Another Week Another Vinyl: Cat Power: Dear Sir

It’s always fascinating to see the trajectory of an artists career. I hadn’t gotten in to Cat Power until her 2004 release The Covers Album. After hearing that I dug a little deeper into her catalog and found the unbelievable album You are Free along with several others. A few weeks ago I won an auction for her debut LP Dear Sir - a brand new vinyl for $7 - an album that I had never listened to.

Dear Sir isn’t necessarily a great stand alone album, its value comes in reference to her later work. What’s interesting about Dear Sir is Cat Power’s vocal approach. It doesn’t take a music theorist to tell you that Chan Marshall has a stunning voice that harks back to the days of the great female blues and jazz singers, yet on her debut Dear Sir she opts to go for a severely atonal sound. There’s no doubt that she has the chops to sing beautifully on key- as seen later in her career - but on her debut she wails with dissonance. Her approach works on the album, but it’s a mystery given her amazing talent.

In case you’re interested in the vinyl, it’s a single record pressed on 180 gram black vinyl. It comes in a gatefold jacket - there’s really not much to look at on the inside of the jacket, it’s pretty plain and does not include lyrics. For $7 this wasn’t a bad pick-up for a new record, it’s probably a B album musically, and the packaging is good at best.