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Album Review: Cat Power, "The Greatest" (Matador)
You'd have to be a soul expert to detect Al Green's guitarist and songwriting partner Mabon "Teenie" Hodges playing through "The Greatest," the sumptuous, if searing, seventh album by Chan Marshall, a.k.a. Cat Power .
At times, it sounds more likely Marshall's in that Memphis studio with lonesome ghosts of country singers, spinning her tales of lovers gone missing and wrong, who make her jealous or distraught, or just wonder if they'll be there when she's "six feet underground." This is not cheery stuff; listeners in sad states would do well to steer clear of pointy objects during their first times with certain tracks.
But, if you dig deeper--or, more accurately, if you let these songs into you more deeply--there's more here than raw emotion and that smoky voice, which make even the sparest Cat Power songs still potent. It's clear, especially in "Could We" and "Living Proof," how Hodges and the rest of the groove legends in the backing band help Marshall infuse her established sound with soul riches. Mournful horns and a lyrical rise and fall make "Lived in Bars" so vivid you can see the empty scotch-and-soda glasses, while "Islands" is an under-two-minutes piece of perfection: Hodges gone Hawaiian and Marshall crooning, "I just want my sailor to sail back to me."
In fact, on closer listen, Marshall's taken the best of soul's come-here-I-need-you thump and urgency, brought in her own always sad and beautiful words, and made something new and dangerously addictive. She's that gorgeous stranger telling stories on the barstool who you know will be trouble, but damned if you can't turn away.
