Continuing my look at the albums of 2006…
The Greatest was Atlanta singer-songwriter Cat Power’s seventh studio album, and one that introduced her to a wider audience. It’s certainly the one that introduced her to me, although it took five years for me to pick up a used copy at a favorite record store.
This was my first and only exposure to Cat Power, stage name of Chan Marshall, so I can’t say if it’s par for the course or a departure. Based on the reviews I’ve read, it’s a bit of both, more expansive musically while maintaining her downbeat style.
The Greatest features a highlight reel of Memphis musicians who give the album a lush Muscle Shoals sound over which Cat Power delivers her sleepily sultry vocals. It makes for a potent combination, though I enjoy it better in small bites rather than as a main course.
If yesterday’s Arctic Monkeys album was a raucous Saturday night on the town, The Greatest is a lazy Sunday morning on the living room couch.
Hotels, trains, and ships that sail
We swim with sharks and fly with aeroplanes in the airSend in the trumpets, the marching wheelchairs
Open the blankets and give them some air
Swords and arches, bones and cement
The light and the dark of the innocent of man
We know your house so very well
And we will wake you once we’ve walked up all of your stairs
There’s nothing like living in a bottle
And nothing like ending it all for the world
We’re so glad you have come back
Every living lion will lay in your lap
The kid has a homecoming! The champion, the whores!
Who’s gonna play drums, guitar, or organ with chorus?
As far as we’ve walked from both of ends of sand
Never have we caught a glimpse of this man
We know your house so very well
And we will bust down your door if you’re not there
We’ve lived in bars and danced on tables
Hotels, trains, and ships that sail
We swim with sharks and fly with aeroplanes out of here
Out of here
Out of here
Out of here
Out of here
Meet Me In Montauk 
I’ve never heard of Cat Power but I like her sound.
I take this any day over a raucous Saturday night on the town ❤️