I am not quite sure what to make of Chan Marshall's latest. It is not exactly middle of the road but it certainly is going to break her to a wider public and I am happy for her. Right now on Amazon it is #8 in the States, #24 in Canada, #23 in the UK, #77 in Germany and #3(!) in France.

It is a little bit of a homecoming album. Released more or less on her 34th birthday and recorded in the deep South in Memphis with an illustrious cast of session musicians like e.g. Al Green sideman Teenie Hodges on guitar and Booker T and the MGs drummer Steve Potts. The sparse instrumentation and rawness of the early records with Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley has given way to a lush sound with string arrangements, horns and a laid-back groove. Even the female background vocals are fine. It is still an intimate record and her sexy smooth voice which becomes raspier and smokier with each new album is as touching as ever.

The most surprising thing is that the songs which are more in the vein of her previous songwriter output don't work at all. Most of the second half of the CD starting with the monotonous and uninspired ballad Where Is My Love is a disappointment. Those songs which sometimes verge on country kitsch like Islands are totally dispensable. The last song Love & Communication before the bonus track which is rather pointless as well is slightly better as it rocks out a wee bit but it also misses the urgency of her earlier songs.

The Greatest has a great vibe in the beginning but it cannot compare to the triumvirate of the fragile What Would the Community Think, the mesmerising Moon Pix and the balanced You Are Free.

Here is the phantastic centre piece (I can't think of a more relaxed marriage of piano and sax) Willie which was already released in a much longer version on the Speaking for Trees DVD.