Anyone who knows Cat Power knows that Chan Marshall is no stranger to covers. Her March 2000 album, simply called The Cover Record is proof enough of that. Thanks in part to overwhelming praise from both fans and credits alike, Jukebox seems to be more of a sequel to The Cover Record than a deviation into uncharted waters. However, that certainly doesn’t make Jukebox a bad idea. In fact, it remains far from it. Featuring a set list that samples Frank Sinatra, Hank Williams, James Brown, Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin and Joni Mitchell, Jukebox is just that; Marshall’s takes on a play list of old gems that I would pick while shoving quarters into a player at the local dive in order to block the girls of Sigma Kappa from rocking “Baby Got Back” for the greater portion of the evening.
These songs, however, at least the Cat Power versions, are not the type of tunes you would commonly find next to “Free Bird” in your average college frat bar. They’re the songs playing in the background as you sit in the corner booth of your local smoke filled blues bar, while drinking your martini and talking business. Following the lead of her backing band, Dirty Delta Blues, Marshall’s vocals and instrumentations could easily be confused with the songwriter of another generation. Even on the two tracks included on the album that were written by Cat Power, “Metal Heart” and “Song to Bobby,” Marshall simply sounds as though she belongs in another time period, far away from the Clear Channel artists of the world.
Less is actually more, in this case.
Look for Jukebox on Matador Records January 22nd in two forms: the standard twelve-track edition and a limited special edition release with a bonus disc including five bonus covers.
Links:
Cat Power
Matador Records
Pingback: Interview with: Chandra Watson of the Watson Twins, Pt. II « popwreckoning
Pingback: Cat Power - Dark End of the Street | popwreckoning