Yahoo! Music Review

Released on 08/12/08
Label: Matador

Cover versions, much like the release of out-takes and other so-called "rare material" that's to be found lurking in an artist's vaults, are usually the last refuge of the creatively redundant. Got nothing to say? Hey, why bother when someone else can say it for you, right? Well…usually. Unusually, we find ourselves in an entirely different position with the latest set of covers from the ever-wonderful Cat Power, aka the sultry Chan Marshall. Doubly surprising is the knowledge that these six tracks were rejected from her second - yes, second! - covers album, this year's rather fabulous "Jukebox".

Aided and abetted by members of The Dirty Three, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Delta 72 and Lizard Music, the mood is that of afterhours whiskey in a dimly-lit dive bar as Marshall takes on songs by Aretha Franklin ("Dark End Of The Street" / "It Ain't Fair"), The Pogues ("Ye Auld Triangle") and Fairport Convention ("Who Knows Where The Time Goes"). Best of all are the readings of Creedence Clearwater Revival's still relevant "Fortunate Sun", which is transformed into a slow blues, and an audacious version of Otis Redding's "I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now") that Marshall leaves her own indelible mark on. Truly sublime stuff.

    by Julian Marszalek