Nilsson's songs are wickedly wry, and the vibe is intoxicating. Still, like the first version, you sense the party was more fun to attend than Pussy Cats Starring The Walkmen is to hear.  Full text...

The Walkmen are equally reverent to the trio of Nilsson originals that formed the heart of the original Pussy Cats: the wrenching piano ballad "Don't Forget Me," the sinewy pop rant "All My Life," and the campy cabaret lament "Old Forgotten Soldier."  Full text...

All in all, not a bad way for the Walkmen to spend their down time . . .  Full text...

While the covers of Nilsson's originals ("Don't Forget Me," "Black Sails") are still mostly sad-eyed, plodding downers, the covers of the covers take off. Jimmy Cliff's "Many Rivers to Cross" drips with soul; the whimsical children's tune "Loop de Loop" sounds like a raucous, booze-soaked party and should be added to the jukebox of every dive bar across the country pronto.  Full text...

The original Pussy Cats may not be classic enough to be untouchable, but Nilsson was enough of an oddball original, and the album carries so much back story, that a remake of it just ends up being a "why bother" moment.  Full text...

Embrace the spirit of Pussy Cats rather than the note-for-note reality. Cover other songs, play Jonathan Fire*Eater tracks, play a new song or two: go crazy and make something that people will scratch their heads over. With Pussy Cats, all we get is a one-joke album from a cover band.  Full text...

t's funny how they can reproduce the sounds on the original Pussy Cats so accurately, from the strings on "Many Rivers to Cross" to the guitar tone in "Subterranean Homesick Blues", casting their other records as carefully arranged where they might have sounded vague and unfinished to casual listeners.  Full text...

The Walkmen have adeptly recreated the original’s crude bonhomie. Jimmy Cliff’s “Many Rivers to Cross” is still Sunday morning slow, with its lazy string section and sleepy rhythms, while the Nilsson original “Don’t Forget Me” retains its mournful piano, sounding here like it was recorded in a high-ceilinged room without furniture, as Leithauser’s voice leaps about the notes with only the barest attention to the piano’s rhythms.  Full text...

The album itself, however, fails to achieve that potential. A band as talented as this one should be allowed to take steps in weird directions, to do something offbeat and interesting and see where it leads. So the disappointments must be accepted sometimes. And this, in many ways, is a disappointment.  Full text...