The Sea Cat
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Edited Aug 17, 2010, 10:26
Marianne Faithfull
Aug 17, 2010, 09:56
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I heard Broken English years ago and I remember some great tracks on it.
Are any of her more recent albums worth investigating, and if so, has anyone got any recommendations ?
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Stevo
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Re: Marianne Faithfull
Aug 17, 2010, 10:57
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Both volumes of the autobio are seriously worth reading. Not sure about the records.
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The Sea Cat
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Re: Marianne Faithfull
Aug 17, 2010, 11:04
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Yes, I've just finished reading the second one as well. They're both a fascinating insight into that elite 60s world and her subsequent struggles. She's certainly a fascinating an intriguing woman. I was wondering if any of her recent albums are worth checking out. I'm a bit wary.
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Glam Descendant
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Re: Marianne Faithfull
Aug 18, 2010, 01:08
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I can highly recommend this anthology of her Island years (i.e., BROKEN ENGLISH through the Badalamenti collaboration from 2002):
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Perfect-Stranger-Island-Anthology/dp/B00000DC4K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1282089687&sr=1-1
Of the more recent stuff, I'm very fond of her latest EASY COME, EASY GO (collaborations w/a slew of folks on cover tunes), KISSIN' TIME (original material written w/Blur, Beck, Jarvis Cocker, Billy Corgan ...) and VAGABOND WAYS.
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Hunter T Wolfe
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Re: Marianne Faithfull
Aug 18, 2010, 11:42
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Rich Kid Blues. Marianne herself doesn't rate it, as I think it was assembled from demos and released without her permission, and I think she finds it to raw and painful- it was her first time back into a studio during her whole homeless street junkie period, and it's mostly covers- It's All Over Now Baby Blue and George Harrison's Beware of Darkness are stand-outs- but stripped-back, wracked and soulful and real. I love it.
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Glam Descendant
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Re: Marianne Faithfull
Aug 19, 2010, 01:51
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>Rich Kid Blues. Marianne herself doesn't rate it, as I think it was assembled from demos and released without her permission
Nah, it's a proper finished album released with her consent. She was asked to do it at the height of her junkie era. She writes about it in her autobio. I think she doesn't like it because she had little to do with the choosing of the material, etc., plus it must bring back bad memories.
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IanB
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Edited Aug 19, 2010, 12:33
Re: Marianne Faithfull
Aug 19, 2010, 07:53
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Thanks for the reminder. I haven't played Broken English in a long while. I had forgotten how fabulous it is - a 40 minute guided tour through pretty much everything that is great and everything that is pathetic and tawdry about 60s/70s rock culture in one 8 song journey. The self indulgence, the misery, the bitterness, the self-loathing and the stupidity on the one hand. The grace, poetry and mystery on the other. You might end up wishing Johnny Thunders or the Only Ones had made a record like this.
I suspect it only achieves what it achieves because it is inadvertent (they had no idea what they had going), a total accident but most importantly it stands up as a work of art regardless of all the Stones / Mars Bar / heroin celebrity shtick 'n' hoopla. Given the weight of the myth that surrounded her, and near swallowed her up her as an independent artist separate from the Jagger circus, this is an achievement in itself.
It's also a template for early 80s cokehead fashionista music. All those rolling motorik rhythms and crystal clear spikes of sound with a bit of Stevie Nicks' world-weary, unlucky in love, resignation. The spatial quality of reggae flattened out for driving at night. Disco music for the spiritually dead. Incredibly prescient music considering what was to come.
You can imagine Grace Jones in Chris Blackwell's office, pointing at the sleeve and going "want that one". You can also hear where Roxy's Avalon and the first two 80s Ferry solo albums came from.
To my ears the only record of hers that is in the same league is 20th Century Blues but even that is flawed. I'd stick with the one album and the books. People who like Billie Holiday in her broken doll era might like some of the later albums esp the tunes wth Polly Harvey playing guitar. MF's version of Gloomy Sunday is virtually an homage to the Lady In Satin album.
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The Sea Cat
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Re: Marianne Faithfull
Aug 19, 2010, 12:03
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THanks for the link GD. I'm going to track this down.
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The Sea Cat
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Re: Marianne Faithfull
Aug 19, 2010, 12:05
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This sounds wonderful as well. I read about her cover of Beware of Darkness in her 2nd memoir. I think it's a superb song and her take on would be especially interesting.
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The Sea Cat
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Re: Marianne Faithfull
Aug 19, 2010, 12:06
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That's the best description of that album that I've ever read Ian. Exactly.
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