Easy Come, Easy Go＜限定盤/White Vinyl＞

フランス音楽レーベル"NAIVE"創立25周年記念
イギリスを代表する歌手、そして女優としても活躍するマリアンヌ・フェイスフル
NAIVEからリリースした過去作が180g重量盤、ホワイトヴァイナルで登場

オペラの貴重な録音や、有名曲を豪華演奏者でリリースするフランスのレーベル"NAIVE"の創立25周年を記念して、同レーベルから2008年に発売されたマリアンヌ・フェイスフルの『Easy Come, Easy Go』を180g重量盤、ホワイトヴァイナル、2LPで復刻。
バックバンドにはマーク・リボーやグレッグ・コーエン、そしてドラマーのジム・ホワイト、ロブ・バーガー、ダグ・ワイゼルマンなど、彼女の旧知のメンバーが参加。
今作は主にカバー集となっており、スモーキー・ロビンソン、デューク・エリントン、ランディ・ニューマン、モリッシーあらゆるジャンルの曲を彼女の視点で解釈している。
アルバムの最終収録曲『Sing Me Back Home』は、ローリングストーンズのギタリスト、キース・リチャーズが参加。

Songstress Marianne Faithfull last collaborated with producer Hal Willner on her iconic Strange Weather album in 1987. Though Faithfull has continued to record sporadically -- and has written and published her memoirs -- it's odd to think that she hasn't worked with Willner again until now, because then as now, the match feels effortless and natural. Like Strange Weather, Easy Come Easy Go is a covers collection, featuring Faithfull in different musical settings and interpreting the songs of everyone from Merle Haggard to Smokey Robinson to Duke Ellington to Randy Newman to the Decemberists to Morrissey with a killer guest list including Antony Hegarty, Rufus Wainwright, Teddy Thompson, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Jarvis Cocker, Jenni Muldaur, Sean Lennon, Warren Ellis, Nick Cave, and Keith Richards. The core band on this set includes old friends like Marc Ribot and Greg Cohen as well as drummer Jim White, Rob Burger, Doug Weiselman, Steve Weisberg, Barry Reynolds, Steven Bernstein, Marty Ehrlich, and Lenny Pickett. The sense of stylistic sprawl on these 12 songs is incredible. The album opener, a cover of Dolly Parton's "Down from Dover," features the full band and guests numbering 18 strong! Faithfull's trademark deep-throated, whiskey-and-cigarettes-ravaged voice is in better shape than it's been in a decade at least. It's full and expressive, and she brings up a depth of passion for this sad tale that almost soars. The band, arranged by Weisberg, plays with beautiful space and elegant harmonics with nice work by Ribot and Burger. Cave sings backing vocals on the Decemberists' "The Crane Wife 3," its lithe rock arrangement shaded by a beautiful British folk-style melody and gorgeous bass work by Cohen, celeste by Burger, and a three-piece string section. While Wainwright's signature backing vocals grace a jazzy arrangement of Espers' "Children of Stone," and the chart is eight minutes of pure, nocturnal lounge lizard eros, it does go on a bit too long, emptying it somewhat of its power. Ellington's "Solitude" works far better, as Faithfull's command of sparse phrases drives the tune, expressing more in the spaces between words than the words themselves -- or even her voice. Other highlights include an excellent version of Judee Sill's "The Phoenix," and a deeply emotive, almost startling cover of Morrissey's "Dear God Please Help Me. There is a fantastic--if surreal--faux-soul reading of Robinson's "Ooh Baby Baby," as a duet with AntonyThe disc closes with Richards adding both his guitar (to those of Ribot and Reynolds) and his raggedy croak of a vocal to Faithfull's on Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home." It's sad and slow, but feels more contrived than honestly emotional. While this is a long journey with a couple of missteps Ms. Faithfull shows up in excellent form throughout this offering. If you are patient, there is more than enough here to hold your attention and take you on journeys through love, lust, tragedy, and longing and bring you home again.(The British version of this CD, contains an extra CD with six extra tracks--the Morrissey and Judee SIll covers on this version came from the British one--and a bonus DVD with a documentary about the making of the album.) ~ Thom Jurek

キース・リチャーズ、ショーン・レノン、キャット・パワーほか、列挙するだけで文字数超過の豪華ゲスト陣に加え、プロデューサーに何とハル・ウィルナーを迎えた凄すぎる新作。濃ゆいメンツによって構築された異様な深みを持つサウンドも素晴らしいが、人生の裏も表も酸いも甘いも天国も地獄も全部咀嚼したやさぐれ耽美な歌唱を披露するマリアンヌの存在感は、やはり何よりも強烈だ。誰も敵わんよ、コレは。
bounce (C)北爪 啓之

60年代に歌手、映画女優などとして絶頂を極めたが、後に酒とドラッグに溺れどん底に。そんな波乱の生涯と共に常に注目を集めてきたマリアンヌ・フエイスフルの通算22作目。その名がもつチカラが健在であることを示すかの如く、プロデューサーのハル・ウィルナーに加え、アントニー（＆ザ・ジョンソンズ）、ジャーヴィス・コッカー、ルーファス・ウェインライトからキース・リチャーズまで挙げきれないほど多くの豪華アーティストが参加。豪勢な楽曲もさらりと唄う懐の深さは、さすがの一言。話題必至の１枚です。
intoxicate (C)竹内勇季