Perfect Stranger: The Island Anthology

Marianne Faithfull

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 27, 1998)
• Original Release Date: October 27, 1998
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Island
• ASIN: B00000DC4K
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #83,244 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
After a decade and a half of recording everything from '60s pop covers culled from the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, country music, and pensive singer-songwriters, Marianne Faithfull signed with Island Records as a reinvented new-wave punk queen. With sharpened edge at the ready, she cut 1978's Broken English, a harrowing purge of sexual jealousy and guilt, six cuts from which are featured here. Her voice, ravaged from years of excess, cracks with wasted beauty and lent tarnished experience to her tales of struggle and hopeless nostalgia. After several albums of modern pop (a healthy selection from all are included in this essential anthology), Faithfull hooked up with producer Hal Willner to record 1987's Strange Weather, adopting a new role as an ageless, bluesy chanteuse. A Perfect Stranger follows through her latest collaboration with Angelo Badalamenti (1995's A Secret Life) and features six previously unreleased tracks, including a cover of John Lennon's "Isolation" and "A Waste of Time," a song she cowrote with Steve Winwood. --Rob O'Connor

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Perfect Collection, February 9, 2000

By	Donn Hart (Boston) - See all my reviews

It's about time the record industry smartened up. Marianne Faithfull is an artist who I always felt deserved to be better represented. And I must say, this is an excellent start. Included is the standard fare, music from the watershed "Broken English," plus it's follow-ups, "Dangerous Acquaintances" and "A Child's Adventure." In the middle is her post-"Broken English" return to "Sister Morphine," whose lyrics she wrote, and which she recorded before the Stones did.

Disc 2 kicks off splendidly with her biting rendition of Weill's "The Ballad of the Soldier's Wife." It is followed by Marianne's deep and dark interpretation of the old blues standard "Trouble in Mind." Then we get the slow and mellifluous beauty of the songs from "Strange Weather," another watershed. It is followed by some excellent unreleased tracks, "A Perfect Stranger," "Conversation on a Bar Stool," and "A Waste of Time." Plus there are some excellent selections from "A Secret Life." The whole collection is rounded out with that album's "She," a tear-inducing piece of orchestral beauty.

Marianne remains a favorite for me and for many others, and is an artist truly worth every accolade ever given to her, not the least of which was being voted the 25th greatest woman in rock history by her peers for VH1.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Supurb Retrospective!, February 5, 2000

By	Dennis McGlinchey (USA) - See all my reviews

Marianne Faithfull's "A Perfect Stranger - An Island Anthology" ia a suburub retrospective of her musical journey while with Island Records. When Marianne released her autobigraphy "Faithfull" several years ago, Island Records rushed out "A Collection of Her Best Recordings". I always felt that Marianne, a uniquely talented and gifted artist, was cheated, that it was a poor representation of who and what Marianne was all about. While the main focus of her "Collections" was on her muscical masterpiece, "Broken English", I felt she and her fans deserved better. If anything, her "Collection" served as an introduction to Marianne and her music. But, "A Perfect Stranger - The Island Anthology" is a more fitting and proper retrospective for this truly great artist of her Island Years. Side 1 of the CD focusses on her musical Trilogy (Broken English, Dangerous Acquaintences, and A Child's Adventure). This side contains a wonderful collection of songs from these three wonderful albums from the eighties. Marianne muscial career is like a roller coaster ride with peaks and, yes, with valleys. The Trilogy era is a tru peak in Marianne's musical career. In addition, side 1 contains a wonderful remake of her sixties classic "Sister Morphine". Side 2 contains, again, a wonderful collection of songs from her "Strange Weather" her live "Blazing Away" and her "A Secret Life"". Though a change in musical direction for Marianne, these songs leave no doubt of her talent and artistry. Side 2 also includes a remake of her sixties class "As Terars Go By" and some new songs that are a real treat. This CD is a tribute to Marianne and her music from the late seventies through the nineties. I, personally, see it as a gift from Marianne to her fans. I play it often and never tire of it. Though her fans knew all long, Marianne artistry is finally being recognized. Just this year, she was voted 25th by her peers on the VH1 list of 100 Greatest Women in Rock & Roll. Listen ti the Anthology and you will see why. Now, if we can only get Decca Records to release an Anthology of her early work from the sixties - that would be truly wonderful. Thankfully, Marianne is not done yet - check out her latest & wonderful "Vagabond Ways" too!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marianne Faithfull at her best., May 22, 1999

By	"galwaybay" (Vermont) - See all my reviews

Focusing on her post-pop-diva career, this CD reveals Marianne's deeply complex and haunting, throaty style. Because of the brilliant positioning of songs, especially on the first disk, each one takes on new energy and meaning. The strong backbeat and in-your-face lyrics continue from the pounding opening of "Broken English" through "Witches' Song", "Intrique", "Why'd Ya Do It", and "Sweetheart" to the crisp intensity of "Running for Our Lives". I found this to be perfect long-distance driving music, especially at full blast, with the windows up, through sleepy Carolina towns and country roads. The second disk highlights her strong, wise, sorrowful and pensive sides. She is an actress and a perfomer, besides being a singer, and it all comes through here as she takes you on a journey through the ups and downs of love and life. "Ballad of the Soldier's Wife" will make you cry. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" will make you remember what regret is. "Sleep" will make you shiver. This is Marianne the artist at work, with three new songs and two great live versions of older ones. Old fans, you will be excited by this CD. New fans, be prepared to be charmed by Marianne Faithfull's sophistication, her art, and her rock 'n' roll heart.