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Marianne Faithfull: Horses and High Heels

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Dramatico/Naïve Records
Released: 2011.01.31
Time:
 52:10
Category: Rock, Blues, Jazz
Producer(s): Hal Willner
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.mariannefaithfull.org.uk
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2013
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] The Stations (G.Dulli/M.Lanegan) - 4:24
[2] Why Did We Have To Part (L.Voulzy/M.Faithfull) - 3:45
[3] That’s How Every Empire Falls (R.B.Morris) - 5:51
[4] No Reasons (J.Lomax) - 2:51
[5] Prussian Blue (D.Courts/M.Faithfull) - 5:03
[6] Love Song (L.Duncan) - 4:37
[7] Gee Baby (J.J.Johnson/M.A.Baker/S.Robinson/T.T.Texas) - 2:49
[8] Goin' Back (C.King/G.Goffin) - 3:41
[9] Past Present and Future (A.Butler/G.Morton/J.Leiber) - 2:46
[10] Horses and High Heels (D.Pettibone/M.Faithfull) - 3:52
[11] Back in Baby’s Arms (A.Toussaint) - 4:19
[12] Eternity (D.Pettibone/M.Faithfull) - 4:03
[13] The Old House (F.McGuiness/L.Abrahams) - 4:04

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Marianne Faithfull - Vocals

Karol Winton - Banjo, Bass, 12 String, Electric & Lap Steel Guitar, Mandolin, Vocals, Background Vocals
Doug Pettibone - Banjo, Composer, Acoustic, Electric & Pedal Steel Guitar, Vocals, Background Vocals
Jenni Muldaur - Vocals, Background Vocals
Bob Andrews - Fender Rhodes, Organ, Piano
Mark Bingham - Arranger, Bass, Engineer, Mixing, String Arrangements
Anthony Cuccia - Congas, Bass Drums, Glockenspiel, Handclapping, Shaker, Tambourine
Jonathan Frelich - Acoustic Guitar
George Porter, Jr. - Bass
John Porter - Guitar, Electric Guitar
Wayne Kramer - Electric Guitar
Mac Rebennack - Fender Rhodes, Piano
Lou Reed - Guitar, Soloist
Carlo Nuccio - Drums

James P. Walsh - Arranger, Conductor, String Arrangements
Jack Craft - Cello
Helen Gillet - Cello
Jon Gross - Tuba
Matt Rhod - Violin
Matt Rhody - Violin
Sam Kraft - Violin
Harmony Mintern - Harp
Matt Perrine - Tuba
Janna Sazlaw - Flute
Dr. Michael White - Clarinet

Hal Willner - Producer, Sampling
François Ravard - Creative Director, Executive Producer, Management
John Fischbach - Mastering
Rachel Fox - Production Manager
Shawn Hall - Production Coordination
Violette Nouailhac - Artwork
Patrick Swirc - Inside Photo
Jim Warren - Paintings

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


2001 CD Dramatico DRAMCD0072



Horses and High Heels is the 19th solo album release by British singer and songwriter Marianne Faithfull. The 13 track album was released on 31 January 2011 in continental Europe and on 7 March 2011 in the UK on the Dramatico record label. It was released in the United States on 28 June 2011 via the French Naïve Records label. "Why Did We Have To Part?" was released as a single from the album. Recorded in the New Orleans French Quarter in September and October 2010, the album features cover versions of 1960s classics and seven new songs, four of which were co-written by Faithfull herself. One of the new songs, "The Old House", was specially written for her by Irish playwright Frank McGuiness. There are two cameo appearances on guitar from Lou Reed with further cameos from Dr. John and MC5's Wayne Kramer. The album was produced by long-term collaborator Hal Willner. Rolling Stone gave the album a three-star rating, stating it is "heavy with lost love and Faithfull's honey-over-gravel voice."



