Easy Come, Easy Go
by Marianne Faithfull
  • Record Label: Decca
  • Release Date: Mar 17, 2009
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. Los Angeles Times
    100
    On her latest full-length collection, Marianne Faithfull, the queen of torch songs for the damaged soul, reteams with producer Hal Willner for another beautifully haunting tour of a landscape littered with the detritus of shredded hearts.
  2. The Boston Phoenix
    88
    The rest of this satisfying album is a classic Hal Willner production, complete with the unusual cover choices (Decemberists, Espers, very late Eno) and the usual Willner Family Players (Nick Cave, Antony Hegarty, Rufus Wainwright, Marc Ribot) in back-up duties.
  3. musicOMH.com
    80
    For most of its lengthy running time, though, Easy Come, Easy Go is terrific.
  5. Rolling Stone
    80
    Marianne Faithfull confirms her status as matriarch on this brilliantly programmed covers set.
  6. Q Magazine
    80
    Her lived in voice adds new nuance to material as diverse as the traditional Kimbie and Morrissey's 'Dear God Please Help Me.' [Feb 2009, p.113]
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  7. Uncut
    80
    It’s an extravagantly orchestrated set, but with Marc Ribot as lead guitarist and the Dirty Three’s Jim White on drums, the playing remains off-kilter, to quite thrilling effect.
  8. Billboard
    80
    This new recording is richer and more daring in its arrangements and choice of material.
  9. Hot Press
    80
    Grand old dame delivers stunning Hal Willner-produced extravaganza.
  10. Pitchfork
    75
    There is no guiding conceit to Easy Come Easy Go, no criteria that connects all of Faithfull's sources, which frees her up considerably to find the hidden passages between these disparate songs.
  11. AllMusic
    70
    If you are patient, there is more than enough here to hold your attention and take you on journeys through love, lust, tragedy, and longing and bring you home again.
  12. Hartford Courant
    70
    An album as engrossing as it is sometimes unsettling.
  13. Under The Radar
    70
    It's a lush, elegant, tear-stained record. [Spring 2009, p.71]
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  14. Entertainment Weekly
    67
    Her interpretations of songbook classics from the likes of Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard, and Smokey Robinson (as well as a few relative youngsters, including Neko Case and the Decemberists) are gratifyingly intimate and rough-hewn, and the production is gorgeous--even if it does, as its title implies, fail to leave a lasting impact.
  15. Austin Chronicle
    67
    Faithfull's voice is too witchy for some selections--that limited vocal range is the album's downside--but she nonetheless delivers indie standards with timeless emotion, poise, and grace.
  16. Observer Music Monthly
    60
    Its gravelly tones are certainly no thing of beauty, but when married to the right song Faithfull can still emote, still deliver. There's plenty of plain wrong material, though.
  17. Spin
    60
    She lacks the flexibility that jazz demands--she simply can't swing. But when she interprets material (from downbeat bards Randy Newman, Colin Meloy, and others) that matches the drug-ravaged wreckage of her vocal chords, she kills.
  18. The Guardian
    60
    Tthis Hal Willner-produced covers album (a kind of sequel to 1987's Strange Weather) is too baggy and diffuse to hold the attention, but Faithfull's formidable croak can really worm its way under a song's skin.
  19. Mojo
    60
    Despite her emotional punk-meets-Brecht contralto, Marianne's vocal limitations are clear on tracks like 'Easy Come, Easy Go' or Sondheim's Somewhere (A Place For Us)' which she struggles through with an overawed Jarvis Cocker. But she shines on songs that seem more personal to her. [Apr 2009, p.99]
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User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 6 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 6
  3. Negative: 1 out of 6
  1. EarlM
    Apr 27, 2009
    9
    Been reading some reviews that seem to think the music doesn't stay with you. It does. This has been the only CD in my player for about Been reading some reviews that seem to think the music doesn't stay with you. It does. This has been the only CD in my player for about eight weeks now. I'm a fan anyway; the sound is so clean its astonishing (great recording). Another fabulous recored although yes, I would have preferred harder "Before the Poison"-type music. But the surprises of each new Faithfull release make deep listening a must, every time.… Full Review »
  2. AdrienS
    Mar 30, 2009
    9
    An artful, often rocking collection of cover songs from Faithfull. Her worn voice requires just the right fight with both song and An artful, often rocking collection of cover songs from Faithfull. Her worn voice requires just the right fight with both song and production, which she manages on most of this two disk set. Covers of Parton's "Down From Dover" and Morrissey's "Oh God, Please Help Me" are standouts. Neko Case's "Hold on, Hold on" is a marvel.… Full Review »
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