Cat Power
You Are Free
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AMG Review of You Are Free
Heather Phares
All Music GuideYou Are Free arrives nearly five years from her last album of original material, and everything, yet nothing, has changed about Chan Marshall's music. The album's title is as much a statement as it is a challenge, a command to free one's self from the hurt and pain of the past, or to at least find a way of making peace with it. Marshall seems to do both on You Are Free, a collection of songs about finding freedom and peace wherever she can. Initially, the album seems more diffuse than Moon Pix, as it spans tense rockers, lues, folk, and singer/songwritery piano allads, but it gradually reveals itself as Marshall's most mature and thematically focused work yet. You Are Free opens with a stunning trio of songs that encompass most of the moods and sounds she explores later in the album. On "I Don't Blame You," the first of You Are Free's many spare, piano-driven moments, Marshall paints a portrait of a tormented musician, her voice so full of sympathy that she may well be singing a reconciliation to a previous incarnation of herself. The brisk, buzzing intensity of "Free," however, offers liberation in the form of ock & roll's immediate, poetic nonsense: "Don't be in love with the autograph/Just be in love when you love that song all night long." You Are Free's first two songs address musicians and making music directly; Marshall is a famously willful, volatile artist, and the increasing gaps between her albums (not to mention her unpredictable live performances) suggest that being a musician isn't the easiest thing for her to do, even if it's a necessary one. She addresses the struggle to do the right, but difficult, thing on "Good Woman," a near-spiritual breakup song where, backed by a children's choir and fiddles, Marshall explains that she needs to be a good woman with -- or more likely, without -- her bad man. Aside from being a lovely song, it's also a departure; earlier in her career the song might have just focused on the conflict instead of Marshall's gently strong resolution to it. This gentle but resolute strength runs through most of You Are Free's best moments, such as "He War" and especially "Names," a terrifyingly matter-of-fact recollection of child abuse and lost friends that says more in its resigned sorrow than a histrionic tirade would. As the album progresses, it moves toward the spare, affecting allads that give her later work a strange timelessness; listening to You Are Free gives the impression of stripping away layers to get to the essence of Marshall's music. In some ways, the quiet last half of this album is more demanding than the angsty noise of Dear Sir or Myra Lee, but hearing her find continually creative interpretations of minor keys, plaintive pianos, and folky guitars is well worth the attention it takes, whether it's the dead-of-night eroticism of her cover of Michael Hurley's "Werewolf," the pretty yet eerie longing of "Fool," or the prairie romance of "Half of You." Every Cat Power album takes at least a few listens to fully reveal itself; You Are Free may take awhile longer than expected to unfold, but once it does, its excellence is undeniable.
Wow...
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I just recently began listening to this album, and I am finding it increasingly more lovely. This song, in particular, froze me today. I listened to the first verse and thought, "What is this?" So I stood still and listened to every verse, and with every verse, a chill ran up my back. This certainly isn't a song you'd want to listen to if you were looking for a pick up, as it's quite depressing...
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Half of You- Cat Power on True Blood
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We have a new tradition here at our house on Sunday night, Michelle invites her friend Wendy over, we cook dinner and watch True Blood. It's kind of funny when True Blood first started I was the only one who was into the show. After I kept on raving about it, one day while I was at work, Michelle and Wendy got hooked watching True Blood ondemand. So now we watch it, kind of like a viewing party...
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"How nobody knows, nobody knows my pain when I see that it's risen; that full moon again..."
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I just saw a scene from an up and coming film Powder Blue with Jessica Biel. She stars as an exotic dancer who peforms to Werewolf by Cat Power. Werewolf is a unique choice for a song to strip to. The scene in question can be found online. It is powerful and distrurbing. I saw it as Biel's character taking a stand with her sensuality from the chaos in her life on the stage. As her routine continue
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15
MOG it up!
Good night sweet prince
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A convesation in Auralgasm's post inspired thishttp://mog.com/Auralgasms/blog_post/39593#comments...I have never heard Chan Marshall say this song is about Kurt, but from the second I heard it, that is where my mind went...and apparently for the person who made this video too...
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i'm not that hot new chick
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stumble halfheartedly through the day to day,picking up strays.thoughts, grey hair, memories.sometimes it all appears to me like a snapshot,of someone else's place to be.and, i'm just a shadow reflected on the wall.stuck,in the flickering brush of your lashes,on your rosy blushed cheeks.i wonder how we ended up in this carousel ride,circling around, flailing,arms in the air, eyes closed, mesmer...
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I want to be a good woman
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This is a personal catharsis (sorry to any moggers who happen to come across this post tonight). I've been struggling with something/someone that I have to let go and this song says it better than I ever could. Hoping this releases some of my struggle. B - I'll always wear your ink and you'll always be in my heart. Sorry for not believing ...LyricsI want to be a good womanAnd I want, for you ...
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little bunny foo.
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I think this might just be a new low (or high, depending on how you look at it) point in my music obsession.I'm not only a librarian, I'm also an avid crafter, and my jewelry-making skills seemed to have been attacked by my iTunes.Check it out:little bunny foo jewelry: necklaces inspired by some of my favorite frontwomenI'm planning on making a couple more pieces, maybe a Maya, or an Annie. Def...
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Virgins, Acupuncture & Cat Power
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I had acupuncture for the first time yesterday. I was a giggling virgin on the table as the needles (I prefer the term chi attractors) went inside my foot and leg. It was exhilarating to think this ancient chinese technique could help with my running injury. I felt very different as I got into my car. The usual music would not suffice. I slipped in a promo CD from Virgin (note theme) that has b...
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Wow...
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I just recently began listening to this album, and I am finding it increasingly more lovely. This song, in particular, froze me today. I listened to the first verse and thought, "What is this?" So I stood still and listened to every verse, and with every verse, a chill ran up my back. This certainly isn't a song you'd want to listen to if you were looking for a pick up, as it's quite depressing...
More >
 "You Are Free")
