This came out in 2000 — or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
If the ability to cover someone else’s song — anyone else’s song — and claim it eternally as your own is a sign of artistic brilliance, then Cat Power is a freaking genius. Emphasis on the freaking.
Power, the nom de disque of New York folkie Chan (pronounced Sean) Marshall, is by many accounts a mercurial, fragile artist whose hesitant whisper of a voice and scab-rending songs reflect her inner turmoil. Here, she applies the same fidgety, trepidatious touch to an armload of varied covers, with unanimously wonderful results. Whether the song is Bob Dylan’s Kingsport Town, Lou Reed’s I Found A Reason, Smog’s Red Apples or Nina Simone’s Wild Is The Wind, they all come out with the compelling urgency of a cry for help from someone hiding in a closet, curled up in the fetal position with her eyes closed. Just listen to the first track: A gently massaged acoustic riff that ambles along until Marshall sings, “I’m driving in my car, a man comes on the radio … ” That’s right. It’s Satisfaction, like you’ve never heard it before. And for lonely souls thirsty for a kindred spirit to hold them close in the dark of night, The Covers Record is sweet satisfaction indeed.
