Faithfull Broken

Mobile Fidelity reissued Marianne Faithfull's two dark milestones, 1979's Broken English and 1987's Strange Weather, on one CD. Although there were nearly ten years separating these two records, they share a moodiness and faux-torch arrangements that make them a perfect match…

Digitally remastered, enhanced and expanded deluxe two CD edition of her 1979 album. Disc One contains the original album as an enhanced disc. Disc Two contains the entire original mix of the album which was thought to have been lost but surfaced during the tape research for this Deluxe Edition. Also included are a re-record of "Sister Morphine" only previously available on the Marianne Faithfull anthology, Perfect Strangers and four bonus tracks in the form of the 7" and 12" mixes of "Broken English" and "Why'd Ya Do It ?", which appear on CD for the very first time. Universal.

Mobile Fidelity reissued Marianne Faithfull's two dark milestones, 1979's Broken English and 1987's Strange Weather, on one CD. Although there were nearly ten years separating these two records, they share a moodiness and faux-torch arrangements that make them a perfect match. The remastering is terrific, as is the packaging, which means this is the way for serious fans to own this music on disc.

Few stars of the '60s reinvented themselves as successfully as Marianne Faithfull. Coaxed into a singing career by Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham in 1964, she had a big hit in both Britain and the U.S. with her debut single, the Jagger/Richards composition "As Tears Go By" (which prefaced the Stones' own version by a full year)…

Because more than half of the 35 songs on this two-disc retrospective of Marianne Faithfull's 1979-95 output come from her three great albums – Broken English, Dangerous Acquaintances, and Strange Weather – or are previously unreleased outtakes or B-sides from them, A Perfect Stranger: The Island Anthology makes a fine primer to Faithfull's often challenging, always mesmerizing (or would that be always challenging, often mesmerizing?) music…

Fully established as a dramatic, innovative singer with astonishing appeal and energy thanks to her string of excellent '80s releases, Faithfull concluded her renaissance decade with Blazing Away, an excellent live album recorded in New York's St. Anne's Cathedral…

As the liner notes to this intriguing release tell, Faithfull had a long-simmering interest in German cabaret, particularly the work of Kurt Weill. It came fully to life via her role as Pirate Jenny in a staging of The Threepenny Opera in Dublin as translated by Frank McGuinness and her attendance at a workshop organized by Allen Ginsburg. After a series of initial performances with pianist Paul Trueblood, Faithfull took her revue of many classic songs from the mid-century, titled "An Evening in the Weimar Republic," to the road…

This best-of basically covers the years 1979 to 1994, though it reaches back to 1964 for Marianne Faithfull's first recording and first hit, "As Tears Go By," and includes "She," slated for the upcoming 1995 album A Secret Life. Five of the 11 songs are drawn from Faithfull's strongest album, 1979's Broken English, including the bitter title track and "Why'd Ya Do It." Otherwise, compiler Chris Blackwell makes little attempt to present a balance among Faithfull's recordings – there is nothing at all from Dangerous Acquaintances or A Child's Adventure, and only one track each from Strange Weather and Blazing Away. But there is a good newly recorded cover of Patti Smith's "Ghost Dance" co-produced by Keith Richards and featuring other members of the Rolling Stones, and Blackwell rescues Faithfull's rendition of the title theme for the movie Trouble in Mind from the soundtrack album. It adds up to an excellent compilation that highlights Faithfull's strengths as a singer.