Marianne Faithfull RIP

[www.bbc.com]

I just saw that. Devastating news. She was maybe the greatest reinvention in music history.

I feel like she's underappreciated, and it's surprising in light of recent efforts to give greater recognition to women in rock history. On the one hand, her greatest music is possibly too daring for mainstream acceptance - even Patti Smith's broad recognition as some kind of national treasure seems to have been driven by her books - but Faithfull has recorded a string of excellent albums that you'd think would be more accessible to less adventurous listeners.

The issue may be that her work gets reduced to "As Tears Go By" and BROKEN ENGLISH. It still overshadows the rest of her albums, and she's still seen as a footnote to the Rolling Stones' story even through her output after the '70s blows theirs out of the water.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/2025 12:50PM by steevee.

True. I remember the "Broken English" album was all over New Wave/early college radio for some few years after it came out. Never heard her get much airplay after that. But I thought she was a natural to cover Kurt Weill. Should really revisit that period of hers.

Quite a legacy for Ms. Faithfull. "Broken English" is one of those rare albums that can appear boldly and just play stronger over the years. On an exclusive par with Peter Gabriel's third album or Simple Minds "Empires + Dance." But her work past that [at least until 2008, I've not seen any of the last few CDs] was always valuable. I've got about a dozen of her albums and it was always a treat to hear her perspective. What I can't take were her pre-1979 recordings! We bought the first US album from '65 and she had no gravitas at all. Similar to early Leonard Cohen. They each sounded too callow back then. If you've heard the deep mature voices first, there was no going back for us.

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®

Her vocals in the '60s were remarkably clean. I listened to a compilation from the '60s and STRANGE WEATHER yesterday, and the contrast in her voice really stood out.