I’ve been fascinated by Marianne Faithfull for years. I read her biography, Faithfull, when I was at high school and I just thought it was the most amazing thing, along with the stories of Drew Barrymore and Courtney Love. Why are we so fascinated with broken, drug addicted women? I don’t know. I think Marianne is a little different though- a little smarter, a little better read, a little less tortured. Faithfull is without a doubt, the best rock biography I've read.
For one thing she's talented- her husky voice sounds like no other. Broken English never ceases to amaze me. How can so much pain be contained in one person?
She's the iconic rock chick (I hate that term and I want to punch myself in the face for writing it, but how else to put it). She's stylish, she's a bit dirty-smudged-eyeliner, she's a bit fucked up- but she's retained a sense of naivete and girlishness and optimism. The kneesocks. She's like Twiggy gone bad.
And now she's released a covers record. Don't get me started on covers. I hate them with a passion, but you know, there's nothing better than a good one. And these are Good.
It's called Easy Come, Easy Go, and it was released today. Here's what someone else has to say about it:
The disc was laid down at New York's Sear Sound in December of 2007 with producer Hal Willner and a crack band comprised of Marc Ribot, Greg Cohen, Rob Burger, Barry Reynolds and the Dirty Three's Jim White. On Easy Come, Easy Go, Marianne is joined on vocals by the likes of Nick Cave, Chan Marshall of Cat Power, Jarvis Cocker, Antony Hegarty, Keith Richards, Rufus Wainwright and close fam Kate and Anna McGarrigle. Cave's Bad Seeds bandmate Warren Ellis lends violin to three tracks, and Sean Lennon and Teddy Thompson play a little guitar on the record as well.
The collection of covers finds Ms. Faithfull taking on the likes of the Decemberists' "The Crane Wife 3", Morrissey's "Dear God Please Help Me", Neko Case's "Hold On, Hold On", Espers' "Children of Stone", Brian Eno's "How Many Worlds", Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's "Salvation", Dolly Parton's "Down From Dover", Bessie Smith's "Easy Come Easy Go Blue", Merle Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home", and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' "Ooh Baby Baby", among others.
