Jukebox - Deluxe Edition
Cat Power
19 Karma Points
Customer Reviews
I'm a big fan of Cat Power's other work, including The Greatest, but this album is terribly boring. It's as if she drained all personality out of herself and these songs. I suspect a big problem is the song choices themselves; in contrast to her past covers, these songs are all pretty rambling whining crooners. I have hope that she'll return to greatness, but I'm not optimistic after hearing this.
Cat Power is a decent CD of cover songs but not as impressive as I thought it would be.
It is most fortunate for Chan Marshall that this is not her first album because, if it were, "Jukebox" might very well be her last. For an artist of Marshall's sheer ability and unblinking intimacy with the dark side of everything, this is a notably weak effort. It feels like something Matador cynically rushed into production to take advantage of the success and acclaim of Chan's prior album "The Greatest" which was very good.
I am generally a big fan of Cat Power but this is a sloppy collection and quite inferior to her prior "Covers" album. Pressing 2 CDs and calling it a "deluxe edition" was totally unnecessary -- there's not enough here for one good disk, with the covers of Cat Power's previous songs being especially unneeded. My vote for best song would be track 10 on disk 1 and worst is track 2 on disk 2 (cover of her own "Naked if I Want to" which, in its orignal version, is a superb song).
God this woman can sing...she has one of the most beautiful voices in music today and unlike some other singers (Feist, Jenny Lewis) she actually has the ability to project real pain, sorrow, hope, emotion through her voice.
Chan Marshall is not a blues singer but boy can she sing the blues.
Even though this is an album primarily of covers it feels like a Cat Power album though and through.
Rambling Woman, Silver Stallion and Blue are all stone cold classic covers. They all sound completely different in style and mood but are all memorable.
I listen to this album every couple of days because it puts me in a good space.
I have to say a word about the band that she uses on this album. They do a great job and create some spooky , tripped out sounding southern rock/country/soul music that never overpowers her singing but enhances it.
Count me in the camp of people who prefer Cat Power's new sound.
I love her old stripped down stuff but its gets old. With her new sound, she has proven that she is too talented to be restricted to one style.
Great album. Buy it.
Jukebox (2008, Matador) Cat Power's eighth studio album. ****
Chan Marshall has always been an enigma in the music community. Her raspy, deep voice, her strange performance at concerts, etc. Either way, she's had her fair share of brilliant moments and miserable misses, but thankfully Jukebox is a hit.
This is not the first time Marshall has done a covers album. In fact, she was brave enough to tackle "Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones, a song successfully covered by only one band before her (Devo, in case you're wondering). On Jukebox, Marshall again displays her eclectic taste in music, tearing each song down and giving it a new structure, a new sound, and most importantly, a new view. She opens by covering Frank Sinatra's "New York," with a slow drum easing the song off. It's a brooding affair, certainly Chan's style and a complete opposite of the uplifting version we know from Frank too well. It isn't a bad cover, rather, it's just strange, almost unrecognizeable. It begs the question of why she even bothered to cover it when she could have written her own lyrics. Only a few tracks make you ask that question, as many of these are excellently done, most notably George Jackson's "Aretha, Sing One For Me." The soft keyboards and Hammond organ accompany Marshall's voice, with a soft bouncy and soulful yet eloquent keyboard line.
The same style is applied to James Brown's "Lost Someone," a very risky choice. This cut is more mellow than "Aretha," but Marshall's strutting vocals make it a sincere moment. She also manages to work in a cleverly executed Dylan cut, "I Believe in You." The tempo is slowed and adds an echoing guitar riff. These and all the songs are fairly minimalist, and all are turned into flok, blues, or jazz-leaning renderings. It isn't a perfect way to do things, in fact, cuts like "Metal Heart" could have been left in the studio. I'd be interested to see if Marshall took any clues from Vanilla Fudge's self-titled debut, an album that consisted solely of covers, all brilliantly done. If she hasn't, she might want to brush up on them to see masters in action (Aretha, Sing One For Me, Lost Someone, I Believe in You, Song For Bobby).
