Cat Power: The Greatest (20th anniversary edition, pink vinyl, foil cover) [MATADOR]

Why you'll love it

This 20th anniversary edition is pressed on pink vinyl with the original cover art in foil. The Greatest won the 2006 Shortlist Music Prize, making Chan Marshall the first woman to take it, and Rolling Stone ranked it the sixth best album of 2006.

This edition

• 20th anniversary edition
• Pink vinyl
• Foil cover
• Pressed in the Czech Republic

About the album

Chan Marshall went south for this one and brought some of Memphis's finest players with her. The Memphis Rhythm Band behind her includes guitarist Mabon (Teenie) Hodges, bassists Leroy Hodges and David Smith, drummer Steve Potts and keyboardist Rick Steff, the kind of warm, unhurried soul section her songs had been waiting for. It was also her first album of all original songs, with no covers at all.

Harlan T. Bobo and Jonathan Kirkscey arranged the strings that open the title track like curtains, while Jim Spake's saxophone and Scott Thompson's trumpet brighten "Could We" and "Love & Communication." "Lived in Bars" sways like a late-night ballad, "Willie" and "Where Is My Love" are slow and tender, and Doug Easley adds pedal steel to the country-tinged corners. The playing is relaxed and the singing is some of Marshall's most open.

It debuted at No. 34 on the Billboard 200, her highest chart showing at the time, and Rolling Stone later counted it among the best albums of the decade. Rhapsody reckoned you'd want to share it with friends. We'd suggest buying them their own; this one's pink and you'll want it back.

Also at Kops: more Cat Power on vinyl · browse Singer-Songwriter

Tracklist

Listen

On Matador (cat# OLE2238LP), a reissue of the 2006 album.