'I don't really do conventional...' Recorded in New Orleans with a core of exceptional local musicians, the album features eight cover versions and four original new songs co-written by Marianne, four songs which feature the virtuoso guitar playing of John Porter, a musician/producer friend most noted for his work with Roxy Music, Eric Clapton and The Smiths. The album also includes one song with lyrics specially written for her by Irish playwright Frank McGuiness (the evocative 'The Old House'), two cameo appearances on guitar from another old friend, Lou Reed, plus further cameos from Dr. John and MC5's Wayne Kramer. It's all exquisitely produced by long-term collaborator Hal Willner, the soundscape alchemist behind the critically-lauded 'Easy Come, Easy Go' (2009), her astonishing collection of covers and duets featuring more of the kind of people Marianne calls friends, from Keith Richards and Jarvis Cocker to Rufus Wainwright and Nick Cave. There's the brooding, spectral guitar-rock of Greg Dulli & Mark Lanegan's 'The Stations', the swooning, country-rock tinge of R.B Morris' 'That's How Every Empire Falls' and the bar-room blues and 70s soul revue thrills of Jackie Lomax's 'No Reason'. 'We chose some soul material this time which I was very unsure of at first,' muses Marianne. 'No Reason', 'Back In Baby's Arms', 'Gee Baby', these songs are more vocally demanding and it was quite frightening. But I think we managed it.' Elsewhere are glimmering 70s soul classics, from the gorgeous, steel-guitar-layered 'Love Song' (originally written by 70s song-writer Lesley Duncan and made famous by Elton John), the bewitching piano reverie of Carol King's 'Goin' Back' (definitively recorded in '66 by Dusty Springfield) and her positively Shakespearian rendition of the Shangri-Las masterpiece, 'Past Present and Future'. Her four original new songs are a revelation: the folky and unfeasibly rousing 'Why Did We Have To Part?', an elegy to the end of a long relationship 'I just couldn't resist a break-up song - and the pain is over', to the rollicking, Hammond swirl of 'Prussian Blue' (a paean to her life in Paris), the rhythmically compelling, Celtic-folk-tinged 'Horses And High Heels' and the joyous 'Eternity' featuring a sampled Arabian-jazz flourish from Brian Jones' recording in Morocco with the Master Musicians of Jajouka (1968's 'Brian Jones Presents: The Pipes of Pan at Jajouka'). 'It's all a very different style for me,' notes Marianne, 'much more rhythmic. And a very modern record, it's not looking back to the past at all. All the songs are about now, you know?' Marianne is, they say, the Godmother of Goth, both doomed romantic and ultimate bohemian survivor. A teenage pop star, rock star's girlfriend and iconic beauty in the 1960s.

Amazon.com



By the time the Sixties were over, Marianne Faithfull had been run ragged as the glamorous muse of the Rolling Stones. For Horses and High Heels, she traveled to New Orleans, looking back on the past with fondness, to record what she called her "happy" album. Instead, we get 13 songs (including Dusty Springfield and Elton John covers) heavy with lost love and Faithfull's honey-over-gravel voice. But failed intent makes this no less soulful or enchanting. With help from Dr. John and guitarist John Porter, Faithfull, like New Orleans itself, proves hard times make for very good music.

Kaadzi Ghansah - July 18, 2011
RollingStone.com



Produced by long-term collaborator Hal Willner, Marianne Faithfull's 19th studio album, Horses and High Heels, sees the '60s icon revisit eight classic songs from her heyday on her second consecutive covers-heavy album, following 2009's Easy Come Easy Go. Its 13 tracks include reworkings of the Shangri-Las' "Past, Present and Future," Lesley Duncan's "Love Song," and Dusty Springfield's "Goin' Back," alongside several new compositions ("Why Did We Have to Part," "The Old House") and guest appearances from Lou Reed, Dr. John and MC5's Wayne Kramer.

