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Track Listings
| 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 |
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Teaming Cat Power with the Hi team who recorded behind Ann Peebles and Al Green was an unexpected and brilliant idea. A special alchemy took place at Ardent Studios in Memphis which enhanced both Cat Power's gorgeous smoky voice and the soulful groove the band has laid down. I would say that that it was worth the price of the album just for the majestic opening song, The Greatest, were it not that it is also available as a single, but that would be to unfairly demean the rest of the record. Of course Cat Power does not need embellishment, as is demonstrated on the unadorned song Hate. Cat's most accomplished album to date.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Scott Wright
Format:Audio CD
As a huge fan of Chan's earlier, harsher lo-fi albums and a big fan of everything else she's produced, i was pretty shocked and... disappointed i guess... with "The Greatest", initially rejecting it ("This isn't Cat Power" i had said to a friend at the time) despite listening to it over and over.
I've now had 12months to get my head around it though and ye know what? It turns out it's pretty damn good.
At first i took it very much as "Cat Power goes to Memphis" (i've no idea how many times i've seen that written now but it's a fair description), unsure of an entire band backing little Miss Marshall, but having taken time to separate the album from her others i've come to really appreciate it.
Stand-out tracks for me are "The Greatest" (undeniably beautiful), "Living Proof" and the persistent "Love and Communication" (including a discordant guitar near the beginning harking back to those early days... - this is my favourite track on the album).
Great joy also comes from fully band-backed recordings of "The Moon", "Willie" and "Islands" after hearing early Chan-and-a-guitar versions on the "Speaking for Trees" DVD/CD.
The extra track on this edition is nice, but i'm generally not a fan of bonus tracks of any sort. An album is an album. If a track isn't on the original playlist then there's a reason for that and it shouldn't be shoved in. But hey.
It's taken a year for me to fully accept this album and i still don't like to give it 4 stars, just for the reason that i feel i'm betraying my love for her earlier work, but "The Greatest" really does deserve it.
Soulful, beautiful, at times fun, at times pretty dark.
(a solo album next time would be great though)
I've now had 12months to get my head around it though and ye know what? It turns out it's pretty damn good.
At first i took it very much as "Cat Power goes to Memphis" (i've no idea how many times i've seen that written now but it's a fair description), unsure of an entire band backing little Miss Marshall, but having taken time to separate the album from her others i've come to really appreciate it.
Stand-out tracks for me are "The Greatest" (undeniably beautiful), "Living Proof" and the persistent "Love and Communication" (including a discordant guitar near the beginning harking back to those early days... - this is my favourite track on the album).
Great joy also comes from fully band-backed recordings of "The Moon", "Willie" and "Islands" after hearing early Chan-and-a-guitar versions on the "Speaking for Trees" DVD/CD.
The extra track on this edition is nice, but i'm generally not a fan of bonus tracks of any sort. An album is an album. If a track isn't on the original playlist then there's a reason for that and it shouldn't be shoved in. But hey.
It's taken a year for me to fully accept this album and i still don't like to give it 4 stars, just for the reason that i feel i'm betraying my love for her earlier work, but "The Greatest" really does deserve it.
Soulful, beautiful, at times fun, at times pretty dark.
(a solo album next time would be great though)
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Nick
Format:Audio CD
I've known her name without hearing Cat Power's music before but the title track single just hit me every time I heard it on the radio and I'm really glad I bought the album on the strength of it . What a great album, deeply atmospheric and intense but - as you might suspect with Al Green's backing band on board- hugely pleasurable on the ear, with a real emotional power. I suspect this album will be keeping me late night company for a long time yet.
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3.9 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not as the previous ones, but still fantastic
This album is a bit of a change from Marshall's earlier ones. One thing is unchanged though: her amazing voice and her masterful use of it. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Finn Ekberg Christiansen
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not her greatest
Cat Power 's vid for 1998's " Naked As The News " was an intense music experience , equally disturbing and powerful with , let's say P.J. Read more
Published on 26 Oct 2009 by giovanni
3.0 out of 5 stars
average
average fare from cat who is usually above average.
Too many extraneous noises that are meant to be musical.
Too many extraneous noises that are meant to be musical.
Published on 14 July 2009 by Existentialist.
5.0 out of 5 stars
outstanding
I heard this playing in a restaurant and asked the manager who it was. I then bought the cd. I just love her smoky voice and the slow lazy sound. Read more
Published on 30 April 2009 by K. James
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fragile Yet Strong
The Greatest is Cat Power (aka Chan Marshall)'s seventh album. However, I had not heard this artist perform until early 2006 when I caught a radio review of this album and, in... Read more
Published on 1 July 2007 by Jim Dubh
4.0 out of 5 stars
From a fan of Cat Power's entire career - particularly the lo-fi
As a huge fan of Chan's earlier, harsher lo-fi albums and a big fan of everything else she's produced, i was pretty shocked and... disappointed i guess... Read more
Published on 6 Feb 2007 by Scott Wright
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mellow as melted chocolate
This would not have been the kind of music I would listen to normally but when my brother urged me to buy it I was ecstatic. Read more
Published on 5 Feb 2007 by Catherine Coulthard
3.0 out of 5 stars
KISS
I think this is my least favorite cat power album (excluding dear sir which I don't own). Cat powers charm (I think) is in the simplicity of the songs, this album has too much... Read more
Published on 3 Dec 2006 by Mr. T. Butler
4.0 out of 5 stars
Inspiring
I'll be honest with you, I am completely out of my depth reviewing this. Yes, I'm aware that this isn't her first album, but it's the first one that's picked up on the radar in... Read more
Published on 6 Nov 2006 by Richard
3.0 out of 5 stars
not the same standard as previous albums
I tried to enjoy this album but I found it very boring and more mainstream (some of it sounds like Dido). Not an improvement on her previous work. Read more
Published on 10 Oct 2006 by Mr. T. Butler
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