One might think that such an iconic pop figure as Marianne Faithfull would be going through the financial doldrums. She has, after all, been intrinsically connected to rock and pop royalty for decades, collaborated with too many well-known musicians and producers to list, and released more than 20 albums. She has also lived a commercially spare life, however, her work for the most part praised by critics (good for the soul) and appreciated by a niche audience (bad for the bank balance). Like many artists of her solitary stripe, she has never received the blanket approval that keeps you warm during leaner times.
One can only hope this double tribute album will go some way to bringing Faithfull a certain comfort, as all profits go directly to assist her as she recovers from long Covid. The album features 19 versions of her best-known songs (quite a few of which she didn’t write, hence the lack of financially buffering royalties), but as she isn’t an ordinary vocalist the main issue here is not so much the songs as how they’re delivered.
Faithfull began her career as a teenager in the mid-1960s, gaining chart success with likable pop songs such as Come and Stay with Me, and As Tears Go By. By the early 1970s, however, she succumbed to drug abuse and severe bouts of laryngitis, which permanently damaged her vocal cords. For some fledgling pop stars this might have been a career disaster, but she intuitively used her jagged voice to represent her life’s struggles in what would be the second and most lauded part of her career.
Such a division in styles makes for intriguing listening, not all of it successful. The likes of As Tears Go By (Tracy Bonham), This Little Bird (Tanya Donnelly), Sister Morphine (Sylvia Black), The Ballad of Lucy Jordan (Tammy Faye Starlite) and Vagabond Ways (Cynthia Ross and Tim Bovaconti) are as anodyne as you can get. Stability is restored with the pairing of Cat Power and Iggy Pop on John Lennon’s Working Class Hero (Pop’s growl has little competition), while the coupling of Shirley Manson and Peaches on Why D’Ya Do It is inspiring. Other successes include Joan As Police Woman’s radically recalibrated version of Broken English, Donita Sparks riding roughshod over Sliding Through Life on Charm, and Lydia Lunch’s none more authentic version of Love, Life, and Money.
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A mixed bag? Tribute albums have a knack of either glorifying the subject or modifying opinions of them. This one achieves a balance (of sorts), but Faithfull’s voice and style are too singular to bow to cover versions. The songs will always be hers.
