Search - Marianne Faithfull :: Love in a Mist

End of the first phase of her career

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 02/06/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Marianne began her career in the mid-sixties singing pop and folk music. During this period, she recorded two albums of folk music (Come my way and North country maid) and two albums of pop music. The first pop album was untitled - this is the second, with two bonus tracks added. While the first album contained her two best known sixties hits (As tears go by, Come and stay with me), this album is every bit as good - indeed, I slightly prefer this album although both are excellent.



This album contains two UK hits. This little bird, a John D Loudermilk song, made number six. Yesterday, a cover of the Beatles classic, was only a minor UK hit. Matt Monro had the big UK hit with this song. The Beatles' own version was not released as a UK single at the time - it was eventually, in the mid-seventies. Several other covers of this song were also released in the UK as singles in 1965 but only Matt's and Marianne's versions charted.



Like the hits, most of the remaining songs came from some of the best pop songwriters around at the time, including Jackie De Shannon (You can't go where the roses go, With you in mind), Chris Andrews (Our love has gone), Tim Hardin (Don't make promises, Reason to believe, Hang on to a dream), Donovan (In the night time, Young girl blues, Good guy), Jacques Brel ( - better known in Britain and America as If you go away, though Marianne sings it in its original French) and Counting (Bob Lind, famous for Elusive butterfly). That leaves two French songs (Ne me quitte pas, Coquillage) and a song from West side story, I have a love.



Soon after recording this album, Marianne took a break from the business and her music was never the same again. Some say her music improved as a result of all her experiences but it's all down to personal taste. I like her later music but it's very different from her sixties music. So this album marks the end of the first phase of her career - and Marianne was still only twenty years old.



If you are familiar with Marianne's early hits like As tears go by and you enjoy them, you should enjoy this."