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Covers is the eleventh studio album by American musician Cat Power, the stage name of American singer-songwriter Chan Marshall. Her third collection of cover songs, following 2000's The Covers Record and 2008's Jukebox, the album was released worldwide on January 14, 2022, by Domino Recording Company.

Recording and production

Covers is Marshall's third collection of cover songs, following 2000's The Covers Record and 2008's Jukebox.[2] The album was recorded alongside Marshall's live band: guitarist Adeline Jasso, bassist and keyboardist Erik Paparozzi, and drummer Alianna Kalaba. Marshall was not planning on recording a covers album, and was originally intent on recording original compositions. She explained: "I got in the studio and I wanted the band to relax, so I started composing improvisationally, just getting them to play certain things that sounded good together. For the first four songs we recorded that day, I had no idea what the vocals would be or what the song would be. They were four songs that I had no intention of covering. I just wanted the band to warm up, and when I got them to play something that I liked the sound of, I went to the vocal booth and I said, 'Just don't stop.' Then I was like, 'What cover should I sing over this music that is playing?'.[3]

"Unhate" is a new recording of "Hate", a song from Marshall's 2006 album The Greatest.[4] A re-recording of one of Marshall's older songs has appeared on each of her cover albums. This has been inspired by the live performances of Bob Dylan, who frequently rearranges the majority of his own work when touring. Marshall explained: "The amount of live shows that I've played, I won't play a song for 20 years or something, and then I'll come back around and there'll be something in my life, present time, later in life, that will make me want to play something that I wrote before, but there's a whole 'nother set of life experiences why I want to play it again. That informs the music and the change of lyrics at times."[5]

The melody to her cover of Frank Ocean's "Bad Religion" is similar to the melody of "In Your Face", a song from her previous album Wanderer. Marshall said that she "started feeling more and more angry inside" while performing the latter song live, a track she described as "basically a ballad to the white 1% male". She said: "Every time I sang that song live, it didn't matter if I was calm or relaxed or whatever. I kept getting more and more angry with the reality of what it made me think about, and so just one night switched the lyrics to 'Bad Religion' and I felt so much better." The cover of The Pogues' "A Pair of Brown Eyes" was recorded by Marshall alone using a Mellotron.[5]

Release and promotion

She performed "Bad Religion" on The Late Late Show with James Corden on October 6, 2021.[2] The song was released on streaming platforms as a double A-side single with "A Pair of Brown Eyes" the following day.[6] A music video for "Pa Pa Power" was directed by Gren Hunt and released on November 1.[7] A music video for "I'll Be Seeing You" was released on December 14, the same day the song was released as a double A-side single with "Unhate".[8] The album was supported by a US and European tour beginning in April 2022.[9]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.3/10[10]
Metacritic79/100[11]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[12]
Beats Per Minute75%[13]
Clash8/10[14]
The Guardian[15]
MusicOMH[16]
NME[17]
No Ripcord7/1/0[18]
Pitchfork7.7/10[1]
Record Collector[19]
Under the Radar[20]

Covers received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 79 based on 16 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[11] Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave the album 7.3 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.[10] It appeared at number thirteen on Les Inrockuptibles list of the 100 best albums of 2022.[21]

Track listing

Covers track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Original artist(s)Length
1."Bad Religion"
Frank Ocean4:20
2."Unhate"MarshallCat Power2:44
3."Pa Pa Power"
Dead Man's Bones3:10
4."White Mustang"
Lana Del Rey3:00
5."A Pair of Brown Eyes"Shane MacGowanThe Pogues3:42
6."Against the Wind"Bob SegerBob Seger3:13
7."Endless Sea"Iggy PopIggy Pop3:35
8."These Days"Jackson BrowneNico3:44
9."It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels"J. D. "Jay" MillerKitty Wells2:33
10."I Had a Dream, Joe"Nick CaveNick Cave and the Bad Seeds4:39
11."Here Comes a Regular"Paul WesterbergThe Replacements5:14
12."I'll Be Seeing You"
Billie Holiday3:22
Total length:43:15
Covers – Japanese bonus track[22]
No.TitleWriter(s)Original artist(s)Length
13."You Got the Silver"Jagger/RichardsThe Rolling Stones3:00
Total length:46:27
Covers – Domino Mart-exclusive bonus 7" vinyl[23]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."You Got the Silver" (Stereo)Jagger/Richards 
2."You Got the Silver" (Mono)Jagger/Richards 

