Greatest, was its immediate sense of familiarity and intimacy. From the disc's opening piano to its bruising ending, Marshall worked her earthy voice deep into blues and soul melodies that lent her an aura of wisdom and pain beyond her years. On her newest outing, she delves deeper into that dueling sense of nostalgia and sadness that gives Americana music its distinct personality. Only this time her path to comfortable familiarity is more direct, with all but one song being a reworked, reenergized version of another artist's work.
Juke Box is an appropriate name for an album that jumps so freely between blues, folk and jazz arrangements. “New York” opens things with a burst of change, taking Frank Sinatra's ode to the city and turning it into a lament of lost purpose. “Aretha, Sing One For Me,” catches onto to George Jackson's soul sway, but adds layer of guitar and organ that make this version unique. "I Believe In You," from Bob Dylan's “Slow Train Coming,” is perhaps the most straight-forward rocker that Marshall has ever recorded.
When the album lags in its middle, Marshall turns to Janis Joplin and Joni Mitchell to reinvigorate the set. Joplin's “A Woman Left Lonely” becomes a thing of resiliency in Marshall’s hands, as her voice and the tempo battle the story of lost love. Mitchell's “Blue” presents the other side of the same emotion. Over a plodding piano progression, Marshall gives into the need to block out the pain, to slip into an oblivion: “Acid, booze and ass, needles guns and grass...lots of laughs.”
High Point
Low Point
Posted by Ryan Peters on Jan 18, 2008 @ 12:00 am