new review

[Bobbyjames20]

new review http://www.comfortcomes.com/?page=reviews&id=592

[Zibeoh]

It would be nice if that lady could spell.

Here's another: http://www.playlouder.com/review/+the-greatest/

[9000]

http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/arts/music/15528/index.html

[Keith]

From what i've heard this maybe her best reviewed record. I guess Cat Power's now getting intrest from all over.

[SirPatrickSpens]

interessting stuff in the New York piece but also enough error/omission...

1) shouldn't the Smog affair be considered, uh... significant? On both sides, natch.

2) notice how almost NOONE ever mentions Chan has recorded TWO Michael Hurley songs? just shows you what goddamn monkeys most of the press are, like they can't be bothered to listen, notice, ask...

even if it'd devolve into cliche, "often called the chick Michael Hurley..."

will there be even one Moby Grape reference in all this new press either? i just wish Chan would do some Skip Spence too, much as i love "Naked If I Want To."

for those of us who love Cat Power MUSIC these are all interesting subjects. (also her live cover of Bonnie Prince Billy "Wolf Among Wolves" etc etc.)

sps

[superineficaz]

so how about that pitchfork?

i especially like how the review begins with amy phillips insinuating that chan marshall has been duping us all along, that, despite her presumed affectations of fragility, she is in fact a cunning businesswoman out to sell a "Beautifully Tortured" (capitalization hers) image of herself and extract as much money from each record as she possibly can.

and then at the end of the article, we learn that, while "could we" will no doubt be coming to us soon paired with the opening credits of a schlocky romantic comedy and making the greedy marshall untold bank, "the difficult part will be proving to longtime fans that Chan Marshall is the one in control here."

one moment she's pulling the wool over all our eyes with her deceptive, conniving ability to chart the path of her own career, and the next she's, perhaps not competent enough to make her own artistic decisions?

you can't have it both ways! i'm sorry!

oh, and then there's the part where she chucklingly disparages chan's "seasick live performances," and then criticizes the album for not being "broken" enough. that made worlds of sense.

it's always been clear that the female reviewers at that site were hired only so they could run blatantly condescending write-ups of female artists without looking quite as sexist as they really are, so i shouldn't really be too surprised (hell, pitchfork itself ran a piece that discussed the way chan's been hypersexualized in one breath and had her artistic merit discredited in the next), but come on!

bottom line is probably that ms. phillips really does like the album a great deal, but she probably knows that if she got too effusive about a woman artist, she might accidentally let it slip that she really doesn't get what all this business about the animal collective and wolf parade is about, and then where //would// her lame-ass rock-critic chauvinisticredit be?

and PS: "empty shell" is hardly "all fingersnaps and jazz hands," you bitch.

[Moon Pix]

Liz Phair
"The critics are going to fuck you one way or another. If you're making records to please the critics, you're already fucked."

I don't think Chan's going to lose any sleep because one daft bitch doesnt like her record.

[SirPatrickSpens]

well, Liz-- who i thought was a yuppie zero from her pre-Matador days, sorry-- gained way more than she lost from critics (& magazine editors, art directors) so... but i understand what yr getting at Moonpix.

** My ** point isn't so much +/- critical "opinion," since most of those jackoffs are know-nothing simps without even basic ability to identify musics, let alone critique them but rather the constant misstatement of Chan's history.

i don't know much at all about Chan & the model dude, but the Callahan affair produced both "Knock Knock" AND "Moon Pix," she covered "Bathysphere" & THEN Bill goes onto Joanna Newsome. you don't have to be a gossip hound to find it interesting.

likewise, i think Chan's choice is cover material to be frequently inspired; the Michael Hurley & Moby Grape tunes especially & esp. "Sweedadee." she has for a fact turned some younger kids onto Hurley too, which is a great thing all around.

i also LOVE Richard Meltzer's cover blurb for "Moonpix," which doesn't seem to get much mentioned anymore but to me was a heavy recognition thing, transgenerational props & all.

sps

[redsox1207]

http://www.avclub.com/content/node/44728

[john4444]

so how about that pitchfork?

i especially like how the review begins with amy phillips insinuating that chan marshall has been duping us all along, that, despite her presumed affectations of fragility, she is in fact a cunning businesswoman out to sell a "Beautifully Tortured" (capitalization hers) image of herself and extract as much money from each record as she possibly can.

and then at the end of the article, we learn that, while "could we" will no doubt be coming to us soon paired with the opening credits of a schlocky romantic comedy and making the greedy marshall untold bank, "the difficult part will be proving to longtime fans that Chan Marshall is the one in control here."

one moment she's pulling the wool over all our eyes with her deceptive, conniving ability to chart the path of her own career, and the next she's, perhaps not competent enough to make her own artistic decisions?

you can't have it both ways! i'm sorry!

oh, and then there's the part where she chucklingly disparages chan's "seasick live performances," and then criticizes the album for not being "broken" enough. that made worlds of sense.

it's always been clear that the female reviewers at that site were hired only so they could run blatantly condescending write-ups of female artists without looking quite as sexist as they really are, so i shouldn't really be too surprised (hell, pitchfork itself ran a piece that discussed the way chan's been hypersexualized in one breath and had her artistic merit discredited in the next), but come on!

bottom line is probably that ms. phillips really does like the album a great deal, but she probably knows that if she got too effusive about a woman artist, she might accidentally let it slip that she really doesn't get what all this business about the animal collective and wolf parade is about, and then where //would// her lame-ass rock-critic chauvinisticredit be?

and PS: "empty shell" is hardly "all fingersnaps and jazz hands," you bitch.


where is this review at? i can't find it?

