Sunset Boulevard (RCA/Legacy)
While there's a full five-disc box set called Sunset Boulevard now on the shelves to delight Elvis fans, packed with 89 tracks of Sunset Sessions rarities, what we have here is a companion double LP of cherry-picked highlights.
"Across 89 tracks, the collection captures Presley’s recording sessions and rehearsals at RCA’s iconic Sunset Boulevard studio from 1970-1975 — in the studio with his legendary TCB band — resulting in classics like 'Burning Love,' 'Always On My Mind,' and 'T-R-O-U-B-L-E,'" a statement reads. "More than half of the recordings on Sunset Boulevard have never been released in the U.S. before, and many of those that have been heard are newly mixed by four-time GRAMMY-winner Matt Ross-Spang – more raw and unfiltered than ever, with overdubs stripped to reveal the immediacy of Presely’s voice in the studio."
It seems particularly appropriate, and poignant, that this writer is reviewing the LP in his apartment situated a stone's throw from Sunset Boulevard, and in particular the film school on Sunset that now sits in the building that used to house RCA's historic Studio C.
The fact that these incredible recordings--gorgeous renditions of "Always On My Mind" and "Fool," among many others--were recorded just down the street is bizarre. Regardless, this collection is simply stunning and must have for Elvis fans, collectors, and even casual music lovers.
Marianne Faithfull (ABKCO/Decca)
Come My Way (ABKCO/Decca)
North Country Maid (ABKCO/Decca)
Loveinamist (ABKCO/Decca)
Cast Your Fate to the Wind (ABKCO/Decca)
What a gift it is to be able to revisit the early musical works of Marianne Faithfull, thanks to these represses, remasters and, in the case of Cast Your Fate to the Wind, a new collection of B-sides, singles and rarities.
History isn't as kind to Faithfull as it should be. We can put that down to bullshit sexism--just ask Yoko Ono. But on each of these LPs, her voice soars. A beautiful blend of vulnerability and strength, we find folk, pop-rock, and French yé-yé girl effortlessly rubbing shoulders.
We're told that her self-titled debut was a pop album, and the pair that followed were folk, before she returned to pop. In reality, all of them have lovely elements of both.
Faithfull's versions of "Down Town" and "As Tears Go By" are stunning in their delicacy, while she shines while singing French on, for example, "Plaisir D'Amour."
"The 2LP compilation Cast Your Fate To The Wind groups together all the singles, B-sides and rarities released in the UK, alongside four previously unreleased recordings," a statement reads. "These include 'A Strange World,' the pop track earmarked by her discoverer Andrew Loog Oldhamas the follow up to 'As Tears Go By' but abandoned in favor of Marianne’s choice of Bob Dylan’s 'Blowin’ In The Wind' (also included), a haunting a cappella version of 'She Moved Thru The Fair,' an outtake from the Loveinamist sessions that gives this set its title, and an alternative version of Donovan’s trippy 'Good Guy.'"
There's so much on this set, which is also available as a CD box, that it's worth setting a weekend aside to properly get reacquainted with Marianne.
