Maurice Hope – August 23, 2016 at 02:00PM
Tags:_AMERICANA
Marianne Faithfull has had a long, and somewhat indifferent association as a musician. From her formative years as heard on these 1966-1967 albums to recent times where her vocals, now husky are a million miles apart from her 1960s recordings. Back then Faithfull was performing folk songs (first album) and folk pop and was making a tidy job of it. With her beautiful, clear and pure vocals ideally suited for the material she slotted into the scene, Seamlessly so. Had she not pushed the self- destruct button (so many times) or enjoyed more stable company and adhered to those that did give support, her life and career would have been less erratic and her music infinitely better.
North Country Maid is a simple folksy affair. With little other than her vocals and acoustic guitars, sitar, dulcimer and percussion she handling of the tender love ballads is admirable.
Highlights include her handling of “Cockleshells”, Donovan’s harmonica warmed “Sunny Goodge Street” and the Tom Paxton perennial “Last Thing on My Mind”. Plus with sitar “She Moved Thru’ The Fair” and she also tenders a pretty rendition of another folk standard, title-track “North Country Maid”.
Love In A Mist has her draw on the likes of Tim Hardin, Donovan, Lennon and McCartney, Jackie DeShanon and Deshan and utilise a wider base. One that doesn’t necessarily show her in the best light on every track, but such are the arrangements and recording two songs in French; “Ne Me Quiite Pas” and a French adaptation (“Coquillage”) of Mick Taylor’s “Cockleshells” that appears in its original form on North Country Maid the album contains some interesting fare. Faithfull’s version of Hardin’s “Reason To Believe” with orchestra and prominent bass coupled another of Hardin’s “Don’t Make Promises You Can’t Keep”. Donovan’s jazz, blues etched “Good Guy” likewise possesses a good feel and it gets Faithfull away from music that is little other than background music.
Maurice Hope
—
Feed: http://ift.tt/1J7TdNm
Inoreader Page: http://ift.tt/2bfRbkl
Blog post: http://ift.tt/2bC06e1