release date: Jan. 9, 2006
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,65]
producer: Stuart Sikes
label: Matador / P-Vine Records - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 1. "The Greatest" (4 / 5) (live on Later) - 2. "Living Proof" (live on Letterman) - 3. "Lived in Bars" (officiel video) (live on Later) - 5. "Empty Shell" - 6. "Willie" - 7. "Where Is My Love" (officiel video) - 12. "Love & Communication"
7th studio album by Cat Power (aka Chan Marshall) following a full three years after You Are Free (Feb. 2003). Like all Power's other albums, The Greatest is in the quieter end of folk rock and singer / songwriter genre with elements from alt. country and traditional blues. What's new here is especially a far more indie pop-tinged series of songs in larger-than-usual arrangements, which by that don't have 'the usual' clear lo-fi touch. The album therefore seems more airy, varied and lighter than most of her other albums, which have often carried an excessive heavy melancholic mood. The songs here appear brighter and lighter, even though Power's vocals are not that different and without ever displaying the big register, but which nevertheless has its own qualities, which are mainly rooted in a charismatic hoarse and occasionally almost whispering intonation, which can lead thoughts to Lana Del Rey and Hope Sandoval with a common starting point in Laura Nyro.
The Greatest is Cat Power's highest-charting album to date on the US Billboard 200 peaking at number #34, but it reached number #20 in Australia and at number #45 in the UK. The album won the Alternative Shortlist Music Prize (an award running from 2001 to 2007) ahead of names such as Band of Horses, Joanna Newsom, and Tom Waits - an award for which her 2003 album was also nominated without running with the award.
Imho, The Greatest is Powers best album to date and therefore also a recommended place to delve into the special universe of Cat Power.
