Who Never Showed You About the Easy Way? Who Never Told You About the Perfect Life? Guess It’s Some Kind of Some Guarantee You’ll Never See

Monday. So far this has not been the best way to start a week. I woke up super early because the weather report forecasted a foot of snow to usher in the first day of spring. We didn't get near that much accumulation but it still took me an hour and forty minutes to get to work. Awesome. Although I wake up early every morning, I definitely do not consider myself an early morning person. Waking up a half-hour earlier just to sit in traffic tends to only make matters worse. Despite high levels of coffee ingestion, right now I feel like I am going to do a face plant on my keyboard. Having an hour and a half-long teleconference first thing this morning or doing my post-upload spreadsheet report hasn't really help liven me up, much either. I should have just stayed in bed and called in "too warm and cozy to come to work." I'm sure the Big Boss Lady would understand.

Awhile back I did a review of The Greatest by Cat Power and ended by saying that that I would like to hear more of Ms. Power's work. Well, here it is, three months later and I am going to review Cat Power's What Would the Community Think? I admittedly went into this with a bit of hesitation. I have really grown to like the song (and the album) The Greatest, and wondered if that affection would diminish if I exposed myself to weaker releases by Ms. Power. I am relieved to tell you all that What Would the Community Think? only bolsters my fondness for Cat Power's work.

Cat Power's style comes across like butting contradictions. Her vocals are soft yet powerfully forceful. Her music is seemingly smooth and mellow, yet very raw and moving. Her mood is intimate, but her lyrics often caustic. However, it is more than that duality that draws me in as a listener. These songs come across as genuine, and straight from Ms. Power's own emotion. Her voice is haunting and sticks with you long after the disc is through.

I still think that Cat Power is a horrible choice for a stage name. Ms. Power's real name is Chan (pronounced "Shawn") Marshall. Why not go with Chan? That seems quirky and original enough for me. Perhaps it really is brilliant, because it's kind of hard to forget. But what is in a name, anyway? The music is good and to me that's all that matters. Recommended tracks: Taking People, Nude as the News, and They Tell Me.