Audio CD review:
Marianne Faithfull - 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Marianne Faithfull

Marianne Faithfull - 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Marianne Faithfull

Band: Marianne Faithfull Title: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Marianne Faithfull Rating: Release Date: 2003-10-21 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Broken English - Marianne Faithfull, Faithfull, Marianne 2: The Ballad of Lucy Jordan - Marianne Faithfull, Silverstein, Shel 3: Working Class Hero - Marianne Faithfull, Lennon, John 4: Sister Morphine - Marianne Faithfull, Jagger, Mick 5: So Sad - Marianne Faithfull, Faithfull, Marianne 6: The Blue Millionaire - Marianne Faithfull, Reynolds, Marianne 7: Trouble in Mind - Marianne Faithfull, Jones, Richard [1] 8: Strange Weather - Marianne Faithfull, Waits, Tom 9: As Tears Go By - Marianne Faithfull, Jagger, Mick 10: Ghost Dance - Marianne Faithfull, Smith, Patti 11: Sleep - Marianne Faithfull, Badalamenti, Angelo

...and the audience for this record is? do not get the wrong idea. . this disc is absolutely filled with great tracks, but who was it aimed at. . . ? Any "faithfull" fan has all this stuff either on the original records, or on "The Perfect Stranger" collection. I'm sure that the SUV moms will be lining up for this collection (. . . like they would know who it was to begin with) I give it three stars strictly for the material. Universal gets a big "up yours" for this shameless repackaging. . . . although, if they included "Why D'Ya Do It". . . ". . . kids, cover your ears! It's a dirty song, we're at a stop light. . . !". Narrow Focus The songs are drawn from that album (the title track, Ballad Of Lucy Jordan and Working Class Hero) and from subsequent albums of the next two decades like Dangerous Acquaintances, A Child's Adventure, Strange Weather and A Secret Life. This skimpy collection completely ignores Faithfull's career up to the groundbreaking 1979 album Broken English. The music is brilliant, especially Lucy Jordan (a minor hit in 1979), the later versions of Sister Morphine and As Tears Go By plus her rendition of Lennon's Working Class Hero and Patti Smith's ghost dance, but they represent only a tiny fraction of her memorable catalogue. Major omissions that are highlights of her career include Why'd Ya Do It? (The Heathcote Williams poem), Sweetheart, Intrigue, For Beauty's Sake, Sign Of Judgment and Times Square. For her sixties output, I recommend either The Very Best of Marianne Faithfull or Greatest Hits. For the second phase of her career, I recommend Perfect Stranger: The Island Anthology, a comprehensive 2-disc set. Faithless (1978) is a great collection of country songs from Marianne's lost years and Vagabond Ways from 1999 is a splendid recent solo album, one of her best. You can see a complete list of all Marianne Faithfull discography, or go back to the Marianne Faithfull tabs