She’s a Rainbow

Marianne Faithfull released two albums for the U.K. market in the spring of 1965 for her debut. she took the strange approach of issuing them simultaneously. The First, simply titled Marianne Faithfull, was a pop-oriented collection that fans of her hit singles would have expected. The other in contrast, Come My Way, was comprised entirely of folk tunes, most of them quite traditional, Featuring acoustic settings arranged by the guitarist Jon Mark. Maryannl at this early stage in her career still had the tremulous soprano common to many female folk singers of her era. While her singing here is pleasant and adequite, it’s somewhat average if compared to the emotional commitment and personality the finest song stylists of such tunes brought to the material at the time. Indeed, Faithfull herself would do the same kind of material, with much greater vocal originality and more forceful sidemen, on her underrated third U.K. album, 1966’s North Country Maid. Still, it’s an fair album, Mary ann putting her pipes to convincing use on folk revival standards like “Portland Town,” “House of the Rising Sun,” “Once I Had a Sweetheart,” and “Black Girl,” stretching on a contemporary song with Ian Tyson’s “Four Strong Winds.” Her reading of “Lonesome Traveller” stands out for the propulsive arrangement, with strident 12-string guitar strums and bongos. The CD reissue, made available briefly in Britain in the early ’90s and then in Japan in the early 2000s, adds an additional four bonus tracks: the 1964 B-side “Blowin’ in the Wind”; “Et Maintenant,” from a 1965 EP; the poppy and bluesy 1966 B-side “That’s Right Baby”; and her classic 1969 single “Sister Morphine,” which predated the Rolling Stones’ version by a couple of years.

Track list;
01 - Come My Way. 2:08
02 - Jaberwock. 2:39
03 - Portland Town. 3:04
04 - House Of The Rising Sun. 2:32
05 - Spanish Is A Loving Tongue. 2:47
06 - Fare Thee Well. 2:56
07 - Lonesome Traveller. 2:07
08 - Down In The Salley Garden. 2:09
09 - Mary Ann. 1:50
10 - Full Fathom Five. 1:31
11 - Four Strong Winds. 3:03
12 - Black Girl. 2:33
13 - Once I Had A Sweetheart. 2:12
14 - Bells Of Freedom. 2:08
15 - Blowin’ In The Wind. 3:13
16 - Et Maintenant. 3:35
17 - That’s Right Baby. 2:54
18 - Sister Morphine. 5:35