8. Cat PowerThe Greatest
I absolutely love Chan Marshall. I relate to her. I’m one of these people, I think, ‘I wanna be friends’. I’m convinced we’re gonna be friends one day. I just love her spirit, love her bravery, love her soul. This album is gorgeous, because it’s got that combination of that beautiful smoky voice and the great musicians of that soul band, The Memphis Rhythm Band, that so suits her. She recorded it in Memphis, in Ardent Studios. It’s a classic soul record. It’s got beautiful horns on it. This would have blown up huge, if she hadn’t gone straight into rehab as soon as it came out and couldn’t promote it. She’s from Georgia, and she sort of came out of that nineties indie scene around the time of Nirvana and Seattle, and hung out with lots of people on that grungey scene. She’d already done six albums by then, but The Greatest is the one, for me. This is a beautiful listen. It’s soulful, it’s majestic, it soars. I probably heard it in a cafe or something. It’s pretty unglamorous, how I hear records…
