MARIANNE FAITHFULL
Before The Poison (Anti)
Reviewed by John Sekerka

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Marianne Faithfull records are easy to judge: the stinkers have little effect, and the gems ravage your insides. Her last one was a stinker, this one is a gem. Picking the right melody makers for the task at hand, Faithfull lends her whisky-soured voice to heart-wrenching ballads from Nick Cave and P J Harvey, sculpting a song-cycle to rival her better moments of emotional depravity. Not surprisingly, the grandest moments come with Cave's crack Bad Seeds backing the crackling diva, climaxing on the, a-hem, organ-pumping "Desperanto". A devilishly delicious collaboration of lust and despair that hopefully will spawn a long and harrowing partnership.

© 2005 - John Sekerka