Cat Power Albums Ranked

Charlyn Marie “Chan” Marshall (born January 21, 1972), better known by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, occasional actress, and model. Cat Power was originally the name of Marshall’s first band but has become her stage name as a solo artist. Born in Atlanta, Marshall was raised throughout the southern United States and began performing in local bands in Atlanta in the early 1990s. After opening for Liz Phair in 1993, she worked with Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth and Tim Foljahn of Two Dollar Guitar, with whom she recorded her first two albums, Dear Sir (1995) and Myra Lee (1996), on the same day in 1994. In 1996, she signed with Matador Records, and released a third album of new material with Shelley and Foljahn, What Would the Community Think. Following this, she released the critically acclaimed Moon Pix (1998), recorded with members of Dirty Three, and The Covers Record (2000), a collection of sparsely arranged cover songs. Here are all of Cat Power’s albums ranked.

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10. Dear Sir, 1995

“Chan Marshall appears wrapped in her pristine beauty. It’s just a cask that can barely restrain her demons. She dodges the best she can the easy, smudged female comparisons to take up with these 9 songs. 9 ways to express capsizing. Muddy rock made of suffocated feedback, whispers at the top of her voice, dry branches and twisted trees. A sour introduction to the world of the one who can take a thousand showers and never be clean.”

9. Myra Lee, 1996

“Chan Marshall’s unpredictable, whisper/holler vocal style returns and it’s still as intriguing as ever. Strumming her guitar, she invites us to eavesdrop in her conversations with herself. This kind of gets off putting. Her songs find her questioning over and over again, pointing faults, striking blames and this gets off putting at times but there is power in her words and her stop/start melodies.”

8. Jukebox, 2008

“Now that’s the covers album from Cat Power we’ve been waiting for. Songs are either reinterpretations or great tributes. But all of them are unmistakably touched by Cat Power individuality. That makes the record stand on its own feet in the singer’s catalogue and not look like an easy way to cash in.”

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7. Wanderer, 2018

“I like this album and have been listening to it now and again in the weeks since it came out, but as lovely and comforting as it is most of the time, it just doesn’t have those “hit you in the gut” moments like her best records do. Still nice to put on when I’m waking up and feeling too lazy to work out or run errands or whatever else I should be doing, though.”

6. The Covers Record, 2000

“This has long been my favorite Cat Power CD because it’s just her, stripped bare, performing songs that clearly have plenty of meaning for her. Some of them I even prefer to the originals, like her take on “Satisfaction,” “Paths of Victory” (at least Dylan’s demo version), and the rapturous, autoharp tastiness of “Sea of Love.” Usually, records like this are doomed to failure. Thankfully, The Covers Record is an exception.”

5. What Would The Community Think, 1996

“The Cat Power sound sees some real refinement here, and proves that she might be better of freed from her earlier lo-fi shackles. The songs here feel more structured, while still retaining a sense of wonder and tension throughout. Nude as the News is legitimately catchy, possibly the first Cat Power song I feel comfortable making that claim for, but the album as a whole is pretty solid.”

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4. Sun, 2012

“A pretty consistent album, with a few solid tracks. I really enjoy the power of the closer, “Peace and Love” in particular. There aren’t really any duds either. “Nothin but Time” is way longer than it needs to be, for sure, but even that song is pretty good despite overstaying its welcome.”

3. The Greatest, 2006

“Cat Power has always been good for a surprise or two as her latest Sun proves again. With The Greatest she followed the haunting, sparse You Are Free with a lush, confident and at times, awfully upbeat record. I was too hung up on You Are Free when it came out, but her 2006 triumph sounds better by the year. It’s her most consistent and best record (no songs as clumsy as “Free”). The Greatest is a masterpiece.”

2. You Are Free, 2003

“This is the album where Cat Power’s personal themes and musical craft finally came together and the result is phenomenal! A record filled with sublime anger and beautiful sadness, made by an artist whose sound is hard to mix with anybody else.”

1. Moon Pix, 1998

“Unequivocally dark and troubled. This album reeks of vile schizophrenia yet is gorgeously tender enough to sound like she’s making the most difficult confessions of her life to an old friend. YEP. This is pretty much the sound of introversion falling apart. Perfect.”