Broken English

Hmmmm... I'm not sure you really should take against a whole album based on the opening note, but I fear I did. However, as first instincts go, it seemed to be pretty dead on for my opinion on the full album.

I hated the vocals. Absolutely despised them. I realised there's a good reason she sounds that way on this record but that doesn't mean I am going to enjoy it... It was genuinely difficult to say motivated to listen right to the end. And the last track? WTF!?

Longest 37 minutes of my life.

1/5

Well, first of all, that's a great album cover. I love it. The music, though; it's not bad, but it's not amazing either. It's fine; it's not like I discovered something out of the ordinary today. Sometimes I have an issue with her voice, sometimes the instrumental gets too bland; there's always something. Not once is a song fully good throughout, so I'd say this is a lower 3, more like a 2.5.

I didn't pay attention to the lyrics 'til the very end. What do you mean, 'Every time I see your dick, I see her cunt in my bed,' Ma'am? Interesting lyrics for the time period. If people lost their heads when 'WAP' came out, I'm curious what the reaction was to hearing 'barbed wire pussy' on the radio. I'm actually trying so hard to understand the deep lyricism in this song. Like, did the girl he cheated on her with have a 'barbed wire pussy'? Because this didn't make much sense to me. It doesn't make it sound like he was attracted to cheating, so to speak.

A 'bear trap pussy' would have been a way better choice of words. He got caught in it and couldn't get out no matter how much he tried. No matter how much the OG girlfriend loved him, what they had, everything is out the window because he cannot escape anymore, like actual hunters. Fucking around and finding out. Or is it her pussy that is, in fact, barbed wire as a punishment for his cheating? She knows that he cheated, but he doesn't know he's been found out yet. So, in a way, this is similar to the bear trap. In that scenario, he got trapped without knowing; the moment he realized it, he couldn't escape anymore. In the second scenario, though, he just realized he's been found out, so he tries to escape but he gets caught in the barbed wire. Again, he cannot escape, for his actions cannot be forgiven, so in the end, he must suffer regardless of which scenario was meant to be the true one. I actually can't tell what she meant. Anyway, thank you for coming to my TED talk; see you on another review.

Seems to gain a lot of traction due to the singers perona and legacy - raspy, edgy, arty vocals and simple cold synth lines - hell, on paper this is my sort of record - but on this occasion it did nothing for me. Almost nothing. As cool as the voice may be, it delivers nothing lyrically. Musically basic and uninteresting. And that Working Class Hero cover was completely vapid. 2

Enjoyable

I’m at a 4.

It did take me a little bit to really get into the album; I thought “Broken English” was sort of a catchy, if one-note ‘first minute is the whole song’ type of opener, even despite the pretty killer bassline. “Witches Song” felt a little better, but the lyrics felt strange & the instrumental progression didn’t really hit like that. With an unremarkably fine start through the first two tracks, I had a real fear it would stay at that pace for the rest of the album.

Thankfully, I think this album finds a bit more focus by “Brain Drain”, just because it’s such a straightforward track about what drugs can do to a person, & with the worn tone in her vocals reflecting that exact struggle she went through, it just clicked really nicely. I’m surprised it has the second least plays of any track on the album on Spotify. “Guilt” got really funky by the end of it, and while it does feel like a track centered more around greed & desire than guilt, I think the track just really clicked for me, with Steve Winwood’s keyboard work giving the track some bite that Marianne’s vocals matched. “The Ballad of Lucy Jordan” is a pretty damn good cover, and one that probably relates to her struggles well, though I can’t help but think it needed a solo or something to shake the instrumental up just a little bit.

There’s a small misstep to my ears with “What’s the Hurry”, though it’s not because it’s a bad track; it just doesn’t really do enough to stick out more memorably. The instrumental has a good tempo, the lyrics are fine, but there’s just something missing. I dunno what though. The final two tracks recover quickly: “Working Class Hero” is a fantastic cover, and the slow anger that builds up in Marianne’s voice over the course of the track really sells the lyrics. I’ve never heard John Lennon’s original version, but we’ll get to it whenever we get “John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band” down the line.

I’m going to make the bold claim that “Why D’Ya Do It” is a great closing track – not because it’s the most fitting track to end on, but because it’s so funny in its subject matter (a valid crashout over a cheating husband, yet done in such a Karen-y obnoxious way you can’t really blame the guy for cheating to begin with) & so fucking funny in the lyricism ("Every time I see your dick, I see her cunt in my bed" feels Shakespearean), that I just think any track that could’ve followed it would’ve been overshadowed. You just kinda have to end on that, really.

With just 5 of the 8 tracks really clicking at a deeper level for me, yet with no bad tracks overall, I’m pretty safe with a 4 here. I think the floor is a competent 3, so I sort of understand the 2.89 on the site, but at the same time, when you have the second highest review here saying that it “sucks on a visceral level” & calling it an “awful, godforsaken wreck”, I just can’t help but see the average score as a result of hyperbolic underrating. It’s not THAT fucking bad, people. While I can’t say with my whole chest that it NEEDS to be on the list, I’m not gonna call for its removal anytime soon. I enjoyed it, and I think it’s a pretty solid 4.

this was very good actually my favourite was the title track the last track was a bit weird and ‘cock’ heavy but overall enjoyable

Beautiful and angsty comeback from the British singer. The vocals sound harrowing at times and the instrumentals sound lush and well-produced.

