Search - Cat Power :: Myra Lee

Plastic Chan Band

tksc | 08/01/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is fast becoming my favorite Cat Power album. There are a handful of atmospheric and catchy songs (Rockets, We All Die, Ice Water, Not What You Want...) The band (Chan, Steve Shelley and Tim Foljahn--note no bass but two guitars and the human drum machine Steve Shelley) is raw, loose and adventurous. At times, Chan's singing style, coupled with her bleak and suggestive lyricism, evokes the majesty of a young Dylan, circa 1966. (She must really be the "Devil's Daughter...") But, then again, the last cut, Not What You Want, evokes the feel of another great artist/album: John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band. This track sounds like it was recorded by a Playschool tape recorder for todlers, and Chan singing, "I'm not what you want," over and over again, does remind this reviewer of the haunting finale to the Lennon masterpiece, with cathartic screams and all. And for the non-Cat/Chan converts... can anyone turn a line so simple as "I'm so angry" and make it elusive, suggestive, catchy and breathtaking? Cat Power/Chan Marshall is something rare in music: a sense of adolescent and awkward prodigy; a rare combination of a voice blessed by God and sloppy, but edgy and always inventive, musicianship. Maybe it's the rough groove, the contrast between stumbling and squealing dueling guitars and Steve's ever-so-tight but sparse drumming. Go check this out. You won't stop playing Rockets for a long time."

Most compelling...

tksc | 06/06/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Certain people laugh when I tell them I have a song stuck in my head, because they happen to know it'll be a line or two from a Cat Power album. While lines like "I feel just like some great big disease" sound silly and awkward when read. or when sung by anyone else, Chan Marshall manages to convey in three lines what other musicians fail to reach on entire albums. I have three Cat Power albums; I'm just glad that it's difficult to wear out CDs. Finally, hearing first the above-quoted "Ice Water," then Marshall's version of "Still in Love" (w.b. Hank Williams), evokes first chills (as you would imagine from ice water) then a deep, peaceful acceptance of love still aching inside after it's actually gone (as is the most you can ask from a country song, really). I only wish she'd sing more soul/country songs. Of course, anything more she could sing, I would walk around singing quietly to myself."

Fav album

T. Foucht | seattle | 02/05/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"this is my favorite album because it is true to a more raw, emotional sense. i feel it is her best work."