Issue date: 1/31/06 Section: Aggielife

Courtesy of Matador Records Chan Marshall, a.k.a. Cat Power, went for a Memphis feel on her new album 'The Greatest.'

Chan Marshall, the lone gun behind Cat Power, has never done the same thing twice.

"Erratic" is the word often used to describe her. She's had meltdowns in the middle of shows, unexpectedly cutting sets short or going on for hours just making guitar noise and screaming.

She's constantly crossing the continent and living months at a time in her handful of homes scattered across the country (impressive, seeing how she has not reached the degree of celebrity one thinks would pay for so many homes).

Every Cat Power album is approached from a different angle, and Marshall's backing musicians change all the time.

Marshall's moods and musical moves are unpredictable. Her new release, the confidently titled "The Greatest," is no different.

Marshall birthed Cat Power in New York, quickly becoming the darling of the East Village scene, but grew up in Atlanta. With "The Greatest," she finally exposes her Southern roots, or at least more so than on her previous records.

For 2003's "You Are Free," Marshall famously enlisted Eddie Vedder and Dave Grohl for covert supporting roles. For "The Greatest," she found her sound within the Memphis city limits.

Marshall recruited legendary Memphis musicians Mabon "Teenie" Hodges, Steve Potts, Leroy Hodges and David Smith (leftovers, respectively, from Stax Records' glory days in the '60s). Similar to the unsung Funk Brothers of Detroit's Motown sound, "The Greatest's" Memphis boys can still lay it down just as thick and better than ever (although, interestingly enough, some songs sound more like Motown than Memphis).

She told Harp Magazine earlier this month that "it's the first record of mine that breaks my heart." If you listen to it with the lyrics in front of you and you are a living, breathing believer in love, your heart will break, too.

The title track may seem pretentious, but it's not self-glorifying at all; as is "Lived in Bars," which proudly sings the shame of living in bars and dancing on the tables.

"Could We" sounds like The Supremes and makes a Chan Marshall love lyric sound downright girly, which is what the bulk of "The Greatest" does for Marshall: it makes Cat Power less of an exercise in lament and female empowerment and more of a feel-good girls-with-heartache band.

But the lust is still there. Marshall's voice has long been one of the sexiest never heard, and fans probably want it to stay a well-kept secret. Once everybody loves something of yours, it's harder to love as much.

Fans shouldn't worry; "The Greatest" isn't Marshall's greatest effort, though it is her boldest reinvention. It's not great enough make her a household name.

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