Credits and personnel

  • Chan Marshall – vocals, instrumentation, production
  • Mark Chalecki – mastering
  • Adeline Jasso – guitar
  • Alianna Kalaba – drums
  • Erik Paparazzi – keyboards, bass, guitar
  • Matt Pynn – pedal steel guitar
  • Matt Schuessler – assistant engineer
  • Rob Schnapf – engineering, mixing
  • Mario Sorrenti – photography

Charts

Chart performance for Covers
Chart (2022) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[24] 23
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[25] 24
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[26] 38
French Albums (SNEP)[27] 35
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[28] 17
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[29] 15
Scottish Albums (OCC)[30] 16
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[31] 71
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[32] 12
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[33] 5

References

  1. ^ a b Sherburne, Philip (January 14, 2022). "Cat Power: Covers Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Whitaker, Marisa (October 7, 2021). "Cat Power Announces Third Covers Album, Shares Frank Ocean And The Pogues Covers". Spin. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  3. ^ Hynde, Chrissie (January 14, 2022). "Cat Power Tells Chrissie Hynde How She Got Her Reputation". Interview. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  4. ^ "Cat Power: 'To this day I sleep with my bedroom door locked'". The Guardian. January 14, 2022. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  5. ^ a b Brodsky, Rachel (January 6, 2022). "Cat Power Interview: Juno, Jude Law, Diplo & more". Stereogum. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  6. ^ "Cat Power shares cover of The Pogues' 'A Pair Of Brown Eyes' from upcoming album". Hot Press. October 8, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  7. ^ Paul, Larisha (November 1, 2021). "Cat Power Shares 'Pa Pa Power' Music Video, Announced 32-Date Tour". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  8. ^ Paul, Larisha (December 14, 2021). "Cat Power Shares Old-Timey Music Video for Billie Holiday 'I'll Be Seeing You' Cover". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  9. ^ Jones, Abby (January 11, 2022). "Cat Power's 2022 Tour: See the Rescheduled Dates". Consequence. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  10. ^ a b "Covers by Cat Power". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  11. ^ a b "Reviews and Tracks for Covers by Cat Power". Metacritic. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  12. ^ "Covers - Cat Power | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  13. ^ Fisette, Jeremy J. (January 25, 2022). "Album Review: Cat Power - Covers". Beats Per Minute. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  14. ^ Murray, Robin (January 13, 2022). "Cat Power - Covers". Clash. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  15. ^ Aroesti, Rachel (January 7, 2022). "Cat Power: Covers review - transforming majesty into adequacy". The Guardian. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  16. ^ Murphy, John (January 14, 2022). "Cat Power - Covers". MusicOMH. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  17. ^ Cooper, Leonie (January 10, 2022). "Cat Power - Covers review: soul-nourishing interpretations with a uniquely personal slant". NME. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  18. ^ Coleman, David (January 21, 2022). "Cat Power: Covers". No Ripcord. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  19. ^ Johnstone, Johnnie (January 3, 2022). "Cat Power | Covers". Record Collector. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  20. ^ Merrick, Hayden (January 13, 2022). "Cat Power: Covers (Domino)". Under the Radar. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  21. ^ "Découvrez nos 100 meilleurs albums de 2022 (partie 4/4)" ["Discover our 100 best albums of 2022 (part 4/4)"]. Les Inrockuptibles (in French). December 29, 2022. Archived from the original on December 29, 2022. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  22. ^ "BEATINK.COM Covers". Beatink.com. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  23. ^ "Booklet". Covers (Vinyl liner notes). Cat Power. London, United Kingdom: Domino Recording Company. 2022. WIGLP469XM.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  24. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Cat Power – Covers" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
  25. ^ "Ultratop.be – Cat Power – Covers" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  26. ^ "Ultratop.be – Cat Power – Covers" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  27. ^ "Top Albums (Week 3, 2022)". SNEP. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
  28. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Cat Power – Covers" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  29. ^ "Portuguesecharts.com – Cat Power – Covers". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
  30. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
  31. ^ "Top 100 Albums Weekly". PROMUSICAE. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
  32. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Cat Power – Covers". Hung Medien. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  33. ^ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covers_(Cat_Power_album)