{"id":41715,"date":"2009-09-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/easy-come-easy-go-2\/"},"modified":"2009-09-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-30T00:00:00","slug":"easy-come-easy-go-2","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/easy-come-easy-go-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Easy Come Easy Go"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following three vastly different albums of original material, Marianne Faithfull decided that it was time for something new by doing something old. Throughout her career, she had had wonderful success by covering the songs of others and felt the time was right for another tribute to her favorite songwriters and singers spanning the last fifty or so years. So last year, Marianne and producer Hal Willner got together and begun working on another covers album with which they were hoping to recreate the magic they made with Strange Weather <\/i>(their last complete record together).\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

The mood of this one, however, is much lighter and the cast of musicians and guest performers assembled to bring these songs to life is impressive, to say the least. Marianne\u2019s voice is still in fine form and she certainly hasn\u2019t lost the hunger for her craft, nor the joy of performing.\u00a0 Willner\u2019s production is perfect as always, and his skill at guiding Marianne through these quite often challenging arrangements cannot be underestimated. The pair has forged a great rapport and work ethic in the studio that is clearly evident throughout the eighteen songs on this two-disc edition of Easy Come, Easy Go<\/i>.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

This is a wildly eclectic collection of tunes that originate from an array of such diverse artists as Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard, Randy Newman, and Brian Eno. Willner, however, can take all the credit he wants for blending them into a cohesive and focused album that finds Marianne once again rising to the challenge and delivering some of her most inspired performances in years.\u00a0 Throughout this album, she revisits some of her past incarnations like the Weimar Cabaret singer (of 20th<\/sup> Century Blues<\/i>) for Newman\u2019s \u201cIn Germany Before The War\u201d and the bluesy crooner (of Strange Weather<\/i>) for a beguiling performance of the classic standard \u201cSolitude.\u201d<\/o:p><\/p>\n

With Parton\u2019s \u201cDown From Dover,\u201d Faithfull delivers a commanding reading backed by a very alt-rock, horn-soaked arrangement that is anything but country. Marianne\u2019s good pal and sometime collaborator Nick Cave makes his presence felt on a slightly haunting version of \u201cThe Crane Wife 3,\u201d on which Willner softens the mood by adding a string quartet. The downtrodden blues of the title track and the old-school jazz of \u201cBlack Coffee\u201d are perfect foils for Faithfull\u2019s modern-day, nicotine-laced crooning.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Kudos for the darkest track on the record goes to Faithfull\u2019s duet with Rufus Wainwright, the morbid ballad \u201cChildren Of Stone.\u201d Still, it is challenged for that title by Marianne\u2019s bleak reading of Morrissey\u2019s \u201cDear God Please Help Me,\u201d which for me is the only dud on this superb disc. This is the only occasion where Marianne seems to be forcing herself to find the sentiment within the soul-searching lyrics, and in doing so, she delivers a rather unconvincing performance, a rarity for her.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Sean Lennon helps out with the poppy \u201cHold On, Hold On,\u201d which Faithfull handles with a ridiculous ease, and the slow-burning rocker \u201cSalvation.\u201d The latter (a Black Rebel Motorcycle Club original) could\u2019ve been the most surprising addition here if it weren\u2019t for the inclusion of Brian Eno\u2019s \u201cHow Many Worlds.\u201d Marianne transforms Eno\u2019s social commentary into an eerily sweet, alt-rock ballad of sorts that is very modern day Bowie \u2013 in a good way, of course.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

One of my all-time favourite singer\/songwriters Smokey Robinson is honored here with a glorious eight-minute transformation of \u201cOoh Baby Baby.\u201d Normally, I would be horrified at hearing a Motown classic reworked in such a dramatic way, but along with Antony Hegarty, Marianne has delivered a soulful funk inspired version that works so well it\u2019s almost unbelievable. Faithfull\u2019s old chum Keith Richards turns up for a fantastically smooth waltz through Merle Haggard\u2019s \u201cSing Me Back Home,\u201d on which the pair\u2019s battle weary voices blend superbly. These two should seriously consider working together on a record of their own \u2013 what a treat that would be.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

With \u201cFlandyke Shore,\u201d Marianne channels the folk singer of her youth for a mesmerizing performance that is both passionate and defiant when she declares, \u201cNever to return to England no more.\u201d A resident of Dublin and Paris these days, Faithfull still has a hard time returning to her homeland after the troublesome 1970\u2019s, during which she was hung out to dry by an assortment of vicious tabloids (not to mention the treatment she received from an overzealous drug squad, who literally ran her out of town on numerous occasions for sometimes possessing nothing more than a single joint).<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Easy Come, Easy Go <\/i>is an almost perfect album of covers by a masterful interpreter, guided by an equally masterful producer. When Faithfull and Willner hook up, wonderful things happen, and this album is more proof of that. This is the kind of record that would receive a swag of Grammy Awards in the good old days when they were actually handed out based on merit. Anyway, Marianne Faithfull is in a good place these days, and unlike so many of her contemporaries, she continues to make challenging and vital music that always offers a new perspective. Faithfull is one of the all-time greats and Easy Come, Easy Go <\/i>finds her still<\/i> at the peak of her powers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":30073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[8317],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-41715","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-marianne-faithfull","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41715","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=41715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41715"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41715"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}