Jon O'Brien - AllMusic.com



Many so-called UK blues or folk singers would die for the authentic, lived-in singing voice of Marianne Faithfull. Or, to put it more succinctly, many so-called UK blues or folk singers would literally die if they tried to follow in the footsteps of this iconic survivor. For many of her contemporaries, the end of the 60s meant little more than a hangover and a change of haircut, but for the author of Sister Morphine it meant the entire, catastrophic collapse of her life. By the end of 1970 she was a homeless heroin and cocaine addict living rough on the streets of Soho after losing custody of her child and having suffered the awful accusation of being the primary cause of her own mother’s suicide attempt.

When she finally starting piecing her life back together, some snide reviews claimed that she had "permanently vulgarized" her voice. But really she had the equipment she needed to make her grand statement, 1979’s jaw dropping Broken English – a truly astonishing album, despite the terrible cost she paid in order to be able to make it.

Horses and High Heels is her first record since covers collection Easy Come, Easy Go in 2009, and its mix of originals and standards shows that the 64-year-old singer has at least partially dealt with her writer’s block of recent years. There are few men or women of any age who could convincingly cover The Twilight Singers’ drug-ravaged hymn The Stations, but Ms Faithfull does without even stretching herself. Again her voice is ideal to cope with the rueful Carole King classic, Goin’ Back. To be honest though, this reviewer could have done with more of her own songs, such as the killer title-track and Why Did We Have to Part, instead of the pointless, cabaret-style schmaltz of Past, Present and Future.

As always, she has a stellar cast of friends helping out including Lou Reed, Brother Wayne Kramer from the MC5 and Dr John to name but a few. If there is a fault with this record however, it isn’t Faithfull’s but her band’s, as the playing is perhaps just too polite and polished. For a woman of such talent, who has lived so much and seen so much, one can’t help but hope she gets the same chance Johnny Cash did with Rick Rubin before the end of her career because as good as this record is, she deserves slightly more.

John Doran - BBC Review



In a 2009 interview, Marianne Faithfull expressed a fervent hope “to find love soon.” Here’s hoping she doesn’t. As tragic and tumultuous as Faithfull’s life and career have been over the past 45 years, that’s only deepened her music’s eroded soulfulness. And enriched her voice, of course; on her new album, Horses And High Heels, Faithfull’s trademark rasp is brought to bear against eight standards, mostly vintage R&B, and five originals, four co-written by Faithfull. The outcome is reliably haunting.

In a fractured croon that sounds like a choir of cracked knuckles, Faithfull begins the album with an agonizing version of The Gutter Twins’ “The Stations,” which references Christ’s Passion even as it skirts the precipice of personal apocalypse—the kind Faithfull knows all too well, and interprets with a grim, almost courteous resignation. Not to let a full head of Armageddon go to waste, she imbues R.B. Morris’ “That’s How Every Empire Falls” with croaked poetry and delicate reverberations of dread.

Guests Lou Reed, Dr. John, and The MC5’s Wayne Kramer make tasteful appearances—and poet Frank McGuinness continues his association with Faithfull via his lyrics to the album’s closer, “The Old House”—but Horses is wholly Faithfull’s show. And her hope still wriggles its way through the gloom; her rendition of Allen Toussaint’s “Back In Baby’s Arms” clings sweetly to the future, even as Reed’s distorted guitar spits bliss and rancor in equal doses. If Faithfull is fated to be hammered by heartbreak, at least it makes for rough, crumbling gems like this.

© Copyright 2014 Onion Inc.



Die englische Sängerin befreit sich von den Geistern der Vergangenheit. "Horses And High Heels" markiert ein weiteres Kapitel einer späten Selbstfindung der 1946 geborenen englischen Sängerin. Nach dem 1999 von Daniel Lanois produzierten Comebackalbum "Vagabond Ways" veröffentlichte Marianne Faithfull regelmäßig neue Platten, auf denen sie sich ambitioniert mit den profiliertesten Musikern und Songwritern unserer Zeit (u. a. Nick Cave, Damon Albarn, Beck, Billy Corgan) auseinandersetzte. Auf "Horses And High Heels" handelt es sich um eine nostalgische, jazzig-melancholische, in den Folk und in den Rock hineinwurzelnde Klangarchitektur. Vier der 13 Songs hat Faithfull gemeinsam mit dem Session-Gitarristen Doug Pettibone geschrieben, sie stellen das inhaltliche Rückgrat des Albums dar. Die Größe Marianne Faithfulls macht sich vor allem aber in ihren Coverversionen bemerkbar, etwa Elton Johns "Love Song". So präsentiert sie zum ersten Mal seit "Broken English" (1979) einen rundum in sich geschlossenen Songzyklus. Ganz klar: Mit "Horses And High Heels" hat sich diese große Frau befreit von den Geistern der Vergangenheit.

