Marianne Faithfull is a sharp cookie these days. Writing frank memoirs, refusing to share bottles of wine with interviewers, she's well-aware of her iconic status. Though it wasn't always like this. In the sixties she was determined to live as recklessly as the boys and was punished by the outdated system. So this lovely-looking, searching young woman turned to self-destruction. Her Ophelia is perfect; narcissistic, vulnerable and grimly compliant in her own downfall. The comeback was legendary, Broken English and Strange Weather remain haunting and emotive albums, she was croaky and cool, singing words of defiance and hurt regret.
With classic artists, we permanently hope that they'll come back and show us some new tricks or at least demonstrate how it's really done, according to them. Horses And High Heels doesn't branch off into different directions and there is no equivalent of Sister Morphine or Times Square to trouble the soul with naked desolation. Yet it is heartfelt and ultimately good-natured. Faithfull relishes Hal Willner's lush, bluesy arrangements with a stately, shadowy warmth. Why Did We Have to Part has a gritty urgency. King and Goffin's Goin' Back is reinvented, innocent, youthful optimism subsided by knowing experience. Then, guess what, Lou Reed pops in with one of his precise, metallic solos that begs the tantalising question, what if the two of them joined up for a robust, melancholic collection of songs?
