There we have the essence to the choices Marianne and producer Hal Willner made when compiling the sprawling double album version. There isn’t a casual throwaway moment anywhere near the collection.
Despite drawing from such diverse sources as Dolly Parton, Duke Ellington, Smokey Robinson, Morrissey, The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and Traffic it is as though every song captures something of the incredible life journey of today’s Marianne.
That personal raw edge is displayed in all its compelling emotion in the excellent DVD. Marianne’s excited, nervous anticipation on hearing the final mix is expertly captured. She hangs on every note, lives every line, and feels every beat. She puts something of herself and a life lived to the full into every moment. In doing so she enriches every song whilst making each her own.
That is quite a feat when you consider that several of these tracks have been previously recorded by many legendary performers. Marianne doesn’t hide from these powerful songs. She doesn’t merely perform them or repeat them, she injects her experiences, rough and smooth, light and dark, triumphant and disastrous, into them.
There is regret, there is touching and often painful memory, there is heartfelt love, but above all there is style. Producer Hal Willner, who worked with Marianne on her 1987 album Strange Weather, describes the moment when he heard ‘today’s Dietrich or Piaf’ whilst listening to another undoubted highlight in her musical career, A Child’s Adventure.
He says of his renewed collaboration, ‘I have been able to see Marianne’s art continue to grow, and to see her appreciated as the real artist. She is and to be recognized as one of the most powerful song interpreters of our time’.
He goes on to reveal that the album is made up largely if not completely with first takes that are devoid of overdubs. It is that fact that makes this recording stand up alongside many of her previous best works and confirms that claim regarding interpretation.
To complete the picture she is surrounded by an array of talent. Too many to list in full, they include Sean Lennon, Nick Cave, Rufus Wainwright, Jarvis Cocker, and of course Keith Richards. Behind that lays a foundation of some of the most respected musicians possible.
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