Cat Power The Greatest LP (Vinyl)

Featured in Michael Fremer's Heavy Rotation in the May 2006 Issue of Stereophile!

The new studio album from singer-songwriter Chan Marshall, professionally known as Cat Power, is not a greatest hits album, despite the title. The Greatest, which contains all-original songs written by Marshall, was recorded in Memphis at Ardent Studios under the supervision of Stuart Sikes. It features the great Memphis session musicians Teenie Hodges on guitar and Leroy Hodges on bass, drummer Steve Potts, Jim Spake, Hubby Michell and other legends.

The combination of Chan Marshall's superbly evocative and flexible voice - a soul voice even back when she played with indie rockers - with some of the greatest Southern soul players still alive, has produced a masterpiece. The songs, all original Marshall compositions, explore themes of Southern loss, longing and marginality. From the title track, a story about a boy who longs become a boxer but struggles against his poverty-stricken background, to tales of other marginal figures, most eventually triumphing against the odds.

Chan Marshall stops time. She sits at a piano or lays her guitar across her lap, and whether it’s a noisy club overflowing with drunks or a coffee house full of laptoppers, Chan Marshall draws all the attention in the room and makes the world stop spinning. As Cat Power, Marshall’s music seems to rise from nowhere, envelop the room, then vanish; listeners know they’ve been hit by something but they’re not sure what.

Features:
• 120g Vinyl
• Includes Limited Time Free MP3 download coupon
• Cat Power, aka Chan Marshall, backed by an all-star Memphis revue
• Mastered at Acoustech
• Contains one extra track not on the regular version of the CD

Musicians:
Chan Marshall - guitar, piano, vocal
Mabon "Teenie" Hodges – guitar on all songs except hate
Steve Potts - drums
Leroy "Flick" Hodges - bass (1,3,6,12)
David Smith - bass (2,4,5,7,8,9)
Doug Easley - guitar, Pedal Steel
Rick Steff - keyboards, Claitone, Piano, Organ
Jim Spake - sax
Scott Thompson - trumpet
Roy Brewer - violin
Johnathan Kirkscey - cello
Beth Luscone - viola

Selections:
1. The Greatest
2. Living Proof
3. Lived In Bars
4. Could We
5. Empty Shell
6. Willie
7. Where is My Love
8. The Moon
9. Islands
10. After It All
11. Hate
12. Love & Communication