- Label
- Matador
- Release date
- 22nd January 2008
- Genre
- Indie / alternative
- Buy this album
- Order CD
Critically-adored US songstress shows influences on album of (mostly) cover versions
Chan Marshall has never been shy about her influences, and so this album – recorded with The Delta Blues Band – is a collection of re-interpretations of tracks which have shaped her musical development, alongside two new songs. Tracks by Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, Hank Williams, Bob Dylan and James Brown are lovingly reinterpreted, but there’s nothing too outrageous here – as a collection of ideological mentors to her music go, it’s pretty predictable.
The stand-out tracks – Ramblin’ (Wo)man, New York, and Aretha, Sing One For Me, for example – showcase the shuffling blend of organ, spaced-out guitar and low-slung basslines alongside Marshall’s haunting, brittle voice well, but new tracks Song To Bobby (a paean to Dylan) and Metal Heart are almost Cat Power-by-numbers – never straying too far from the template which was set so confidently on her previous albums but which has, to be fair, been superseded since. Still, this isn’t a bad collection by any means, and should find space in the discerning Cat Power fan’s record collection – fans of the originals should also find some solace in Marshall’s sensitive re-workings.
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