Amazon.de



Marianne Faithfull kann sie alle haben: Exklusiv für ihr 23. Album hat der irische Dichter Frank McGuinness den Text zu "The old House" geschrieben, Lou Reed greift mehrmals für die Diva zur Gitarre, auch Dr. John und Wayne Kramer von der Detroiter Rocklegende MC5 stehen auf der Gästeliste. Trotzdem überrascht Faithfull vor allem mit verstärktem DIY-Anteil: Während sie sich zuletzt auf Interpretationen fremder Kompositionen konzentrierte, sind diesmal auch vier Songs dabei, an denen sie zumindest als Koautorin beteiligt war. Vielleicht überzeugen die eigenen Stücke wie die Trennungshymne "Why did we have to part", der Popohrwurm "Prussian Blue" oder das überraschend optimistische "Eternity" vor allem deshalb so sehr, weil sie bei den Coverversionen auch mal daneben greift. Allen Touissants "Back in Baby's Arms" bleibt etwa öder Soulschmonz, und beim Bluesstampfer "No Reason" klingt sie sogar erstmals richtig gestrig. Aber auch den Herzzerreißer des Albums verdankt sie prominenter Vorarbeit: Wenn sie bei R. B. Morris' "That's how every Empire falls" mit den unvermeidlichen Kompromissen des Älterwerdens hadert, verzeiht man ihr sofort jeden missglückten Flirt mit ollem Country und Blues.

(cs) - kulturnews.de



"Trotz einiger Unwägbarkeiten, trotz einiger hörbarer Brüche wird Marianne Faithfull als Interpretin von Platte zu Platte beeindruckender." (stereoplay, 02 / 2011)

"Gemein ist ihnen allen ein Grundgefühl, das jenseits der Arrangements liegt, das alleine ihre große Stimme transportiert. Man könnte es Rootsrock mit Jazz-Einschlag nennen, vielleicht auch orchestralen Folkpop. Man könnte das Wort ,,Noir" einbinden, aber eigentlich könnte man all das auch sein lassen und einfach nur hinhören." (Audio, 02 / 2011)

"Die Grande Dame des britischen Pop wird persönlicher und beginnt zu resümieren." (musikexpress, 02 / 2011)

"Mit "Horses and High Heels" feiert Marianne Faithfull ihren dritten, ach was, ihren vierten Frühling!" (Good Times, 02-03 / 2011)
 

 L y r i c s


THE STATIONS

O, Mama
Ain't no time to fall to pieces
He has arrived, He has arrived
There by the grace of God go I-
I don't know what they mean
I don't know what they mean
And I say-

O, Father
Now I can't believe you're leaving
Seen thru your eyes, seen thru your eyes
There by the grace of God go I-
I don't know what they mean
I don't know what they mean
And I say-

I hear the rapture's comin'
They say He'll be here soon
Right now there's demons crawling all around my room
They say He lives within me
They say for me He died
And now I hear His footsteps
All most every night

O, Children
This is where they come to take me away-
From here
I don't know what they mean
I don't know what they mean
And I say-


WHY DID WE HAVE TO PART

Why did we have to part my love?
Why couldn't life just stay the same?
It was over and i didn't know it
Living without you feels so strange

I remember the night when we met each other
It was a very long time ago
We both have changed for the better
We are so much kinder now, i know

