Rich Kid Blues

by

Marianne Faithfull

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Recorded shortly before Marianne found herself living on the streets as a heroin addict, she recorded "Rich Kid Blues." Gone now was that sweet, pretty young girl the world was enamored of. A brutal drug bust she was caught in with the Rolling Stones started a systematic assassination of her character in the tabloids. Her reedy haunting soprano had dropped into a whiskey-soured husky instrument. On this record, you can almost smell the tobacco on her breath.

That aside, though Marianne herself hates this album with a passion, it truly does need to be heard. Her rendition of "The Long Black Veil" is fantastic (her former paramour, Mick Jagger, later did this track with the Chieftains in 1995). The title track is murky and haunting. "Corrine, Corrina" is also murky and multi-layered. Call it art-blues, if you will. "Chords of Fame" and "Sad Lisa" are great. But the real highlight is her cover of Bob Dylan's "Visions of Johanna." Fantastic.

It's definitely worth it to buy this CD. Do not hesitate.

This is certainly a candidate for honors as Marianne Faithfull's single weakest album, cut during a time of extremely heavy drug use when almost nobody who knew her had any use for her. She does not recall this album fondly in her autobiography.

Nonetheless, this very flawed collection earns three or even three and a half stars. This is the first album on which Marianne's now-famous whiskey and cigarettes rasp appeared. Her versions of Dylan's songs are absolutely convincing. In particular "Visions of Johannah" is one of Marianne's truly great moments on record. On "It's All Over Now Baby Blue," it really sounds like it IS all over. Marianne never sounded so junked out.

The material selected draws from some of the typical 70s material including James Taylor's "Mud Slide Slim" which is so-so and George Harrison's "Beware of the Darkness," also so-so. Cat Stevens' "Sad Lisa" doesn't really thrill me either. The unimaginative arrangements are a significant source of the mediocrity on some of these songs. On the other hand Phil Ochs' "Chords of Fame" rings very true and the simple arrangement doesn't interfere while Tim Hardin's "Southern Butterfly" is charming in its gentle fractured way.

For Marianne Faithfull fans, this album is definitely worthwhile. Seriously, "Visions of Johannah" is worth the entire price. For the merely curious, I recommend the Island anthology.