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Click on the song titles above for lyrics and songwriting credits
A Secret Life is Marianne Faithfull’s 1995 collaboration with the late Angelo Badalamenti. Famed for his soundtracks, in particular his work on the auteur visions of David Lynch, Angelo made relatively few albums with singers making this album especially interesting.
Ever keen to challenge her musical status quo, it was after watching ‘Twin Peaks’ that Marianne recognised Badalamenti’s sound would make the perfect musical companion to her darkly poetic lyrics. Together the pair created a cinematic suite of songs that works almost as a concept album, a series of nocturnal vignettes that according to Angelo ran “the gamut of a woman’s emotional and passionate life with all its hidden underlying secrets exposed for us to hear and feel”.
A Secret Life remains one of Marianne’s most complete and cohesive artistic statements, and today she considers the album “one of the best ones I’ve ever done”. Badalamenti attributed the success of his partnership with Marianne to “a special trust in each other’s interpretation and feelings” calling it “a true collaboration”. Looking back, Marianne agrees: “He was magic, really charming and so talented. He certainly brought out something in me that was very, very precious.”
For Record Store Day 2023 A Secret Life receives its first global vinyl release, A Secret Life includes a previously unreleased track ‘You’re Not In London Anymore’ and has been remastered from the original tapes by Andrew Batt, who also contributes comprehensive sleevenotes featuring comments from both Angelo and Marianne. The CD edition designed by Estuary English includes a further two bonus tracks and previously unpublished photographs.
Musician Credits:
Bass – Mark Egan, Rob Devito, Rufus Reid
Cello – Beverely Lauridsen*, Clay Ruede, Frederick Zlotkin*, Julie Green, Mark Shuman, Richard Locker
Clarinet – Andre Badalamenti
Drums, Percussion – Gordon Gottlieb, Sam Merendino
Flute – Al Regni, Lawrence Feldman, Pamela Sklar
French Horn – Robert Carlisle
Guitar – Carmine D’Amico
Guitar, Mandolin – Vinnie Bell
Keyboards – Angelo Badalamenti, Kinny Landrum
Oboe, Oboe d’Amore – Shelley Woodworth, Sherry Sylar