{"id":41671,"date":"2009-09-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/marianne-faithfull\/"},"modified":"2009-09-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-03T00:00:00","slug":"marianne-faithfull","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/marianne-faithfull\/","title":{"rendered":"Marianne Faithfull"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marianne Faithfull started out the same way many aspiring performers did in London in the heart of the swinging \u201860s: by performing in coffeehouses and wine bars. Despite having a baby in mid \u201865, Faithfull would soon leave her husband to shack up with the young Mick Jagger and begin a recording career that would see her release a string of hit records by the year\u2019s end. Just prior to their union, Faithfull had been spotted at a party by Jagger\u2019s manager, Andrew Loog-Oldham, who was intent on making The Rolling Stones the most controversial and best-selling band in the UK.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

He was also intent on finding himself a female pop star; his only criteria was that she be pretty and able to sing. Young Marianne fit the bill and was soon holed up with Jagger while he and bandmate Keith Richards started figuring out how to write their own songs. According to legend, \u201cAs Tears Go By\u201d was one of the first songs The Glimmer Twins wrote together, and happy enough with it, Oldham suggested it would be the perfect debut single for Marianne. That it was, and as was the custom in those days, an album was thrown together in a matter of days to capitalize on the surprise success of Faithfull\u2019s first hit.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Marianne Faithfull <\/i>was released almost simultaneouslywith Come My Way <\/i>in April of 1965.\u00a0 The latter is a bizarre mix of mainly traditional folk songs, while this one covers some original and random pop songs of the day. This record fares better as a conventional album only, and although the first single is a clear standout, there is much more to it than history would suggest.\u00a0 \u201cAs Tears Go By\u201d is a wonderfully eerie ballad that suited Faithfull\u2019s equally eerie voice perfectly. Her delivery of the awfully melancholic lyric (\u201cIt is the evening of the day \/ I sit and watch the children play \/ Smiling faces I can see, but not for me \/ I sit and watch as tears go by\u201d) is enchanting to say the least.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Another hit single was a cover of Jackie DeShannon’s \u201cCome And Stay With Me,\u201d a glorious \u201860s pop cut that is given much lighter arrangement, which Faithfull matches with a cheerful delivery. The Bacharach\/David composition \u201cIf I Never Get To Love You\u201d is one of their understated best. Marianne\u2019s voice here sounds much older than her nineteen years, which only gives the song a much more convincing tone. \u201cTime Takes Time\u201d is one of the first songs written by Marianne; it\u2019s incredibly short (a tad under two minutes) and sounds like it would be more at home on a Spaghetti Western soundtrack rather than a pop album.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Marianne\u2019s voice sounds almost angelic on the sweet love song, \u201cHe\u2019ll Come Back To Me.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s followed by a short but ultimately inferior version of \u201cDowntown.\u201d It is easily one of the decade\u2019s best pop songs but it really misses the mark here, definitely a cheap shot at a hit that failed, as well it should have. \u201cPlaisir d\u2019Amour\u201d is covered with conviction and although it would have better suited Come My Way<\/i>, it is still a highlight for its simplicity that is tailor made for Marianne\u2019s voice to shine.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cCan\u2019t You Hear My Heartbeat\u201d is a run-of-the-mill pop ditty of the time that just really hasn\u2019t aged very well. I\u2019m sure I\u2019ve heard a much better version of it, but I can\u2019t recall who did it.\u00a0 Songs like \u201cParis Bells,\u201d \u201cThey Will Never Leave You,\u201d and \u201cWhat Have They Done To The Rain\u201d work wonders for Faithfull\u2019s slightly snooty delivery but fail to offer up anything memorable. \u201cIn My Time Of Sorrow\u201d is much better, as Marianne gives another stellar delivery of a depressive lyric, a theme that would become much more prevalent in her later work.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The album closes out with a couple of downright wacky songs. \u201cWhat Have I Done Wrong\u201d is another dose of melancholy that\u2019s oddly given another silly arrangement. The Lennon\/McCartney penned \u201cI\u2019m A Loser\u201d finds Faithfull lamenting the demise of a love affair albeit set to a very poppy beat. It\u2019s wacky in good way but frustratingly short, barely surpassing the two-minute mark.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Marianne Faithfull <\/i>is an eclectic collection of \u201860s pop songs that perfectly reflect the time and place they came from. It was an important record for Marianne, but after doing its job and elevating her to pop stardom, she curiously turned to traditional folk for pretty much the next ten years. This is, however, where one of the great careers in rock began, and Marianne (the former convent school girl) would never again sound as innocent and carefree as she did here.<\/o:p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":30038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8317],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-41671","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-marianne-faithfull","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41671"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}