Why did we have to part my love?
Why couldn't life just stay the same?
It was over and i didn't know it
Living without you feels so strange

The night you said you loved another
I simply could not take it in
What would i do without your love?
So cold and lonely it became

Why did we have to part my love?
Why couldn't life just stay the same?
It was over and i didn't know it
Living without you feels so strange

We are very good friends, my love
We have passed the wall of hate
But you know
I'll never come back again

Why did we have to part my love?
Why couldn't life just stay the same?
It was over and i didn't know it
Living without you feels so strange

Why did we have to part my love?
Why couldn't life just stay the same?
It was over and i didn't know it
Living without you feels so strange

Why did we have to part my love?
Why couldn't life just stay the same?
It was over and i didn't know it
Living without you feels so strange


THAT'S HOW EVERY EMPIRE FALLS

Caught a train from Alexandria
Just a broken man in flight
Running scared with his devils
Saying prayers all through the night
Oh but mercy can't find him
Not in the shadows where he calls
Forsaking all his better angels
That's how every empire falls

The bells ring out on Sunday mornng
Like echoes from another time
All our innocence and yearning
And sense of wonder left behind
Oh gentle hearts remember
What was that story? Is it lost?
For when religion loses vision
That's how every empire falls.

He toasts his wife and all his family
The providence he brought to bear
They raise their glasses in his honor
Although this union they don't share
A man who lives among them
Was still a stranger to them all
For when the heart is never open
That's how every empire falls

Padlock the door and board the windows
Put the people in the street
"It's just my job," he says "I'm sorry."
And draws a check, goes home to eat
But at night he tells his woman
"I know I hide behind the laws."
She says, "You're only taking orders."
That's how every empire falls.

A bitter wind blows through the country
A hard rain falls on the sea
If terror comes without a warning
There must be something we don't see
What fire begets this fire?
Like torches thrown into the straw
If no one asks, then no one answers
That's how every empire falls.


NO REASON

Got to get my head together
Throw my clothes in a bag
'Cause I can't go on forever
My conversation is a drag

Ain't got no reason to be happy
Ain't got no reason to be sad
But I just got reason to be mad

Catch a cab down to the station
Jump a fast movin' train
For some distant destination
Won't be back this way again
Ain't got no reason to be happy
Ain't got no reason to be sad
But I just got reason to be mad

Ain't got no reason

Ain't got no reason

If I ever get to see her
I won't know what to say
'Cause I still don't wanna leave her
But my wife won't let her stay
Ain't got no reason to be happy
Ain't got no reason to be sad
But I just got reason to be mad

Ain't got no reason


PRUSSIAN BLUE

Walking over the bridge
To l'Eglise Américaine
65 Quai d'Orsay
The river runs by
The sky around la Sainte-Trinité
Cerulean blue and scarlet lay

Can I make (get, see, bear, stand) it for just one day?
I listen to the rain('s) falling gray to the ground
I can feel (hear) my heart's calling many hearts around

Dreams the color of jade
The church in gold
Quai d'Orsay rose doré
I'm going upstairs
To take my place
Shadows of violet and Prussian blue

I'm walking along
Leaving the church
Feeling better in my heart of hearts
The sun sets chrome yellow with a touch of white
Clouds of light and leaden gray


LOVE SONG

The words I have to say
May well be simple but they're true
Until you give your love
There's nothing more that we can do

Love is the opening door
Love is what we came here for
No one could offer you more
Do you know what I mean
Have your eyes really seen

You say it's very hard
To leave behind the life we knew
But there's no other way
And now it's really up to you

Love is the key we must turn
Truth is the flame we must burn
Freedom the lesson we must learn
Do you know what I mean
Have your eyes really seen


GEE BABY

Ooh baby, you're so fine
I like to have you 'round me
Talk to me one time
Ooh baby, baby you're so fine
Gee baby, like to make you all mine

Ooh baby, say that I should stay
I like your lovin' any old old way
Ooh baby, baby you're so fine
Gee baby, like to make you all mine

