Cat Power - You Are Free
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Free Music Notes for You Are Free
Free Music Review: A Classic, A Good Cry
Hit: 5 Stars
This is a great triumph over adversity and tragedy in life. A mostly mournful--rather than celebratory--acknowledgement of the fact of Freedom. Listening is like taking that deep breath and deciding to heal a lot of hurt you've been holding.Overall the songs are slow and comtemplative, with a few somewhat-upbeat rock moments ("Free", "Good For Me", "He-War".) Chan Marshall pairs her clear sad voice with piano, or accoustic guitar, or electric guitar, on different songs. Guests include David Grohl and Eddie Vedder.
The album opens with "I don't blame you", such a simple and beautiful song. It rings so true as a classic, you wonder as you listen how it could never have been sung before now. "Free" is a fun pop-rock venture introducing the word 'free' that will be echoed throughout the album in other pieces. "Werewolf" (a cover of Michael Hurley 70's acid-folk song) moves almost like a dirge, like a cloud in the sky languidly uncovering a full-moon that we know will transform us into animal. "Names" moves like a reading of names of holocaust victims, only here it recounts the stories of preteens molested or surviving only through prostitution. Yet there is no pity, instead more an stoic depiction of reality for some.
Every song has its strength, whether depicting a painful or fragile personal weakness, or a leap of faith to heal, or an account of abuse.
Free Music Review: I hear echoes of "Oar" in this masterwork
Hit: 5 Stars
What we have here is an unconstrained masterpiece, one that will reveal itself to us slowly through the years, the melodies and counter-melodies multiplying as we process the dense simplicity of this music.In a sense, this is a CD that I have been awaiting for over 30 years, the distant echo of "Oar" by Skip Spence. While the songs of Oar seared themselves into my consciousness in an immediate fashion, these are insinuating themselves gradually, first asserting their emotional impact through the vocals and spare arrangements. I have to say, I haven't even deciphered the lyrical content yet.
The comparison to "Oar" may be questioned, but in terms of overall sound, this sounds very much like "Oar": ethereal, whispery vocals, tracks at time dominated by bass and drums, echoes, simplistic acoustic guitars with occasional electric guitar distortion and the overall rough-hewn, 'naturalistic' recording quality.
I doubt that Chan Marshall (Cat Power) is in quite the state that Spence was at the time he recorded his opus, and the result is even more wondrous and electrifying. And, I believe that, unlike Spence, we have much more to look forward for from this music artist.
It's only March and we already have the CD of the year, its only 2003 and we may already have the CD of the decade.
Free Music Review: Keeps getting better....
Hit: 5 Stars
Having followed the career of Cat Power (aka Chan Marshall) for the past few years I was excited about the upcoming release of You Are Free. I was also fortunate enough to catch her live show in NM the weekend before the album was released.Hands down this is her best album to date. Her mysterious voice (a Kim Carnes raspiness but also with incredible power) still is as infectious as ever. It is hard to find another female vocalist who can even compare to her. Although she has not found the recognition she deserves, this album may start to get her new recognition.
In concert she remains a quiet recluse (she sat for the majority of the concert so one could barely see her behind her long hair.) Although not the best stage presence, she takes and grabs hold of you on this album. At times tragic, this album is still the easiest of her albums to approach. Overall an excellent album throughout and the best to start with of all of the Cat Power lexicon.
I originally gave this 4 stars but over the last week of listening it has gotten under my skin...so a 5.
Free Music Review: Simply touches the soul...
Hit: 5 Stars
I had no idea who Cat Power were when i first heard the name. My first thought was that it was a really bad name, so they probably weren't any good either.But i was wrong, i logged onto their mini site at matador and saw the video for cross bones style (which is from an older album). I was immideatly moved by that song. So i went off and got their latest album (You are Free) and once i started playing it i couldn't stop. Chan Marshalls voice in incredible. It's the kind of voice that goes through your whole body. The kind that i had never heard. Their songs are very simple, and the lyrics are very personal the Chan. Or so it seems, they don't say much. Yet they're deep. They have different meanings to different persons.
Some of the songs aren't that strong. But most will nearly bring tears to your eyes. It's a bit depressing album, however i have to say it's probably the best album i've ever heard.
If you're like me, who likes to listen to deep and a tad sad music every once in a while. This is defintly one of the best buys you'll ever do.
Free Music Review: sweet and fun.
Hit: 5 Stars
very pleasantly surprised with this album. like another reviewer after seeing chan at a show in october [sort of] performing tracks from this album it was hard to know what to expect. however every track on this recording has something that hooks you in. my favorite so far is 'good woman', love this track. the different layers of vocals are amazing. i usually like vedders voice but it could actually do without it, the male vocal seems a bit out of place put luckily its left muted enough not to intrude into the beauty of the rest of the song. 'free' is great too. light and fun. more girly-alt and even cheerful than one might imagine chan would be but she pulls it off. 'names' sounds like something off of her earlier albums...very melancholy. though a fan of cat power's before i actually like the songs that sound less like past releases. 'maybe not' is slightly uptempo and gorgeous. 'he-war' the track with grohl on drums is again faster paced than the usual cp and great. the most stylistically varied CP release and the best to date.