There was her album, Jukebox, that has moments of real transcendence, where you find yourself thrilling to that voice pour itself all over a song like brandy.
There were the seemingly ubiquitous advertisements that taunted us with snippets of Cat Powered versions of Cat Stevens (clever, that),
David Bowie,
and The Nerves (via Blondie).
And then, finally, bookending the year, was her latest EP, The Dark End of the Street.
It's a slow, bluesy, and rather somber affair, more pleasant than interesting or novel. The song choices are neither too obscure, nor too easy (with the possible exception of the Otis Redding number 'I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)' which doesn't benefit any from Chan's trademark slow-it-down-and-do-it-sultry approach, having already been a rather slow, sultry number), but mostly they just don't provide enough distance from their originals to engage or enough variation between themselves to remind you when one has ended and the next begun.
I like it. I like Cat Power. I think she is one of best cover artists working. I never really get tired of hearing a lively song slowed way down and bathed in smoke and sex and two in the morningness.
However, I think the EP would have been something truly special, and more listenable to boot, if she had found a way to include those covers used to such effect in those advertisements.
A little Bowie goes a long way, and I don't know at all that I prefer Blondie's rendition of 'Hanging on the Telephone' to the thirty seconds of Cat Power's we've heard. What I feel sure of is that the tempo and novelty of those covers-for-hire would have given better shape to Dark End of the Street and would have given oomph to a casual spin of the album.
Here's hoping those ads aren't the last we see (hear) of those songs and that Dark End of the Street doesn't just get buried in my rotation.
No comments:
Post a Comment