Various Artists
The Faithful: A Tribute to Marianne Faithfull
IN THE Q
Whether as a lyrical originator or as an interpreter, it’s the vibe around Marianne Faithfull that lingers longest—Faithfull as craggy, cigarette-stained, roc-cabaret chanteuse; Faithfull as post-punk survivor; Faithfull as patron saint of a life around the corner, of unsteadied romantic poetry. Though she didn’t write two of her more formidable signatures—“As Tears Go By” (one-time paramours/faith defenders Jagger-Richards) and “Working Class Hero” (Lennon), her steadying, smoky cackle and elegant phrasing make those moments hers and hers alone.
Acting in tribute to Faithfull, then, is to inhabit the spirit of wild horses and broken English, of a woman who will not die and cannot be killed. Standing out among the track list of the new covers compilation The Faithful—compiled with the goal of raising funds for its subject as she recovers from long COVID—the insidious fuck-fest of “Why D’Ya Do It” (originally performed by Faithfull as turgid Caucasoid funk with four-letter force) is made equally vivid and flesh-forward by the happy pairing of Peaches and Garbage’s Shirley Manson. Another dare-you duet courtesy of Cat Power and Iggy Pop, “Working Class Hero,” mixes the sound of unsalted olive oil with crunchy peppercorn-worthy spikiness.
On their own, however, Tammy Faye Starlite, Adele Bertei, Nicole Atkins, and Lydia Lunch—respectively on the lurid “The Ballad of Lucy Jordan,” a weirdly warm “Times Square,” the charmed “Strange Weather,” and the frank “Love, Life, and Money”—are key in understanding Faithfull’s singular devotion to the female voice, to its strengths above any bitter pills or tactile sorrows. Nobody can do this music like its centerpiece can, but each of the collection’s female voices—additionally including Tanya Donnelly, Bush Tetras, Joan as Police Woman, and L7’s Donita Sparks—take to the icy breadth of Marianne Faithfull heroically.
