Comments on: Wilco or Cat Power

By: tps12

tps12 — Thu, 15 Jul 2004 14:16:46 +0000

Cat Power is where it’s at. Though I agree with Steve’s “Smog” conclusion.

By: YMSP82

YMSP82 — Mon, 12 Jul 2004 20:58:23 +0000

The Cat Power albums and the rare good Cat Power shows are transcendent, by the way, just to explain how I could dis her so much and then call it a toss-up.

By: YMSP82

YMSP82 — Mon, 12 Jul 2004 20:55:34 +0000

Chan Marshall’s rumored insanity has been disputed among folks who know her, as well. There were lots of rumors around Atlanta and Athens that she was perfectly normal and the stage-fright thing was an act. But there were also plenty of first-person accounts of her weirdness off-stage as well as on. I’ve seen her more times than I care to admit, and more than 70% of those shows were bad. The first time I saw her (my first show at the 40 Watt in Athens – and her Atlanta shows are consistently better than her Athens shows) she just muttered and made random noises on her guitar for a few minutes. I had driven for 2 hours! Anyway, it’s not a fair choice. It’s like “Poetry or philosophy?” Eh… If you want to split the difference, steve is right: Smog.

By: jdw

jdw — Mon, 12 Jul 2004 20:24:49 +0000

Turn off thy Wilco; play thy Ass Ponys.

By: cleek

cleek — Mon, 12 Jul 2004 17:41:09 +0000

Wilco: good Cat Power: good “which is better?” is a silly question, just like “pants or no pants”. the answer to both is “that depends on who’s in the car with you”

By: Matthew

Matthew — Mon, 12 Jul 2004 15:44:04 +0000

Never heard of Cat Power either. Wilco is the cats pajamas in my opinion. Their last two albums are great but so are most of their others including the Mermaid Avenue recordings with Billy Bragg. However, to say that Wilco is the “best thing going in 21st century music” probably goes to far. I’m a Tweedy fan but you cannot overlook someone like say Jay Farrar or Rhett Miller (Old 97’s) both of whom have new albums out too. You can listen to some of the Old 97’s new cd here. For anyone that is a new fan of Wilco you might want to check out Tweedy and Farrar’s work as Uncle Tupelo. Last year they re-released three of Uncle Tupelo’s early recordings with Rockville Records; No Depression, Still Feel Gone, and March 16-20, 1992. The last album, produced by Peter Buck, is especially good.

By: Mattew

Mattew — Mon, 12 Jul 2004 15:43:35 +0000

By: mc

mc — Mon, 12 Jul 2004 14:28:16 +0000

Never heard of Cat Power. Wilco are brilliant. Especially live. They rocked at Glastonbury too, by all accounts. Also what I love about them is that they get adoring fans and rave reviews but with so little publicity, no videos, no tv interviews, no tv ads, no hype at all. Maybe because they can’t be sold as the next big thing as they’ve been around for a while and are not exactly teenagers. It’s refreshing to see something like this.

By: Alan K. Henderson

Alan K. Henderson — Mon, 12 Jul 2004 07:05:06 +0000

You know you’re getting old when you think Wilco and Cat Power are Saturday Morning cartoons.

By: djw

djw — Mon, 12 Jul 2004 00:19:45 +0000

Look, people, those last two Wilco albums are really the best thing going in 21st century music. I like Cat Power too, but I can’t believe we’re having this conversation.

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 11 Jul 2004 22:58:54 +0000

You need more information to answer the question. I prefer Cat Power’s albums to Wilco’s (with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot a possible exception, and the last Cat Power doesn’t really do much for me), but as Skip says, Chan Marshall is a notoriously bad live performer. (It seemed more like crippling stage fright than drunkenness at the last 15-minute set I saw her perform before she gave up, and apparently she’s much better at clubs in Athens where she feels comfortable. I’ve seen Guided By Voices enough to know from drunkenness.) So, uhh, in conclusion: Smog.

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 11 Jul 2004 22:57:40 +0000

By: tim a

tim a — Sun, 11 Jul 2004 20:34:38 +0000

Chan Marshall’s (aka Cat Power) shaky record as a live performer is because of her famous anxiety about performing—she’s notoriously shy, and bottle or no, that can make things rough on a “rock star.” But when she is good live, and she often is, she is magnificent. And Marshall has mastered the very delicate art of making other people’s songs her own; “The Covers Record” is one of the best records of its type ever. Setting off Marshall’s “feminine” introspection against Wilco’s “masculine” experimentation is suspect to me. I find as much adventure in Marshall’s plodding Silvertone plucking as I do in Wilco’s new Popol Vuh-like wandering.

By: tima

tima — Sun, 11 Jul 2004 20:33:42 +0000

By: tima

tima — Sun, 11 Jul 2004 20:32:51 +0000