my personal favorite cat power album
I'm noticing that this is the most-reviewed Cat Power album on Amazon (or at least in a close race with The Greatest), but I wanted to add my review to the pile because this is my favorite. It has "Maybe Not" which came out at a time where things in the world seemed a bit out of control, and out of the hands of the common person, and just said "we all do what we can." I saw Chan's crazy free summer concert in NYC a few years back and while that show was chaotic fun (she stopped playing for a while to chase a squirrel around the stage, trying to feed it some bread), that song brought tears to my eyes. Anyway, this album also has "Good Woman" which is a simple, beautifully written song, and some of the best hooks, in my opinion, that Chan's written. But I like just about everything she does. (My screenname is a Cat Power reference, so there you go.)

Cat Power at her best.
Known for her minimalist style, sparse guitar and piano backing, and otherworldly vocals, and equally notorious for her chaotic, tearful, and unpolished live performances, Cat Power is the stage name of New York City singer/songwriter Chan Marshall. Her sixth release, You Are Free (2003), is among my favorite Cat Power albums. It features Dave Grohl (of Nirvana and The Foo Fighters) on drums and Eddie Vedder (of Pearl Jam) on backing vocals on a couple of the tracks. Better known for her cover albums (The Covers Record; The Greatest; and Jukebox), You Are Free is all original Cat Power material. Tracks include:

1. I Don't Blame You (3:04)
2. Free (3:33)
3. Good Woman (3:56)
4. Speak For Me (3:01)
5. Werewolf (4:05)
6. Fool (3:47)
7. He War (3:29)
8. Shaking Paper (4:27)
9. Babydoll (3:05)
10. Maybe Not 4:16
11. Names (4:49)
12. Half Of You (2:39)
13. Keep On Runnin' (3:49)
14. Evolution (4:45)

The intense emotions in these songs are real. Shortly after releasing this album, Cat Power suffered a "psychotic break" that resulted in a brief admission to the Psychiatric ward at Miami's Mount Sinai.

G. Merritt

Not for the Faint of Heart
This album hit my heart like a bullet. Some people get too into the "complexity" of music and forget that it is not just math but mystery too. This album is soul. It is mystery. It is (expletive) beautiful.

Covers all of her over-hyped, over-praised sensibilities nicely
I want to say this is one of her more solid releases, but I've always felt Marshall's songwriting was anything but solid. So I guess this would be one of her better embellishments, taking what little framework she has a a pianist/guitarist and spinning it into something a little more edge-like. Most of the time her frail, minimal approach does not succeed simply due to a lack of range. I am all for the style, but one must always learn the rules before unlearning them, Cat Power always sounded like she just skipped those steps. Likewise, when she tries to pull of her more bluesy, southern-styled approach it usually feels rather forced and phony. Still she does land a few stripped-down songs with convincing sincerity, and with a few songs concentrating on some of her less-absorbed, but more absorbing rock work, You Are Free should be considered, if not a step forward for the overrated songwriter, certainly not a step back.

Another Flawless Effort By New Indie Sweetheart
Chan Marshall, better known by her stage name of Cat Power is one of the most thrilling talents to have come out of the indie rock scene in recent years. This is the album that really marks her fruition as an artist. I has the mainstream romps of "He War" and "Free" coupled with the evocative lo-fi "Fool" and "Werewolf".


After years in the wilderness of the indie underground, "You Are Free" seems like the perfect album to introduce the public to Chan. It maintains her lo-fi and blues roots but does so without the obnoxious pretension of fellow artists like Smog and Bonnie Prince Billy. The mixture of elements to the sound of the album is varied, providing minimalism (lo-fi) alongside the heart-wrenching beauty of the string driven "Good Woman".


The songwriting is simple, there are no extensive riffs, no James Joyce style lyrics and the simplicity is just sublime. While it doesn't have the cohesion of her latest album "The Greatest" in many ways it is her masterpiece as it sounds effortless and haunting. Unlike the cover photo, much of this albums minimalist moments give it a claustrophobic feel that she only briefly breaks out of. Chan sings with such passion, not the overbearing power-ballad stylings of Bon Jovi or the hectic scatting of jazz, but simple raw emotion.


"You Are Free" is still very much an indie record that you would expect from the masters of indie rock labels Matador but it has the raw intensity that lacks from much of it's overall output. A quintissential record whose merits are frequently undermined by the comparisons to "Moon Pix". This album is in a completely different league.