Moon Pix

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
No Longer includes bonus tracks. 1998 release.Standard jewel case.

Tracks:

American Flag
He Turns Down
No Sense
Say
Metal Heart
Back Of Your Head
Moonshiner
You May Know Him
Colors And The Kids
Cross Bones Style
Peking Saint

Amazon.com's Best of 1998

Chan Marshall, a.k.a. Cat Power, has created an album, Moon Pix, that somehow manages to be both complex and difficult as well as stark and spacious. It's an interesting contradiction mirrored in Marshall's vocal and lyrical talents; her voice soars and croons, sometimes trading melodies with a wandering flute line, while her lyrics are powerful, inscrutable, and fiercely intimate. Two of the Dirty Three evoke a subtle instrumental landscape upon which she wanders, a place less haunting than haunted; specters of lost friends, lost loves, and unrealized dreams abound. There is beauty here, but the kind of beauty found in the crushed shell of a bird's egg or a cemetery in fall. Not an easy listen, but a necessary one. --Tod Nelson

Amazon.com

Singer Chan Marshall takes intimacy to a new level with the eerily lovely song cycle of Moon Pix. The narrative revolves around a nightmare figure who beckons toward a location that sounds rather like H-E-double hockey sticks. The starkness of this ghost story is mirrored in the austerity of the atmospheric music. Joined by Jim White and Mick Turner of the Australian slow-rock band the Dirty Three, Marshall uses spare guitar, flute, and piano arrangements to create the sounds of the last singer left on a postapocalyptic landscape. As Marshall sings in "Say," "If you're looking for something easy, you might as well give it up," and that lyric is the best description of this difficult and brilliant album. --Lois Maffeo

Customer Reviews:

Mythos aside, a few good songs.......2006-08-20

Among fans, MoonPix holds a kind of mystique. Stories get told. One goes something like this: Chan Marshall, retired from the music industry, awakens one stormy night after a bad dream. In an agitated fugue state, she furiously writes the whole of MoonPix in one sitting. The following day (still driven by night demons mind you) she calls her surprised record label and sweet talks an executive into sending her to Australia--land of the Dingo, the Aborigine, the Cane Toad--to record a moody batch of pathos ridden devil songs. The result is a spooky, haunted album, by a half-crazy girl. It goes on to be a notable success for Cat Power.

Well,... that's the story anyway.

Fans seem to like that myth a lot. Maybe they overpraise the album because of it? Rate it highly, despite its many flaws? All I can tell you is what I hear in Moon Pix. One thing is certain, the album is a giant leap forward over the earliest Cat Power albums. The singing, production, arrangements, and songs are all considerably better than those on Dear Sir and Myra Lee. But then those early albums set the bar so awfully low that even vast improvement still leaves us with only an okay album. On the up side, the songs "Metal Heart", "Cross Bones Style," and "No Sense" are great songs, best appreciated independently of the rest of the album. I like the direction Chan Marshall and her band are heading with these songs. The musicianship is well improved over previous works (though that's not much of a claim, considering the previous works). More importantly, the band avoids the endless Sonic Youth dissonance that marred the first albums.

The rest of Moon Pix could still benefit from quite a bit more polishing. All the songs share the same or similar sounds. Similar chord changes, tempo, key; and let's just admit it, Chan Marshall can't really play any instrument. Any grade schooler with a couple of years of piano lessons could play piano with more authority than she does. The same is true of her two or three chord guitar work. She fingerpicks a few cowboy chords and occasionally bumbles even on those. In the very first song "American Flag," there's a clumsy moment a minute and a half into it where she messes up and gets out of sync with the drum machine. What's odd to me is she seems to be surrounded by much better musicians. One wonders why she doesn't just stick to singing and let one of the other guys handle the heavy lifting?

Previous reviewers have mentioned how this is good music for a rainy day--indeed, there are thunder sounds on "Say". A nice touch. I could see how you might like the continuous monodrone sound of this record if you're looking for ambient music to serve you on a down day when you're feeling reflective. On the other hand, if you're trying to fight off sadness, laziness, or mood swings, this is not the album to put on. Take "Moonshiner" for example; it's heroin music--sluggish, lethargic, hypnotic--written for the loser, the loner, the addict, the drunk. It wouldn't be out of place on a Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album.

