Description
The Covers Record is the fifth studio album by Cat Power, the stage name and eponymous band of American singer-songwriter Chan Marshall. It was originally released in 2000 on Matador Records.
The album consists entirely of cover songs, with the exception of a new version of Marshall's song "In this Hole," which initially appeared on Cat Power's 1996 album What Would the Community Think.
The success of Cat Power's fourth album, Moon Pix (1998), led to high expectations for her follow-up, and made it difficult for her to live what she called “a normal life.” She elected to release an album of covers in part because she felt more comfortable playing covers than her own material. Between Moon Pix and what became The Covers Record, she scheduled a number of solo shows during which she played only covers. In order to take attention away from herself, she projected the 1928 French silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc behind her onstage.
Marshall's decision to release a covers album was reportedly disappointing to Matador, who considered her a “genius songwriter” and wanted to capitalize on the success of Moon Pix. According to Gerard Cosloy, the promotional campaign for The Covers Record, which he calls “a great album,” was intentionally “muted,” in order to allow it to “find its audience.” However, Marshall saw The Covers Record as a personal and important release, and interpreted this as lack of faith on the record company's behalf in the record's ability to connect with her audience.
