Marianne Faithfull: A Perfect Stranger - The Island Anthology

Because more than half of the 35 songs on this two-disc retrospective of Marianne Faithfull's 1979-95 output come from her three great albums -- Broken English, Dangerous Acquaintances and Strange Weather -- or are previously unreleased outtakes or B-sides from them, A Perfect Stranger: The Island Anthology makes a fine primer to Faithfull's often challenging, always mesmerizing (or would that be always challenging, often mesmerizing?) music. "Ballad of the Soldier's Wife," her solid contribution to 1985's Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill, is also included, giving Faithfull's hauntingly tragic voice the resonance and attention it demands. Weill and Faithfull seem made for each other, as the bulk of the second disc (comprised of songs from her 1990 live album and the underachieving A Secret Life, as well as the career-capping Strange Weather) makes clear. But there's also a strain to some of these tracks, as if Faithfull's aesthetic wandering eventually will bring her to that elusive cabaret of her dreams. On her best recordings, it indeed sounds like she's home.
-- Michael Gallucci , All-Music Guide

Garth Hudson, who was present on Faithfull's albums Strange Weather and Blazing Away, is credited with accordian and keyboards on tracks 14, "When I Find My Life" (live), and 15, "Times Square" (live, 1989, St. Anne's Cathedral, Brooklyn, NY) on disc 2. Mac Rebennack is credited with piano and rhytm guitar on track 15.

Tracks

Disc 1

1. Broken English
2. Witches' Song
3. Guilt
4. Ballad Of Lucy Jordan
5. Working Class Hero
6. Why D'Ya Do It
7. Sister Morphine
8. Sweetheart
9. Intrigue
10. For Beauty's Sake
11. So Sad
12. Truth Bitter Truth
13. Blue Millionaire
14. Falling From Grace
15. Running For Your Lives

Disc 2

1. Ballad Of The Soldier's Wife
2. Trouble In Mind
3. Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
4. Yesterdays
5. Strange Weather
6. Gloomy Sunday
7. Hello Stranger
8. As Tears Go By
9. Perfect Stranger
10. Conversation On A Barstool
11. Waste Of Time
12. Isolation
13. Blazing Away
14. When I Find My Life
15. Times Square
16. Ghost Dance
17. Sleep
18. Love In The Afternoon
19. Bored By Dreams
20. Shee

Marainne Faithfull - A Perfect Stranger: The Island Anthology - 1998 - Polygram 524579