Ooh baby, don't you love mre too?
I'd like to have a ring just to prove you do
Ooh baby, baby you're so fine
Gee baby, like to make you all mine


GOIN' BACK

I think I'm going back
To the things I learned so well in my youth
I think I'm returning to
The days when I was young enough to know the truth

Now there are no games to only pass the time
No more electric trains, no more trees to climb
Thinking young and growing older is no sin
And I can play the game of life to win

I can recall a time
When I wasn't ashamed to reach out to a friend
Now I think I've got
A lot more than my toys to lend

Now there's much to do than watch my sailboat glide
And every day can be my magic carpet ride
A little bit of freedom is all we lack
So catch me if you can, I'm going back

A little bit of courage is all we lack
So catch me if you can, I'm going back
Going back


PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

(The Past)
Past - well now let me tell you about the past
Past is filled with silent joys and broken toys
Laughing girls and teasing boys
Was I ever in love?
I called it love
I mean - it felt like love
There were moments when...
Well, there were moments when...

(Present)
Go out with you?
Why not?
Do I like to dance?
Of course
Take a walk along the beach tonight?
I'd love to
(But) Don't try to touch me
Don't try to touch me
Cause that will never happen again
Shall we dance?

(The Future)
Tomorrow - well... Tomorrow is a long way off
Maybe someday I'll hold somebody's hand
Maybe somewhere someone will understand
You know - I used to sing: “A tisket, a tasket, a green and yellow basket”
I'm all packed up and I'm on my way and I'm gonna fall in love
But at the moment it's doesn't look good
At the moment it will never happen again
I don't think it will ever happen again


HORSES AND HIGH HEELS

When I lived in the city of Dublin
It suited my face and my tears
The talk, the drink and the friends were good
And stood for my hopes and my fears

I lived in a flat in Ballsbridge
And at two in the morning I'd hear
The sound as the horses came back from their work
And the horses clip-clop coming near

Horses and high heels, horses and high heels
What every city knows and fears

Late at night in Paris
In my apartment that 's up from the street
I hear a girl in high heels who must run in
To meet a lover extremely discreet

Horses and high heels, horses and high heels
What every city knows and fears

In Dublin and Paris women are running
Ghostly horses return from the park
Have to meet a man of their dreams
And stables so warm and dark

Horses and high heels, horses and high heels
What every city knows and fears.


BACK IN BABY'S ARMS

I'm back in baby's arms how I've missed those lovin' arms
I'm back where I belong back in baby's arms

Don't know why we quarrel we never did before
Since we found out how it hurts I bet we never quarrel anymore
I'm back in baby's arms...

Thought I didn't need his love till it took away
Now I'm back where I belong in my baby's arms I'm gonna stay
I'm back in baby's arms...
Back in baby's arms back in baby's arms


ETERNITY

Jump for joy
Shake with fear
This is an everlasting year
Count the changes
Coming near
Eternity is here

Look inside yourself
are burning bright
No, you can't let go
You must hold on to the light
To hold a space in time
For love to
Learn to use this power
The power to give delight

Everything we are
All we'll ever be
Everyone we've ever loved
Live within the space
That's moving with the time
Travelling at the speed of light
Touching the divine

Like with the street
Traveling at the speed of ligyht
Touching the divine

I know that it's not over
I'm never letting go
I'll be with you forever
Constant as the river flows


THE OLD HOUSE

I saw a stranger
Sitting in shirtsleeves
Outside the old house, the old house
I didn't know him
Nor him me
Passing the old house, the old house
He should be careful
When he locks up at night
The door of the old house, the old house
For my father's ghost, my mother's ghost
Left me the keys to the old house

They say break in, scare them away
These folks that live in the old house
Who is that stranger house
Sitting in chains
Outside the old house, the old house
I don't know him
Nor him me
Haunting the old house, the old house
For my father's ghost, my mother's ghost
Left me the keys to the old house

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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