[redsox1207]

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/c/cat-power/greatest.shtml

[Moon Pix]

The thing with critics anyway is that all theyre really interested in is looking clever so theyll come up with a phrase like "fingerclicks and jazz hands" so it looks like they have a poetic heart.

Theyre just bullshitters. Apart from looking clever the only other thing theyre interested in is looking cool so they pretend that they actually enjoyed Trout Mask Replica.

[SirPatrickSpens]

Ahhhh... but dude, or dudette Moonpix-- I'm being 1000% serious here-- "Trout Mask Replica" is one of the great achievements of musical imagination in history. Please don't overreact unless yr just a pop kid la la la la & need hummable tunes in which case start memorizing MISFITS records: just give it time & learn to listen to ALL elements of each song: rhythm, timbre, lyrics...

Also, ask around the underground for the John Peel narrated Beefheart BBC documentary. Matt Groening has very interesting stuff to say about his first exposure to "Trout Mask" there. Matador has had a # of good to excellent ROCK bands (Jon Spencer's Bruce Willis level jive not among 'em) but noone that's close to Beefheart... not even Railroad Jerk, who tried. (To be fair to Matador, noone else has a Magic Band either-- it's as rare and as ineffable, unique talent as Chan...)

ALSO, if yr SURE you can't get into "Trout Mask," get "Safe As Milk" or "Clear Spot" or "Spotlight Kid" or "Lick My Decals Off, Baby."

listen to those along w/Moby Grape's 1st lp (from whence "Naked If I Want To" came) & you're doing swell, even if you DO like Liz (whom i disregarded as trite emotionally AND musically then & still do, tho' that's not to discount what recognition, in context, any individual found at the time. compared to Marianne Faithfull before or PJ Harvey after... Sandy Denny... Chan...)

sps

[Lukas]

it got 4 stars and a nice picture in my paper.

[Moon Pix]

I really like Safe As Milk. I much preferred Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs to Trout Mask Replica. Tom Waits said that those albums came about because he heard Captain Beefheart and it left an impression on him. I couldnt get past track 6 of Trout Mask Replica though because its just too weird for me (I didnt get Doo Rag either). I love artists who are individual and idiosyncratic and if I didnt I couldnt listen to Chan (the way I look at it Chan is somebody you will either really love or really not understand at all - theres not much inbetween). For me they are the truest artists.

Im not into the mainstream shit which is especially bad in Britain considering the crap we have to choose from (Franz Ferdinand, James Blunt, Beyonce - need I say more).

Ive never liked Liz, its just that I remembered that quote from an interview I read on the internet because I thought it was an all purpose "critics suck" type response. Considering some of the amazing stuff that Matador has put out over the years (Chan alone is enough for me without having to name Pavement, Stephen Malkmus, Jon Spencer and Im sure many more who I havent really heard yet), considering that history Im not really one to argue with Chris Lombardi's judgement but I must say I don't get what people see in Liz.

[Keith]

I like Trout Mask it's like a tour'd de force of Captain Beefhart i think. He's such a big inferrence on many of todays great musicans. Have yet to buy safe as Milk i'll put it on my list. I agree with Moonpix about reviewers, theres a desprestation to place artists in cantogories or their music in genres. The best reviews i read are ones which sum up a centain feel, an expeniance and also one which compears it to other records. I like to be told a story by a fan. One of us i guess.

[Moon Pix]

Yep. When I said all that I didnt mean "Its impossible to like it." I just meant that there seems to be certain artists and records that critics have to like as a right of passage or something. They have to appear hip so its like "I like Gun Club and the Gories" even if they don't really.

Who was it who actually lent Pitchfork any credibility anyway? Trying to make out that Chan has been hyper-sexualized or whatever. I don't think so. I can't really say theres ever been a time when Chan or Matador has made it into any big deal themselves. When she was signed Chan had short hair anyway so they obviously didnt sign her because they thought they could sell her sexuality.

[blue_doorbell]

The thing with critics anyway is that all theyre really interested in is looking clever so theyll come up with a phrase like "fingerclicks and jazz hands" so it looks like they have a poetic heart.

Theyre just bullshitters. Apart from looking clever the only other thing theyre interested in is looking cool so they pretend that they actually enjoyed Trout Mask Replica.

jaja this is true..

[transform]

http://www.transformonline.com/music/reviews/003773.php