Cat Power - Jukebox (Matador)
4/5
By: Michael Cragg
Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power, has come a long way of late. Following the release of the masterful The Greatest album in 2006, Marshall was admitted to a psychiatric ward in a Miami medical centre, the result of years of alcohol abuse. Ironically, her career was in rude health, The Greatest finally cementing her position as one of America's most talented artists. Having taken some time out to rest, Marshall returned last year in the most unlikely of guises; as Karl Lagerfeld's new muse. Suddenly, Marshall was being seen by a whole new audience, her face gracing the likes of ID and Dazed & Confused rather then the inner pages of the Rolling Stone. Her new sobriety meant that touring became a pleasure and not an uncomfortable chore, gone were the scenes of complete meltdown that saw her curling up into a ball in the middle of the stage.
And so to Jukebox, Marshall's second collection of cover versions following 2000's The Covers Record. Whilst that album featured a lone Marshall deconstructing the songs she chose (including a spectral version of '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction'), Jukebox brings in a full band to give each song an injection of real soul, not least on the gorgeous organ-drenched 'Aretha, Sing One For Me'. This being Cat Power, there are still moments of complete desolation, as if sorrow lives within the timbre of her voice so that when she tackles Sinatra's 'New York, New York' it becomes a bruised lament rather then a song of hope. Elsewhere, the overtly masculine songs of The Cover Record are eschewed for some of music's most beloved female singers, ending as it does with songs by Billie Holiday ('Don't Explain'), Janis Joplin ('Woman Left Lonely') and a chilling reading of 'Blue' by Joni Mitchell.
Jukebox also offers up two original Cat Power compositions, one brand new and one recycled. 'Song For Bobby' is a linear tale of Marshall going to see her hero Bob Dylan in concert, it's soft shuffle and plucked guitar a perfect homage to a legend whose own 'I Believe In You' also features. 'Metal Heart', meanwhile, originally appeared on 1998's Moon Pix as a skeletal meander. The 2008 version reveals all you need to know about Marshall's recovery; it's brave, emotional and there's a genuine honesty when she sings "I once was lost/ But now I'm found/ Was blind but now I see you". It's an honesty that lets Marshall inhabit each song as if it were her own, to uncover them rather then cover them. It's an accomplished piece of work that proves, in this case, that imitation is the highest form of flattery."
Download two legal MP3s of songs from Jukebox HERE.
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment