Cat Power: "Dark End Of The Street"

[That Skipping Rope.]

Chan's second album of covers (eighth album overall), is scheduled for release on January 22nd off Matador records. I'm very exciting - it's been too long since The Greatest.


1. "Theme from New York, New York" (Kander/Ebb; popularized by Frank Sinatra/Liza Minnelli)
2. "Metal Heart" (Cat Power)
3. "Ramblin' (Wo)man" (Hank Williams)
4. "Song to Bobby" (Cat Power - new song)
5. "Aretha, Sing One for Me" (J Harris/Eugene William; originally sung by George Jackson)
6. "Lost Someone" (James Brown)
7. "I Believe in You" (Bob Dylan)
8. "Fortunate Son" (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
9. "Silver Stallion" (Lee Clayton)
10. "Dark End of the Street" (Chips Moman/Dan Penn; originally sung by James Carr)
11. "Don't Explain" (Billie Holiday)
12. "Woman Left Lonely" (Spooner Oldham/Dan Penn, popularized by Janis Joplin)

[That Skipping Rope.]

There's going to be a bonus disc:
01 I Feel (Hot Boys)
02 Naked If I Want To (Moby Grape)
03 Breathless (Nick Cave)
04 Angelitos Negros (Roberta Flack)
05 She's Got You (Patsy Cline)

[That Skipping Rope.]

LEAKED.

[RedDragon]

Your avatar picture is HOT. She looks like Carla Bruni.

[That Skipping Rope.]

That's because she is HOT!

[RedDragon]

Your picture made me download this album.

Sounds really good so far. Interesting sound. It's like the perfect sound to have in a classy bar.

[That Skipping Rope.]

lol Yeah, I f**king love it. The new take on "Metal Heart" is insane, and "Silver Stallion" is beautiful. She's amazing.

[TotallyEnormousExtinctDinosaur]

Cat Power
Jukebox, due January 22

What's the Deal: In 2000, cult heroine Chan Marshall released The Covers Record, a set of indie-fied remakes of songs by Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and the Velvet Underground. Seven years later, she visited studios in Brooklyn, Dallas and Miami to record the follow-up.

Why We're Excited: The song selection looks just as superb this time as Marshall reinterprets rock, country and R&B legends, including Dylan, Hank Williams, Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin and James Brown. Even better, she’s backed on all of ’em by her sublimely funky Dirty Delta Blues Band.

Goal for 2008: Maybe another collection of covers! As she wrote on her MySpace page a few months back: “With so many covers, tryin’ to decide if I should release Covers Record 2 VOL. 2??

[That Skipping Rope.]

The full two-disk edition leaked. It's amazing, but I really want original material now.

[backintime]

Roaring in at No. 12, Cat Power's "Jukebox" moved 29,000 units, a career high chart- and sales- wise. The Matador set follows 2006's "The Greatest," which bowed at No. 34 with 23,000.

[skunk]

this album is f**king brilliant. gonna be tough ta knock this outta my top spot fer the year.

[backintime]

All Music Guide gave the album 3.5 stars.

Eight years is a long time in almost any artist's career, but in Cat Power's case, it's an even more sizeable gulf, as Chan Marshall's collections of other people's songs reflect. 2000's The Covers Record found her becoming an ever more nuanced performer, tempering the rawness and intensity of her earlier albums with a lighter approach. 2008's Jukebox reaffirms what a polished artist she's become, especially since her Memphis soul homage The Greatest. But where The Greatest sometimes bordered on slick, Jukebox's blend of country, soul, blues, and jazz feels lived-in and natural. Marshall recorded this set with her touring act, the Dirty Delta Blues Band, which includes some of indie rock's finest players, including her longtime drummer, the Dirty Three's Jim White — who gives even the quietest moments vitality — as well as Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's Judah Bauer and Chavez's Matt Sweeney, so it's not surprising that the album often plays like an especially well-recorded concert. However, some of the session legends she worked with on The Greatest make guest appearances, including Teenie Hodges and Spooner Oldham. Oldham's song for Janis Joplin, "A Woman Left Lonely," appears here, and the original's sophisticated yet earthy sound is one of the album's biggest influences.

As on The Covers Record, Marshall makes bold choices. She citifies Hank Williams' "Ramblin' Man" (switched to "Ramblin' [Wo]Man" here), turning it slinky and smoky with spacious drums and rippling Rhodes; despite the very different surroundings, the song's desperate loneliness remains. Joni Mitchell's icily beautiful "Blue" gets a thaw and a late-night feel that is completely different but just as compelling. Not all of Jukebox's transformations are this successful: Marshall's penchant for turning formerly brash songs brooding (like The Covers Record's "Satisfaction") sounds too predictable on Frank Sinatra's "New York." And, while the choice to change James Brown's "I Lost Someone" from searing and pleading to languid was brave, the results fall flat. One of the most drastic remakes is Marshall's own Moon Pix track "Metal Heart," which adds more drama and dynamics to one of her prettiest melodies. While the way this version swings from aching verses to cathartic choruses works, the subtlety and simplicity of the original are missed. Indeed, many of Jukebox's best moments are the simplest. Marshall's reworking of the Highwaymen's 1990 hit "Silver Stallion" frees the song from its dated production, replacing it with acoustic guitar and pedal steel that impart a timeless, restless beauty. She pays Bob Dylan homage with a gritty, defiant, yet reverent take on "I Believe in You" from his 1978 Christian album Slow Train Coming and "Song to Bobby," Jukebox's lone new track, dedicated to and inspired by Dylan so thoroughly that she borrows his trademark cadences without sounding like an impersonation. Uneven as it may be, Jukebox is still a worthwhile portrait of Chan Marshall's artistry.

[RedDragon]

She'll be performing tonight on the Tonight Show With Jay Leno.

[backintime]

134 CAT POWER JUKEBOX 5,791 8,612 -33 69,879

[That Skipping Rope.]

Chan performed "Metal Heart" on Letterman recently:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jibNnn6JEa0

f**king awesome performance.

[RedDragon]

01 "Auld Triangle" (The Pogues)
02 "Dark End Of The Street" (James Carr, Aretha Franklin)
03 "Who Knows Where The Time Goes (Sandy Denny / Fairport Convention)
04 "Fortunate Son" (Creedence Clearwater Revivial)
05 "I've Been Loving You Too Long" (To Stop Now) (Otis Redding)
06 "It Ain't Fair" (Aretha Franklin)


Dark End Of The Street is out 12/9

[That Skipping Rope.]

I know. That's so f**king lame. I want new original material.

[That Skipping Rope.]

I just finished a biography of her called Cat Power: A Good Woman written by the editor-at-large from Blender.

It was fascinating.