-Stephen
www.politicianrock.blogspot.com
Cat Power is a decent CD of cover songs but not as impressive as I thought it would be.
It is most fortunate for Chan Marshall that this is not her first album because, if it were, "Jukebox" might very well be her last. For an artist of Marshall's sheer ability and unblinking intimacy with the dark side of everything, this is a notably weak effort. It feels like something Matador cynically rushed into production to take advantage of the success and acclaim of Chan's prior album "The Greatest" which was very good.
I am generally a big fan of Cat Power but this is a sloppy collection and quite inferior to her prior "Covers" album. Pressing 2 CDs and calling it a "deluxe edition" was totally unnecessary -- there's not enough here for one good disk, with the covers of Cat Power's previous songs being especially unneeded. My vote for best song would be track 10 on disk 1 and worst is track 2 on disk 2 (cover of her own "Naked if I Want to" which, in its orignal version, is a superb song).
God this woman can sing...she has one of the most beautiful voices in music today and unlike some other singers (Feist, Jenny Lewis) she actually has the ability to project real pain, sorrow, hope, emotion through her voice.
Chan Marshall is not a blues singer but boy can she sing the blues.
Even though this is an album primarily of covers it feels like a Cat Power album though and through.
Rambling Woman, Silver Stallion and Blue are all stone cold classic covers. They all sound completely different in style and mood but are all memorable.
I listen to this album every couple of days because it puts me in a good space.
I have to say a word about the band that she uses on this album. They do a great job and create some spooky , tripped out sounding southern rock/country/soul music that never overpowers her singing but enhances it.
Count me in the camp of people who prefer Cat Power's new sound.
I love her old stripped down stuff but its gets old. With her new sound, she has proven that she is too talented to be restricted to one style.
Great album. Buy it.
Jukebox (2008, Matador) Cat Power's eighth studio album. ****
Chan Marshall has always been an enigma in the music community. Her raspy, deep voice, her strange performance at concerts, etc. Either way, she's had her fair share of brilliant moments and miserable misses, but thankfully Jukebox is a hit.
This is not the first time Marshall has done a covers album. In fact, she was brave enough to tackle "Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones, a song successfully covered by only one band before her (Devo, in case you're wondering). On Jukebox, Marshall again displays her eclectic taste in music, tearing each song down and giving it a new structure, a new sound, and most importantly, a new view. She opens by covering Frank Sinatra's "New York," with a slow drum easing the song off. It's a brooding affair, certainly Chan's style and a complete opposite of the uplifting version we know from Frank too well. It isn't a bad cover, rather, it's just strange, almost unrecognizeable. It begs the question of why she even bothered to cover it when she could have written her own lyrics. Only a few tracks make you ask that question, as many of these are excellently done, most notably George Jackson's "Aretha, Sing One For Me." The soft keyboards and Hammond organ accompany Marshall's voice, with a soft bouncy and soulful yet eloquent keyboard line.
The same style is applied to James Brown's "Lost Someone," a very risky choice. This cut is more mellow than "Aretha," but Marshall's strutting vocals make it a sincere moment. She also manages to work in a cleverly executed Dylan cut, "I Believe in You." The tempo is slowed and adds an echoing guitar riff. These and all the songs are fairly minimalist, and all are turned into flok, blues, or jazz-leaning renderings. It isn't a perfect way to do things, in fact, cuts like "Metal Heart" could have been left in the studio. I'd be interested to see if Marshall took any clues from Vanilla Fudge's self-titled debut, an album that consisted solely of covers, all brilliantly done. If she hasn't, she might want to brush up on them to see masters in action (Aretha, Sing One For Me, Lost Someone, I Believe in You, Song For Bobby).
-Stephen
www.politicianrock.blogspot.com