Cat Power - You Are Free
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Free Music Notes for You Are Free
Free Music Review: Why did I have to know about Eddie Vedder and Dave Grohl
Hit: 5 Stars
This is a well put together Cat Power record. In my opinion, it has the same flow of 1996's "What Would the Community Think." So if you like that one you should pick this up too. Forgive me for mentioning this, but I'm sure you already know that Eddie Vedder and Dave Grohl make little cameos on this record. I think that is great. They are both reported Cat Power fans, so its cool that they would get a chance to work with her. However, I truly wish that nobody would have brought this up. I was totally distracted from the music on the first listen because it became this hunt to find Eddie's vocals or Dave's drumming, and when I found them I was like "thats it?" I mean it's good that they didn't have these overbearing contributions, but I think if I would have not read any press about the album and had simply picked it up at the store, then I would have just thought that one of Chan's friends sang a little on the song "To Be a Good Woman" and that would have been that, and there would be no big name attatched. And as for Dave's drumming, whether Grohl aficionados agree with me or not, I did not notice any outstanding drumming that would make me think "wow, who did that?" (which was probably the intent when recording) So all in all, its a Cat Power record. A few more mid-tempo songs thrown in, and like I said before, it bears the same mood as "What Would the Community Think." But now that you have read my review, you also have been tainted by the thought of big names making cameos on the album. So my advice to you is to deal with it until you are accustomed to the idea. Then get on the internet and download live Cat Power sessions of the song "To Be A Good Woman." It sounds more emotional without all of the overdub vocals and violins anyway.-Brandon
Free Music Review: I am in love with Chan Marshall.
Hit: 5 Stars
Not in a conventional sort of sense, of course; I'm not some slavering fan or stalker weirdo, and I've never met the woman in my life, but there's just something about her and her music I find impossibly and powerfully attractive. It wasn't always this way, though. I had of course heard Chan's name mentioned before among my slightly pretentious music snob friends, and had read some of the buzz surrounding her in the indie music press, but I never paid much attention. As it happened, a friend of mine, knowing my tastes tend to run toward melodic, lo-fi music, bought me "You Are Free" as a birthday gift. And I have to admit, the first couple of listens, I didn't get it. All the elements of the music I tend to like seemed to be there in the simple, almost stripped down arrangements on the album, but for some reason they didn't seem to be coming together for me. The epiphany came one night as I was driving home through moisture slicked streets after work. "I want to be/a good woman/and I want for you/to be a good man/this is why/I'll be leaving/and this is why/I can't see you no more", Chan sang with chiming guitar and sawing fiddle in the background, as the rain spattered my windshield, and I suddenly realized I was listening to the most gorgeously wistful song I'd ever heard. I listened to track after track that night, taking an hour to do a ten minute drive, and couldn't believe I'd missed how brilliant this record was. I guess what I'm trying to get across using this long-winded parable is that there are some albums whose charms are not immediately evident. They take patience and work. This is one such album, and if you devote yourself to it, the rewards will be unimaginable. And maybe you'll fall in love with Chan Marshall too.
Free Music Review: Definately Worth The Wait
Hit: 5 Stars
It's been five years sinse Chan Marshall graced our tender ears with her wonderful voice, and now she's back with another stunning collection. Her last record, "Moon Pix" (of which I owned a vinly copy that disappeared under mysterious circumstances ) was a breathless set of hushed folk laments, like Dylan with vocal ability. In one fail swoop, Marshall out-did the entire Lilith Faire hoard and placed her indellible stamp on both folk music and indie rock. So, I suppose you can excuse the lengthy interim between records. "You Are Free" picks up right where she left off. "Don't Blame You" features an almost jaunty piano motif and lyrics that could almost describe Kurt Cobain, but are more likely about herself(maybe). "Good Woman" is epic, with a timeless guitar melody and spine-tingling children's chorus. The lyrics are devastating: she knows a relationship is bad for both parties involved, so she's leaving, despite the fact it's tearing her up. Classic stuff, and she breathes fresh life into it with bracing assurance. "Speak For Me" rocks, thanks to back-up help from you-know-who from the Foo you-know-what's. Then there's the other famous collaborator, the guy from Pearl Jam...uh, Eddie something or other I think, who lends a hushed urgency to the closing track "Evolution", a magnificent lament, tolling a coming apocalypse or signaling a revolution, either way its devastating understatement gets under your skin and makes you think, and when was the last time a song did that? Chan Marshall, despite her oft-repoted shyness on stage and the long gaps between records, is a force to be reckoned with, and a reason to believe in music again.Free Music Review: Another Flawless Effort By New Indie Sweetheart
Hit: 5 Stars
Chan Marshall, better known by her stage name of Cat Power is one of the most thrilling talents to have come out of the indie rock scene in recent years. This is the album that really marks her fruition as an artist. I has the mainstream romps of "He War" and "Free" coupled with the evocative lo-fi "Fool" and "Werewolf".
After years in the wilderness of the indie underground, "You Are Free" seems like the perfect album to introduce the public to Chan. It maintains her lo-fi and blues roots but does so without the obnoxious pretension of fellow artists like Smog and Bonnie Prince Billy. The mixture of elements to the sound of the album is varied, providing minimalism (lo-fi) alongside the heart-wrenching beauty of the string driven "Good Woman".
The songwriting is simple, there are no extensive riffs, no James Joyce style lyrics and the simplicity is just sublime. While it doesn't have the cohesion of her latest album "The Greatest" in many ways it is her masterpiece as it sounds effortless and haunting. Unlike the cover photo, much of this albums minimalist moments give it a claustrophobic feel that she only briefly breaks out of. Chan sings with such passion, not the overbearing power-ballad stylings of Bon Jovi or the hectic scatting of jazz, but simple raw emotion.
"You Are Free" is still very much an indie record that you would expect from the masters of indie rock labels Matador but it has the raw intensity that lacks from much of it's overall output. A quintissential record whose merits are frequently undermined by the comparisons to "Moon Pix". This album is in a completely different league.
Free Music Review: Dreary But Wonderful
Hit: 5 Stars
This is truly one of the best albums I've heard this year. Although on many tracks the lyrics are indecipherable, it doesn't matter. Chan Marshall's vocals are haunting, and it's the vocals that hold the album together in a singular tone. That tone is mild sadness or a world weariness. This really isn't an album you'd want to hear at a party, but it's something to put on at three in the morning while you're sorting through your old journal writings or old photographs, and wondering how you got to this point in your life, and how you're going to get out of it. Ultimately it feels like there's a certain hopefulness underneath the dreariness, which is what really has kept me listening to it. It's as if there's something more behind the words and the music. By the end, it's more about being released than wallowing. As for the music, it's fairly sparse throughout the album. Lots of piano, some guitar and drums here and there. It fits, though. The sparseness lends to the beauty of the vocals, accenting them.
"Good Woman," the third song covering the death of a relationship, is probably the best track. "Keep on Running" is particularly dark and haunting, and the first track, "Don't Blame You," seems to clear the air about Cat Power's recent troubles on stage. There are a couple of ravers in "Speak For Me," and "Free," which sounds like something by Kathleen Hanna, but the rest of the composition is slow and evocative of a certain remiscent or dreamy feeling without high tech effects creating something more atmospheric. This whole album stays very grounded. "Evolution," a duet with Eddie Vedder and singular piano, closes things out beautifully.