Search - Marianne Faithfull :: Perfect Stranger: Island Anthology

From riches to skid row - well almost

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 05/02/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Marianne was born into a wealthy family and didn't need a musical career. Nevertheless, she achieved a measure of success as a pop singer in the sixties, having six UK hits including four that made the top ten. During that time, she recorded four albums - two of pop music and two of folk music - but she also went from being a happy, smiley person (see the cover of Come my way, her first folk album) to an utterly unhappy person dependent on drugs. Her sixties music can be found elsewhere. This compilation focuses on her very different music from 1979 to 1995.



For most of the seventies, Marianne did not record any music such was the depth of her misery. When she started recording again, her voice was different, affected dramatically by all the drugs. She actually started again in 1977 with an album of country songs, mostly covers and three of them originally by Crystal Gayle, but it was her 1979 album, Broken English, that made the world take notice and it is then that this anthology commences.



The songs here are often melancholy, reflecting Marianne's experiences of life as a drug addict. She was past the worst but still affected by it. I find it particularly depressing because of the history. It is one thing to listen to somebody from a poor background singing about hardship - they were born into it and have made an effort to get out of it. Marianne went the other way, so her problems are, at least in part, self-inflicted. Yet there is no denying that her problems with drugs gave her music an edge.



This compilation is dominated by, but not limited to, tracks from her albums Broken English (6 tracks), Dangerous acquaintances (5 tracks), A child's adventure (3 tracks), Strange weather (6 tracks), Blazing away (4 tracks) and A secret life (4 tracks).



A good example of Marianne's style during this period is Ballad of Lucy Jordan. This song was written by Shel Silverstein and first recorded by Dr Hook, who recorded a lot of his songs including Sylvia's mother. Whereas Dr Hook recorded this song in a fairly light-hearted way (just as they had with Sylvia's mother), Marianne took Lucy Jordan's plight very seriously, bringing out the true meaning of the song.



If you want a direct contrast between her old and new music, there is a re-recording of As tears go by, the song that the Rolling Stones wrote especially for Marianne, though they also recorded their own version. The re-recording here is very different from her sixties UK hit version. Sister morphine is also a re-recording of a song she did in the sixties.



Many of the songs here are originals, several of which Marianne co-wrote, but there are some great covers apart from those already mentioned including Working man's hero, Isolation (both John Lennon), Ballad of the soldier's wife (Kurt Weill), Strange weather (Tom Waits) and a couple of oldies from the Great American Songbook, suitably updated (Boulevard of broken dreams, Yesterdays).



The original songs are very dramatic and could only have been sung by somebody disillusioned with so many things in life. If you think things are bad in your life, listening to Marianne will remind you that your life could be a lot worse.



The music here is artistically superior to her sixties music but is more difficult to listen to. The two parts of her career yielded completely different music, so liking one does not mean you'll like the other. My eclectic tastes in music enable me to appreciate both.



If you are new to Marianne's music from this period, this will give you in-depth coverage of it, though if you think a double-CD may be too much, I recommend you just go for one of the original albums from which this is compiled."

Rock legend and torch singer

Pieter | Johannesburg | 10/21/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This compilation features Marianne Faithfull mark 2, concentrating on her work from the groundbreaking album Broken English to the mid 90s A Secret Life, plus some previously unreleased material.



Disc One is by far the best as it draws on the brilliant trilogy of Broken English, Dangerous Acquaintances and A Child's Adventure. All her rock-pop classics are here, from the controversial Why D'ya Do It, the moving Ballad Of Lucy Jordan and the catchy Intrigue, to The Blue Millionaire. The song Tenderness from Dangerous Acquaintances is a regrettable omission.



Disc Two contains a lot of her bluesy and art-song material, like Boulevard Of Broken Dreams, plus previously unavailable numbers like her exquisite interpretation of Gloomy Sunday. My other favourites here are Ghost Dance, the later version of As Tears Go By and Times Square, which really belongs on Disc One with the rest of the tracks from A Child's Adventure. The last four tracks come from the uninspiring album A Secret Life. A better choice would have been the sorrowful song Losing.



Perfect Stranger does an excellent job of displaying the two sides of the later Faithfull - the rock legend and the torch singer. As such it deserves 5 stars. But to be frank, only Disc One deserves that. It's a matter of taste, but I can only give Disc 2 three stars. Overall, the collection is an impressive showcase of the second part of her career.

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