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Track Listings
| Disc: 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Broken English | |||
| 2. Witches' Song | |||
| 3. Guilt | |||
| 4. The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan | |||
| 5. Working Class Hero | |||
| 6. Why'd Ya Do It | |||
| 7. Sister Morphine | |||
| 8. Sweetheart | |||
| 9. Intrigue | |||
| 10. For Beauty's Sake | |||
See all 15 tracks on this disc
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| Disc: 2 | |||
| 1. The Ballad Of The Soldier's Wife - Marianne Faithfull, Sharon Freeman, Orchestra, Chris Spedding | |||
| 2. Trouble In Mind (The Return) | |||
| 3. Boulevard Of Broken Dreams | |||
| 4. Yesterdays | |||
| 5. Strange Weather | |||
| 6. Gloomy Sunday | |||
| 7. Hello Stranger | |||
| 8. As Tears Go By | |||
| 9. A Perfect Stranger | |||
| 10. Conversation On A Barstool | |||
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See all 20 tracks on this disc
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
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Customer Reviews
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.
A perfect mixture of old & new, with many outstanding songs, sung as only Marianne can do. Read more
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