Rating: NNN
Marianne Faithfull is not able to write tunes all by herself. For her last effort, Kissin’ Time, she enlisted the likes of Beck, Billy Corgan and Jarvis Cocker, and for this one she nabbed PJ Harvey and Nick Cave with help from Damon Albarn and John Brion. Faithfull helps with the lyrics, which, of course, are impressively poetic. Tunes by the consistently overrated Harvey are instantly peggable: sparse, chugging, repetitive, repetitive, moany, dissonant, repetitive. Cave’s tunes are characteristically haunting and poignant. His Crazy Love (Not Van Morrison’s) is really nice, while Albarn’s Last Song has a warmth usually lacking in Faithfull’s work. Brion’s music-boxy City Of Quartz finishes things on a lovely wanting note. It’s no Broken English, but Faithfull’s smoky, used voice is still a powerful weapon that lends weight, and credibility to every word she utters.
