Marianne Faithfull - Before the Poison

Genre pop Publisher Anti Records External Links Marianne Faithful Anti Records

While her peers from the late 1960s keep sputtering along, Marianne Faithfull has experienced an impressive career rebirth over the last five years. Well, actually, a second career rebirth, to be more specific, when you consider her flash of greatness on her 1979 classic Broken English. A former UK pop starlet, a muse to rock gods, friend of Beat writers, conqueror of drug addiction, and ultimately a countercultural icon, the lovely Ms. Faithfull has been through hell and back, coming out of the entire experience exuding pure class. Singing in a voice so smoky you can practically smell the Gauloises, and singing with a frankness and slow-burning passion that is often jarring, she's an artist who's fought tooth and nail to gain the respect of her peers and the public.

And what respect the lady has today. Her terrific 2002 album Kissin' Time, with the help of a very impressive roster of younger collaborators, including Pulp's Jarvis Cocker, Blur, and Billy Corgan, was an record that was both accessible and brutally honest, her edgy words and low voice offset by a hint of pure pop. Now, two and a half years later, her follow-up Before the Poison adheres to the same formula that made the last record so successful, but on this record, she's outdone herself, thanks in large part to another cadre of exceedingly talented songwriting partners.

Whereas Kissin' Time felt slightly like a mishmash, the art rock of Blur colliding with the slick pop production of Corgan, Before the Poison has much more of a consistent feel overall, thanks to the help of none other than PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Blur's Damon Albarn, and ace composer/producer Jon Brion. Faithfull et al dim the lights, and delve into darker territory, both musically and lyrically, and while the music is not as immediately charming as the last album, it does have more staying power. The five collaborations with Harvey are not only very good, but they turn out to be better than most of her own recent album, Uh Huh Her, as Harvey provides her trademark, blues-inspired guitar licks, highlighted by the somber "The Mystery of Love" and the darkly beautiful ballad "No Child of Mine", which shatters Harvey's own version on her album). "Last Song", co-written with Albarn, brilliantly masks its mournful quality with a sweeping string arrangement, and the quirky "City of Quartz", written with Brion, bears a strong similarity to Kurt Weill, one of Faithfull's favorite composers.

The Faithfull/Jarvis Cocker collaboration "Sliding Through Life on Charm", from Kissin' Time, was a match made in heaven, and although the great lyricist is dearly missed on this album, the presence of Nick Cave makes up for it, and like Cocker, Cave shows he and Faithfull are kindred spirits as well. He's been on one hell of a roll lately, as his great double album Abbatoir Blues & The Lyre of Orpheus attests, and his three contributions here are easily the album's best moments. "There is a Ghost" features a sumptuous interplay between Faithfull's tender vocals and Cave's graceful piano accompaniment (as foreboding, dissonant strings float in, threatening to block out the brightness), and "Desperanto" is an unholy mix of blues, spoken word, and cabaret. It's "Crazy Love", though, that steals the show; one of the best songs she's ever recorded, Faithfull paints a compassionate character sketch ("She looks as if expecting a surprise/Maybe an encounter that will change her life/Not knowing hot from cold or good for bad/If life is just a joke or if it makes her sad"), while delivering her best vocal performance on the record, her voice breaking ever so slightly during the chorus. The song is a perfect encapsulation of both the album and Marianne Faithfull's great strength as an artist, finding transcendence in the bleakest of situations, and emerging scarred but triumphant, something she knows all too well.