Marianne Faithfull has taken a long and hard road to where she's at today. Drug use/abuse, romantic tragedies and extreme laryngitis have taken their toll on the British pop singer and Rolling Stones cohort.
That toll is evident in her raspy vocals, which sound like they belong to someone who smokes eight packs a day and downs a gallon of whiskey for breakfast. That vocal quirk is both a charm and a hindrance on this collection of covers. For the sweeping Espers song "Children Of Stone" her rasp tangles around Rufus Wainwright's more gentle harmony and creates a transcendent experience. She pours buckets of emotion (as well as some organs and electric guitars) into Morrisey's "Dear God Please Help Me" and cuts me right through the heart. And songs like "Hold On, Hold On" and "Sing Me Back Home" were almost made to be sung with the passionate grittiness she brings.
But on the woodwind-heavy title cut, the heavy vocals become almost unbearable, same goes for "Solitude." Whenever Marianne attempts melodic singing, it goes very wrong. "Ooh Baby Baby" is only saved by guest vocalist Antony Hegerty; it goes on forever, too. Which is not to say Easy Come, Easy Go is a bad album. It's just a flawed album, containing more gems than disasters. Most importantly, it is a cohesive artistic statement - a rarity with a covers disc. Indeed, if you dropped the three songs I just mentioned, it becomes a stunning album on a par with Johnny Cash's American series.
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