8/10 [KEEP]

The title track, “Witches’ Song”, and “The Ballad of Lucy Jordan” were the standouts for me. I wasn’t initially a fan of the synths on the latter, but they grew on me. Excellent guitar work all over this record, particularly on the title track and “Why’d Ya Do It”. I definitely vibe with her weathered voice and can hear some Patti comparisons (no doubt informed by the style/soundscapes behind her). There are no songs here I dislike, really. The only reason it “stalls” at 3.5 is because I don’t feel much of a major connection to it, nor did I have any truly strong reactions to it. I enjoyed it well enough and could most certainly return to it with zero issues, it’s just not something I feel very passionate about.

3.5/5

The songs themselves are not all that original musically. But there is something about her performance that elevates them. It’s realistically a 3.5, but I will probably round up.

Musiikillisesti mukiinmenevää ja lauluäänen takia kiinnostavaa, mutta taitaa olla listalla enemmän taustan kuin musiikillisen annin takia.

This is a great story and a decent album. It's interesting to me that of the two top reviews here, one is entirely bought in, and the other is completely cynical. Although, honestly I think the answer is somewhere in between. It can be true that Marianne Faithful was both born into aristocracy *and* cruelly cast aside by rock culture. And this is her highly regarded comeback where she embraced new wave and leaned into her time and substance damaged voice. I would say the results are broadly successful: she sounds earnest and angry and she wears new wave well. Some of my favorites here are the title track, Brain Drain, Guilt, and Why D'Ya Do It. Although, I'd also like to shout out her Working Class Hero cover, which I'm not sure I *fully* buy, but she performs it very well (admittedly I'm not fully sure I buy the original either). Like I said, this works, and it is a cool comeback from a *very* wronged artist, and I am glad she got her flowers in the end.

The Good: We won’t have to worry about getting cheated on…
The Bad: Faithfull isn’t the same as faithful...
The Ugly: Trying to put back together the English…

I really tried to understand why I had to listen to this… I really did, and I still don’t understand it at all.
Could it be that the list of 1001 is not really about good music, but could be about lyrics, which I am not paying attention to?..

I am glad for Marianne that she was able to put her life back together, I really am. However, this album was a bit tough to get through…

Regretfully, I will have to rate this at 2* because I can’t honestly see any redeeming qualities to this except for a kudos for getting one’s life back on track!

I don't know why I love her voice and hate bob Dylans. I think it's the lived experience of this voice. Truly an icon. I prefer her later stuff because some of these songs feel a bit dated but when this album hits it hits HARD.

A very middling album, generally ok, but mostly unmemorable. The cover of "Working Class Hero" was a choice though.

First time I've really listened to Marianne Faithful. I've always known of her, but never sought out her music. It's not bad. I also listened to one of her earlier albums which I actually like better than this one, but I'm not particularly interested in seeking out her music again. A case of the music is okay, but just doesn't connect with me.

She's cool and this is a raw album with some great pieces, but the title is apropos - just so anti-snooty that it's snooty.

I quite enjoyed this album, despite knowing very little about the artist going into it. I knew her name and some vague association with Mick Jagger, bit not much beyond that. These songs are mostly really compelling, punky, and seemingly quite ahead of their time. I feel like this sound was something like Leonard Cohen was aiming for with I'm Your Man (missing the mark wildly). Especially liked the title track, Brain Drain, Working Class Hero, and Why D'ya Do It.

I don't really understand the negativity in the comments - surely the context of an album should always be taken into account when doing a list challenge like this? It's quite relevant here too, as it explains the raspy nature of her voice and direct, explicit lyrics.

Marianne Faithfull has a totally unique, brittle, roughed up vocal style which in and of itself is compelling. She could hang any song off the quality of her vocals alone. I particularly like it when this is paired with the slightly weird, off kilter, shoddy synths and bass guitar combo.

When it hits it hits. Broken English, What’s the Hurry? and Working Class Hero all being stand outs. On the first half of the record the music isn’t generally firing on all cylinders, but the vocals save the day.

Final track Why’d Ya Do It stands on its own, musically removed from what precedes it. The whole album blooms at the point she grabs the mic and unleashes the last half hour of pent up energy, using her bitterness in its most palpable and attractive form. It’s her angriest and most provocative performance.

I was severely disappointed in the lyrics, not fond of the vocal delivery (more spoken word than it is singing), and pretty meh about the music. I will say it was well-recorded.

I had high hopes for this, given the hype about the album and the artist. Kind of a bummer

⭐⭐

Though I had a few initial reservations about her voice, I ended up liking this album ok. I appreciated how blunt the last song was, though it probably could have been written with a tad more tact. 3/5