Not all the songs are complete downers, nor do they all neccesarily contain deep mystical insights from a crazy hell-haunted woman. It is true there are a few important songs on this record, spooky and beautiful enough to justify repeated listening. But taken as a whole album Moon Pix sounds endlessly droning and burned out. For me, too much so. One critic (when commenting on how problematic Cat Power albums tend to be) said Chan's "probably an EP artist at heart". I think that's about right. With the exception of The Greatest, none of her albums are really able to sustain the momentum of her best individual songs.

If you're new to Cat Power or are trying to figure out which album to buy first, buy the most recent albums: The Greatest (if you're into R&B), You Are Free (if you're looking for indie rock), or The Cover Record (if you like folksy blues). Each are superior to Moon Pix--though none carry the kind of mythos that has made Moon Pix so famous. Perhaps one day Matador will release a "best of" album. Chan Marshall is great when you can just to get to those wonderful (but sparsely distributed) jewel songs that are buried somewhere on each album.

Charming and intriguing but overrated .......2006-08-02

I think that this work by Cat Power is worth listening and has some very good moments. Anyway, despite the fact that I like intimistic music and listened to it several times, I still cannot understand why it had so many ecstatic reviews all around the world. It is a very moody record from begining to end and neither the music nor the lyrics left me wanting more at the end of the CD.

Amazing album.......2006-06-01

I don't even remember finding out about Cat Power, but I listened to her newest album, "The Greatest" and fell in love with her emotional style of singing. I checked out "Moon Pix" and it happened to be a chilly, rainy day. Let me just say, this album and a cloudy, rainy day go hand in hand. The music is hauntingly beautiful, and the lyrics tear apart your soul. Some people think Cat Power can't sing, but Chan Marshall (her real name) proves that you don't need to have a Mariah Carey voice to be able to have beautiful music. And trust me, Mariah Carey doesn't even come close to Cat Power!

Hauntingly beautiful yet stark..........2004-04-01

I'm a fan of Cat Power since hearing "You Are Free" at an SO's place... This one I like almost as much... "No Sense" is my favorite track on this one, although I like them all each in their own unique way... To me Cat Power has staying power...
As well as I've read in an article that Perry Farrell enjoys Cat Power's music, so who knows, maybe Cat Power will be in the next Lollapalooza festival... Here's to hoping... - Savannah Skye...

The best album....if you want to sleep!.......2003-07-14

I've always thought that I'd only enjoy a completely new band to me, through hearing the album while I'm sleeping...Well, Moon Pix is fantastic, 'cause it makes me fall asleep right away and I wake up feeling refreshed...songs like "Metal Heart", "Back Of Your Head" and "You May Know Him" are like hot milk to me!
When I stopped to listen to the cd, paying attention to the lyrics and melodies...it kinda let me down...but still the distinct voice of Chan Marshall makes me fell like someone was putting a child to sleep...which is a beautiful feeling!

Average customer rating:

a classic

Moon Pix
Cat Power
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B000046RUU
Release Date: 1999-12-06

Tracks:

American Flag
He Turns Down
No Sense
Say
Metal Heart
Back Of Your Head
Moonshiner
You May Know Him
Colors And The Kids
Cross Bones Style
Peking Saint

Album Description

No Longer includes bonus tracks. 1998 release.Standard jewel case.

Album Details

To Celebrate the Tour, her Acclaimed 'moon Pix'album is to Be Repackaged with Three Bonus Rare Recordings: 'sea of Love', 'schizophrenia Weighted Me Down'& 'kinsport Town'.

Customer Reviews:

a classic.......2001-07-25

[...], it's not often I award an album five stars but 'Moon Pics' is truly deserving. Haunting, neurotic and beautiful all at once. A must buy for anyone who loves real, honest, raw music.

Average customer rating:

Moon Pix
Cat Power
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000562CR

Music:

Music

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