No
matter what I say below, I can honestly admit that Chan Marshall
has one of those voices that you can listen to all day regardless
of the style or subject matter of the music at hand. She could
do a cover album of all Wesley Willis and it would still be solid,
so on her new and second album of covers, Jukebox, Marshall
reinterprets songs from great vocalists that have influenced her
over the years.
The list of artists that she tackles is impressive
and includes Frank Sinatra, James Brown, Joni Mitchell, Janis
Joplin, Hank Williams and even herself on ‘Metal Heart’
from the Moon Pix (1998) album. All of the songs are
a great listen because Chan Marshall has the talent and vocal
strength of anyone out there but Cat Power’s take on the
tracks are mostly subdued and lo-key, which is fine but I would
have loved to see her really shake some of these tracks up and
even take some of them to a new upbeat high.
Overall if you like Cat Power, Jukebox
is a nice listen but I don’t know that in six months you
still will be playing it, not because it's bad, just because it
is what it is – a decent covers record.
Robyn Gatsby
For more of Robyn Gatsby's music reviews, check
out The Fire
Note
To see a clip of 'Song to
Bobby' from Jukebox, click the play button below
No
matter what I say below, I can honestly admit that Chan Marshall
has one of those voices that you can listen to all day regardless
of the style or subject matter of the music at hand. She could
do a cover album of all Wesley Willis and it would still be solid,
so on her new and second album of covers, Jukebox, Marshall
reinterprets songs from great vocalists that have influenced her
over the years.