Recorded in Memphis, The Greatest could be described, in shorthand, as Cat Power's soul album, but that's only part of the story. Employing Al Green's stalwart rhythm section -- and a passel of the town's better horn players -- adds a burnished, Hi Records feel to soul struts like the misty "Lived in Bars," but that's only one of the ways Marshall dips into the essential Memphis zeitgeist.
Sounding far more assured than usual, she forays into the blues on the austere (and aptly titled) strummer "Hate" and even allows herself a moment of basking in the sunshine -- during "Love and Communication," an organ-tinged ditty that could've appeared on a lost Box Tops album.
