{"id":41707,"date":"2009-09-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-25T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/kissing-time\/"},"modified":"2009-09-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-25T00:00:00","slug":"kissing-time","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/kissing-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Kissing Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u201890s were a diverse and rewarding decade for Marianne Faithfull. After three classical based albums and a trek around the globe touring her Weimar Cabaret show, Marianne returned to rock with the stunningly dark, critically-acclaimed Vagabond Ways. <\/i>Following a short break to recharge and rethink her direction, Faithfull decided to make a collaborative album featuring some of her newly discovered favorite artists. The then-current electronic\/rock movement had impressed Faithfull enough to seek out the genre\u2019s finest artists to work with on her own material, which would again be a complete departure of style from her most recent triumph. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Kissin\u2019 Time <\/i>kicks off with the minimalist pop track \u201cSex With Strangers,\u201d which is all bass and bleeps thanks to its writer\/producer Beck. Marianne\u2019s lyrics are abstract but to-the-point and she gives a great understated performance. This song for me is most memorable because of its video starring Faithfull\u2019s pal Kate Moss as the femme fatale. \u201cThe Pleasure Song\u201d was co-written and produced by Etienne Daho, and his signature style (not unlike Beck\u2019s) is all over this song in a series of urban beats that unfortunately wash out Faithfull\u2019s voice to the point where she is barely audible at times.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cLike Being Born\u201d is another Beck\/Faithfull song that is a throwback to Marianne\u2019s \u201860s pop ditties. It\u2019s sweet in its simplicity, but Faithfull\u2019s refusal to elaborate what appears to be more personal lyrics is slightly frustrating because it doesn\u2019t quite evoke the sentiment that it should.\u00a0 Faithfull sat down with Billy Corgan one day to write a hymn of sorts and they came up with \u201cI\u2019m On Fire.\u201d Corgan\u2019s arrangement is genius, and Faithfull writes of her youthful innocence: \u201cWhen I was young and my heart was pure \/ I only wanted love, I had allure.\u201d A truly great song, indeed.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The pair also penned the next song, \u201cWherever I Go,\u201d which is pure pop right down to Marianne\u2019s carefree, love-struck lyric. \u201cSong For Nico\u201d was written by Faithfull and Dave Stewart (of Eurythmics) as a tribute to the German songstress after Marianne had read a biography about her. The lines blur, however, when comparing the tales of Nico to Marianne\u2019s own colorful past: \u201cAnd when Brian Jones is near, Nico doesn\u2019t feel so queer \/ She\u2019s in the shit, though she\u2019s innocent.\u201d Needless to say, thanks to Stewart\u2019s attentive production, it\u2019s a near perfect pop song.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cSliding Through Life On Charm\u201d is a title that Faithfull had been trying unsuccessfully for years to use for an autobiographical song of her own, but according to her she \u201ccouldn\u2019t find a fucking rhyme.\u201d Luckily, Jarvis Cocker could, and although he delivered it to Marianne some years earlier, she claims it took her a while to understand it enough before she could sing it. It is an odd song consisting of a blistering rock arrangement and seriously demented lyrics that even I don\u2019t quite understand. Amid a sea of profanity and baffling analogies there is, however, some poignancy in hearing Faithfull reaffirm, \u201cI am a muse, not a mistress, not a whore.\u201d<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cLove And Money\u201d is a funky little pop song that thankfully lightens the mood greatly.\u00a0 Marianne\u2019s breezy delivery is again a nod to her past life as a folk singer during the mid-\u201860s.\u00a0 \u201cNobody\u2019s Fault\u201d is a cover of the Beck original that graced his awesome Mutations <\/i>album. It\u2019s a good choice for Faithfull, who has an uncanny knack of making any song her own.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The understated funk of the title track (written and performed with Blur) is one of the disc\u2019s strongest cuts and suits Marianne\u2019s style wonderfully. Her nonchalant delivery is a perfect match for the boy\u2019s loose but seriously catchy groove. The most surprising moment of this experience comes at the very end with the closer, a glorious modern take on the Goffin\/King classic \u201cSomething Good.\u201d Corgan again provided the soundscape for Faithfull, who does deliver the goods, but there\u2019s no owning this classic. If I\u2019m honest, I gotta say that while it\u2019s pleasant enough to hear a few times, it may not be the wisest choice Marianne has made in the studio.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Overall Kissin\u2019 Time <\/i>is a strange album, and if you\u2019re not a fan of Ms. Faithfull\u2019s, you may find it utterly confusing altogether. It does have its inspired moments, but there wasn\u2019t much meat on this bone to begin with and wisely Faithfull realized this herself before it was too late. Although parts of Kissin\u2019 Time <\/i>sound a little dated these days, at the time it was (and still is) a solid and daring body of work, one that Marianne Faithfull delivered with an unwavering conviction.<\/o:p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":30071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8317],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-41707","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-marianne-faithfull","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41707","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=41707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41707"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}