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100After only a few spins, The Greatest sounds like another [masterpiece]. [Feb 2006, p.84]
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The Greatest isn't perfect, but its stumbles are neither intrusive nor damning.
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In its own still-quiet way, it's a triumph.
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The rare album that works even better in execution than it does in theory, one that rises far above the genre exercise it could have been. [#12, p.90]
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90By putting some warm flesh on her musical bones, Chan Marshall is punching her considerable songwriting weight. [Jan 2006, p.116]
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90Similarly to Lambchop's Nixon, it weaves together new and old, soul and country, black and white, love and hate, to form an understated masterpiece. [Feb 2006, p.74]
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This will be on most of the indie-ish year end tops charts this year, guaranteed.
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90The writing here is sharp and stunning, but the real difference between this and other Cat Power discs is that The Greatest has room to breathe.
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Never so flatly confessional as to be artless, her plaintive sentiments are still nakedly honest, strangely restrained yet unfettered. Still, Marshall's singing occasionally feels distant, negating the intimacy. [22 Jan 2006]
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Marshall wanders into lulling Orton/Portishead turf so often that it's easy to imagine some of these songs oozing out of the PA system at your local Banana Republic. [27 Jan 2006, p.80]
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Despite losing creative momentum down the stretch, it's still a remarkably affecting and mature record, proof that Chan Marshall kicks off the second act of her career in top form.
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Not quite the greatest per se, but bloody close. [21 Jan 2006, p.33]
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80Aside from one or two bore-me-ups, this is an album of understated perfection.
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For what it is, The Greatest is exceedingly well done, and people who have never heard of Cat Power before could very well love this album immediately. However, it might take a little more work for those who have loved her music from the beginning.
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80Her most natural fit. [Feb 2006, p.102]
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80You'll need to listen closely to understand and appreciate, but Marshall is worth it.
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Many of these new forms shift her into the role of a band leader - a role that, maybe, could solidify her as the "voice of a generation" that overzealous press releases have claimed her to be.
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A stirring, raw masterpiece.
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A textbook lesson in sublime but understated country soul.
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80Her ability to draw out more and more truth with each album is indisputable, and on The Greatest, she reaches a golden landmark of self-assurance.
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79Like all Cat Power records, The Greatest is a mostly sad, heartbroken, hopeless, rainy-day affair; it just isn't damaged. For that reason, it's also going to gain her a lot of new fans.
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75Though it's an interesting idea and is at times stirring, the results don't always work as well as one would hope.
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70If [some]songs catch a magical intangible by pairing Marshall's naked vocal with a ghost of Memphis passion, others fail to turn the same trick.
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70Glossily produced, the new album is much less thorny than Marshall's earlier works, showcasing the artist's songwriting and soul singing talents.
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Where the record works best are its bookends -- the places where it most sounds like Cat Power.
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70It partly works. [Mar 2006, p.110]
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What's remarkable about The Greatest is how much Marshall accomplishes without ever straining.
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Unfortunately, Marshall's own authenticity is too frequently obscured by the album's "authentic" arrangements. [Feb/Mar 2006, p.92]
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70A song or two with a bit more oomph would have been nice. [28 Jan 2006]
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70Simultaneously the most-fully-realised of Chan Marshall's seven albums and yet one of missed opportunities.
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A number of songs suggest brilliance before stumbling rather into the bland.
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She's gone from being an indie rocker's wet dream to sounding like the most NPR-friendly singer-songwriter your parents haven't discovered yet. [Mar 2006, p.124]
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60After making three great albums in a row, for Marshall to turn in a merely decent one seems like a letdown. [#71, p.88]
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60It doesn't take a genius to see that this is a wicked concept on paper: Marshall's got the voice and the vibe to make it work, but there's a nagging sense that it wasn't properly planned out.
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Though the lyrics are light ("Could We") and often banal ("The Moon"), the warm, Mazzy Star minimalism and neon-roots groove are fairly irresistible.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 33 out of 39
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Mixed: 2 out of 39
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Negative: 4 out of 39
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rass.10perfect!
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10
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JeremyF6