The Album Club 2017: "Broken English" by Marianne Faithfull
 

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artist: Marianne Faithfull
album: Broken English
length: 36:25
year:1979
tracklist:

1. Broken English
2. Witches' Song
3. Brain Drain
4. Guilt
5. The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan
6. What's The Hurry
7. Working Class Hero
8. Why D'Ya Do It

Sopitfy: yes, two versions

• Broken English
• Broken English (Deluxe Edition)

Youtube: yes, as a playlist, not as a single video containing a full album. The playlist may contain a video blocked in your country.

Yay! Here we go! Was afraid this was totally dead without Troll at the helm.

Aw, I love this album. Her voice is so torn up and smashed (iirc, from years of heroin use) that it has a really strange and haunting feeling to it. Great songs, especially the closing track. Best thing to ever be banned by Australia.

That's quite a transformation! WoW! Am intrigued.

"The last track, the six-and-a-half-minute "Why'd Ya Do It?", is a caustic, graphic rant of a woman reacting to her lover's infidelity. The lyrics began with the man's point of view, relating the bitter tirade of his cheated-on lover. It was set to a grinding tune inspired by Jimi Hendrix's recording of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower". Poet and writer Heathcote Williams had originally conceived the lyrics as a piece for Tina Turner to record, but Faithfull succeeded in convincing him that Turner would never record such a number.[3] Its plethora of four-letter words and explicit references to oral sex caused controversy and led to a ban in Australia.[citation needed] Local pressings omitted the track and instead included a 'bonus' 7" single of the extended version of "Broken English" . The ban did not extend to import copies, and the song was also played unedited on the Government-funded Double Jay radio station and Brisbane community broadcaster 4ZZZ.[citation needed] It wasn't until 1988 when Island re-released the album in Australia that "Why D'Ya Do It" was finally included."

Wow. How very lame of you, Australia.

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I have a golden opportunity to listen to this for this thread and the random album thread.

Or maybe not. I don't have enough time to listen to this before the deadline. I'll pass.

Don't worry about a deadline. If you can't find time to listen to it this week, then try next week. I had opportunity to listen to this album in the beginning of the week, but didn't get around to a review. Just hang in there kid. The main goal at this point is trying to keep the Album Club afloat until Trollheart's return.

Ah. Cool. Sounds good.

I've been listening to it here and there. Just need some more time before I write anything.

Got through 2 tracks and realized I really don't like this genre or the vocals. Probably won't be finishing it tbh.

It's a bit wobbly for me, but I find the tracks pretty enjoyable on average, one of the tracks pretty awful and another one of them ****ing excellent. All in all an album that I'd probably buy if I came across a copy.

Sorry I'm being so lazy, but it's not like anyone else is putting effort into the album club anymore right ;)

8/10

This is Marianne Faithfull's "comeback" album that brought her back into the spotlight. Prior to this album, she had been known mostly for singing covers of folk songs, ballads, and pop songs reminiscent of Judy Collins.
This album sounded unlike anything she'd recorded before and her voice had also gone through a significant change from her earlier work.
The pretty voice was gone and had been replaced by a gruff, weathered voice that sounds decades older and world-weary. The music was also quite different and featured synthesizers which helped give much of the album a new-wave and (in some spots) a krautrock vibe.

Songs about terrorism, addiction, feelings of guilt, mental breakdown, infidelity, there's a lot of jarring, potent music here.
The biggest hit from the album, “The Ballad of Lucy Jordan”, is a cover of a song by Shel Silverstein which was originally recorded by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show, about the mental breakdown of a suburban housewife. This version features Marianne Faithfull singing with just Steve Winwood backing her on synthesizer, giving the song a minimalist and deceptively upbeat vibe.
There's a cover of "Working Class Hero" by John Lennon which is easily the best cover version of that song I've ever heard. The music reminds me of a slower tempo "One of These Days" by Pink Floyd which gives it a sinister, unnerving feel that perfectly matches her tone of voice as she sings the lyrics.
The last song on the album, set to a reggae/dub beat, is a scathing tirade against a cheating lover, complete with angry expletives and dissonant electric guitar notes which work like vocal and musical exclamation points as she unloads her venom on her unfaithful man.

She put out some good work before this album and she's put out some good work since this album but I daresay this album is her masterpiece.

9.5/10

^can't compete with that, but I still feel like writing a little bit about some of the stand out tracks when I have the time.

Really like the production on this one, very pillowy. I always like music (in general) where there's a big contrast in the mood or lyrical content and the instrumentation of a song, ans she goes to some dark places here. Of all the songs, 'Why'd Ya Do It" works best while 'Brain Drain' and the title track are pretty memorable. My favorite song overall is probably 'Guilt' though: it has a great groove and a nice jazz-fusion underpinning from Steve Winwood.

I'm thinking about a 7 out of 10.