It's an age of crossover: Bono pals up with Luciano Pavarotti, and Madonna is singing Broadway. But the most natural pairing of the lot could be Marianne Faithfull ("As Tears Go By") with the cabaret music of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. If the idea seems surprising at first, when you consider the rugged terrain of Faithfull's life – her drug addiction and suicide attempts, her lost marriages and lovers (among them Mick Jagger) – coupled with the decadent bittersweetness of these songs, the match is right on target.

Taken from a recent live performance, her new album, 20th Century Blues, is meant to evoke the vibrant, artistic atmosphere of the Weimar Republic, the Germany of the 1920s that Hitler's regime shattered. The historical concept doesn't limit the album's scope, however; while evoking cabaretera Berlin, Faithfull transcends that age, tapping straight into the soulfulness of the repertoire. The chanteuse's weathered, whiskey-sour voice is the perfect channel for the dissipated lyrics of "The Alabama Song" ("Show me the way to the next whiskey bar.... "). Faithfull's dark, ironic tone intensifies on "Want to Buy Some Illusions," in which she sings of past illusions that "had a touch of paradise/A spell you can't explain/For in this crazy paradise/You are in love with pain." And the most familiar tune on the album, Weill's "Mack the Knife," aches anew in Faithfull's rendition.

In addition to Weill-Brecht collaborations, the album includes Harry Nilsson's "Don't Forget Me" and the title cut, by Noel Coward. Faithfull turns each song into its own dramatic world, delivered with a savvy wink but never an affected distance; given all the tears and years that have gone by, the songs' melancholy wisdom is too close to home for that. (RS 753)

SUSAN RICHARDSON