From Soho street corner to the Salzburg Festival, with more than 20 albums
behind her and acting roles encompassing Ophelia and the Devil, Empress Maria
Theresa and, most recently, an elderly masturbatrix, Marianne Faithfull’s
progression from Andrew Loog Oldham-tailored ready-made muse to respected elder
stateswoman of rock remains one of contemporary music’s most singular and
surprising trajectories. It’s a compelling survivor’s story, no doubt about it.
But the more sensational aspects of Faithfull’s rockstar myth (stoked by her own
highly self-regarding autobiographies) have arguably had the effect of obscuring
her creative output, which, while not exactly consistent in terms of quality,
has at least been of consistent interest and ambition since the release of her
watershed ‘comeback’ album Broken English in 1979.
Across her many covers records Strange
Weather (1987) and 20th Century Blues (1996) and albums of
original material such as Kissin’ Time (2002) and Before The
Poison (2005), Faithfull has proved herself a versatile song interpreter
and, sometimes, a skilled lyricist, as comfortable performing Coward or Cole
Porter, Hollander or Brecht and Weill as she is hanging out with the likes of
Beck, Blur, Etienne Daho, Nick Cave and Polly Harvey. Depending on your
perspective, Faithfull’s pick-and-mix approach to collaboration can seem an
admirable endeavour to broaden her musical horizons or a strained attempt at
contemporary relevance. But however mixed the result – and some of her big-name
artistic liaisons have, frankly, promised rather more than they’ve actually
delivered – this approach has allowed Faithfull to build up a vast,
generation-spanning repertoire to mine in live performance, an arena in which
she still excels. Erratic and unpredictable she may be, but Faithfull brings a
unique, highly intellectual perspective to bear on the songs that she writes and
records, and you certainly can’t fault her for a lack of drive or an
unwillingness to experiment.
Easy Come, Easy Go ranks as perhaps her most elaborate project yet.
It’s a mighty 18-track double album of covers that encompasses material from
most of the 20th century (and earlier). Reuniting Faithfull with her Strange
Weather producer Hal Willner, the record feels like a continuation and
extension of that classic album as it blazes through genres, passing from blues
and jazz through country to cutting-edge contemporary rock. Looking for an album
that finds space for songs by Dolly Parton, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Judee
Sill, Duke Ellington Morrissey, Merle Haggard, and The Decemberists? Well, look
no further than Easy Come, Easy Go.
Stylistically, the album alternates between spare and lush, classical and
contemporary, with sensitive and supple arrangements based around strings and
horns, combining with the gravitas of a full rock band made up of Marc Ribot,
Greg Cohen, Rob Burger, Jim White and Faithfull’s longtime collaborator Barry
Reynolds. As on her most recent releases, Faithfull once again brings a strongly
collaborative, big-name guest artist ethos to bear on this recording, reuniting
with previous co-conspirators Nick Cave and Jarvis Cocker, and recruiting some
fresh voices, including Chan Marshall, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Rufus
Wainwright and (inevitably) Antony Hegarty on various tracks. (Indeed, given
Vanity Fair’s memorable description of her as the “den mama of indiedom” it’s
interesting to note just how many scions of the famous turn up on the album –
not only Wainwright but also Jenni Muldaur, Teddy Thompson and Sean Lennon.)
Inevitably, some of the song choices and guest voices fail to gel as well as
others. But even so, Easy Come, Easy Go is never less than
compelling.
Proceedings kick off with Faithfull’s take on one of Dolly Parton’s darkest
songs, ‘Down From Dover’. I’m not sure that the jazzy makeover works exactly,
but it’s an intriguing, valiant effort that offers a fresh and original
perspective on a track that’s fast becoming a country standard. The cover of
Neko Case’s ‘Hold On, Hold On’ actually rocks harder than the original,
culminating in a superb electric guitar part. Chan Marshall’s harmonies add
little but Faithfull’s variously harsh and tender vocal carries the day. A
sublime version of The Decemberists’ ‘The Crane Wife’, with a sympathetic Nick
Cave on backing vocals, is an immediate standout and easily one of Faithfull’s
finest ever moments on record. The same goes for an intense, slow-burning
rendition of Espers’ ‘Children Of Stone’ with Rufus Wainwright, though the
draggy duet with Antony on Smokey Robinson & the Miracles’ ‘Ooh Baby Baby’
fails to ignite. A cheeky take on the Bessie Smith song that gives the album its
title lightens the mood, while, elsewhere, Faithfull chillingly turns Randy
Newman’s ‘In Germany Before The War’ into something resembling an undiscovered
gem from the Brecht–Weill canon. Merle Haggard’s ‘Sing Me Back Home’ – with
Keith Richards! – also gets a sensitive reading.
Highlights of the second disc (only available on the special edition) include a superlative ‘Black Coffee’ and touching low-key versions of Judee Sill’s ‘The Phoenix’ and Jackson C Frank’s ‘Kimbie’. In contrast to the stripped-down approach to these songs, Faithfull and the musicians pour passion all over Morrissey’s ‘Dear God Please Help Me’ for a histrionic but oddly effective performance. The album closes with its oldest song, the traditional ‘Flandyke Shore’. Even with the McGarrigles trying their best in the background, this overly stately version doesn’t quite take flight, and certainly doesn’t come close to rivalling Nic Jones’s definitive rendition of the song on Penguin Eggs. Indeed, throughout, it’s not always the most likely material that works best: Faithfull sounds much more commanding and convincing on Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s ‘Salvation’ than on a fairly lugubrious ‘Solitude’.
But say what you will about its technical limitations, Faithfull’s smoky croak can be a fabulously expressive instrument and she certainly knows how to get it working dramatically. With an actress’s sense of timing and delivery, she can convey folky intimacy, punky defiance or Dietrich hauteur, all with a distinctively English twist. Check out her appropriately scalding, bitter delivery on ‘Black Coffee’, or the wonderful increasing stridency with which she delivers the “I will hang my head low” refrain in ‘The Crane Wife’. At her weakest, though, she can sound plain awkward: the worst offender here is a bizarrely funereal take on ‘Somewhere (A Place For Us)’ with an oddly sinister sounding Jarvis Cocker. Surely the cover version of Bernstein and Sondheim’s nightmares, it’s one of the grisliest duets in recent memory. But, overall, the mix of material generates its own special excitement. And if Faithfull just occasionally comes off like a slightly tipsy aunt tearing through a particularly eclectic karaoke machine then the hit-and-miss approach ultimately adds to the cumulative charm and appeal of the album.
In fact, given the stylistic diversity of the songs that it contains, Easy Come, Easy Go is a remarkably cohesive listening experience, a testament to the shared vision of Faithfull and her excellent musicians. This is one of Faithfull’s most consistently engrossing albums and what she does with it live – a planned European tour will see her “recreate” the record with the band – should be fascinating to witness.
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