Jukebox

Jukebox is a sure sign that the Cat Power we once knew–-the reluctant performer, too shy to get onstage without a bellyful of whiskey–-is dead and buried. Best understood as a sort of mix of two previous albums, 2006’s The Greatest--a real coming of age record, lush and powerful, recorded with some of the greats of Memphis soul–-and 2000’s sparse set of reinterpretations The Covers Record, Jukebox finds an assured, husky-voiced Chan paying tribute to some of the songs that inspired her, backed by her new ensemble, the Dirty Delta Blues band. This is by no means a predictable set, however: the opening "New York, New York" is reinterpreted as a sultry, smouldering blues number, fulsome in instrumentation but stark in its lack of show; while James Brown’s broiling Live at the Apollo cut "Lost Someone" is pared back into a swaying lover’s exhortation led along on jazzy drums. The picks veer towards the classic rock end of the spectrum--Dylan, Janis Joplin, Hank Williams, Joni Mitchell–-but there seems little urge here to gain some novelty laughs from a sudden flash of recognition. Rather, Marshall seems to dig right into the heart of the lyrics, looking for aching hearts and emotional epiphanies. It's worth a dime or two of anyone’s money. –-Louis Pattison