Marianne Faithfull: Vagabond Ways : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Marianne Faithfull is a legendary survivor who claims to be exasperated by the public's fascination with her rock-bottom moments. If that's the case, she shouldn't kick off a record with a rehash-the-past non-apology like Vagabond Ways' title tune. The jaundiced beauty of Faithfull's delivery doesn't find the best context in gentle, melancholic contributions by the likes of Daniel Lanois, Leonard Cohen and Roger Waters. She's better served on her own collaborations with Barry Reynolds: the resigned "File It Under Fun From the Past," with its melting string passages, and the darkly textured ode to her grandmother, "Electra." Elton John's "For Wanting You" sets her million-cigarettes voice and haunted phrasing, gemlike, in a setting full of scathing self-retribution and bruised affection. Half a great Marianne Faithfull record and half an average one, Vagabond Ways is still ten songs sung with more soul and intelligence than you'll get from any woman in pop music. (RS 839)

ARION BERGER