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Click on the song titles above for lyrics and songwriting credits

It was Marianne’s great version of ‘Ballad Of The Soldier’s Wife’ for Hal Willner’s Lost In The Stars tribute to Kurt Weill that planted the seed for the 20th Century Blues album. Originally, Willner suggest the two of them record a whole album of songs from the Brecht Weill catalogue, and while that idea never came to fruition, it did inspire the superb Strange Weather LP that they recorded together in 1987.

Ten years later, Marianne decided to produce an album herself that would cover her favourite Brecht/Weill songs and some other selections from the era of the Weimar Republic. She first unveiled her Brecht/Weill show at The Brooklyn Academy Of Music in 1995 and the success of that performance led Marianne to take it on the road. Sold-out shows and rave reviews across the globe followed and the Paris date at The New Morning club was recorded. The bulk of 20th Century Blues is made up of from that show with additional tracks recorded live at Wessex Studios in London.

Accompanied by only pianist Paul Trueblood and bassist Chuchow, Marianne’s affinity for cabaret is clearly audible throughout the show and her voice feels tailor-made for the material, particularly the Marlene Dietrich songs by Friedrich Hollaender. Her reading of ‘Illusions’ written for the 1948 film A Foreign Affair, is on a par with the original as is her stunning reading of ‘Falling In Love Again’, from Dietrich’s 1929 breakthrough film, The Blue Angel.

Although ‘Mack The Knife’ is probably the best-known song from the Weill/Brecht catalogue Marianne brings it back to its cabaret roots as it was originally heard as part of The Threepenny Opera. Marianne played the part of Pirate Jenny in her close friend Frank McGuinness’s adaptation of The Threepenny Opera for the Gate Theatre in Dublin, and here she delivers the song ‘Pirate Jenny’ with total conviction. Two songs from the period of Weill’s forced exile due to Hitler’s rise to power stand out: the first ‘Complante De La Seine’ was written with Maurice Magre, and Marianne delivers its macabre story with haunting simplicity in the original French, on the second she reprises her powerful performance of ‘The Ballad Of The Soldier’s Wife’, which was written with Brecht during their exile in America. The title-track written by Noel Coward, is the only English song on the album; Marianne had first performed it as part of David Bowie’s 1980 Floor Show in 1974, and it’s elegant ennui sounds right at home among the rest of the material capturing the mood of the era perfectly.

A new interpretation of ‘Boulevard Of Broken Dreams’ (recorded on Strange Weather) fits superbly into the mix alongside the very music that inspired it, as does the only contemporary song to be included here, Harry Nilsson’s ‘Don’t Forget Me’. The performance must rank as one of Marianne’s all-time greatest recordings, and the song was released as a CD single prior to the album’s release with an accompanying pop video directed by John Boorman.

Two of the best (and oldest) songs of the Weill/Brecht canon close out the album in style. ‘Surabaya Johnny’ and ‘Street Singers Farewell’, both are delivered with a great deal of cynicism, spite, and black humour. Marianne’s incredible interpretive skills are on display throughout the entire disc, and the choice of material served as a reminder of an artist who constantly challenged herself and was rewarded for doing so. 20th Century Blues was a daring and brave undertaking, but Marianne had enough confidence in herself and the material that she made it sound authentic, effortless, and wholly original. The closing night of the tour was televised in a hour long special, and also released on a DVD called Marianne Faithfull Sings Kurt Weill Live in Montreal the concert was part of the esteemed Festival International de Jazz de Montreal, and marked the culmination of a highly successful year-long tour with pianist/arranger Paul Trueblood which brought Marianne to a whole new audience.

The DVD tracklist was slightly different to the CD running:

1. Alabama Song
2. Pirate Jenny
3. Bilbao Song
4. Complainte de la Seine
5. The Ballad of the Soldier’s Wife
6. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
7. Don’t Forget Me
8. Surabaya Johnny
9. Street Singer’s Farewell
10.If Love Were All

The Japanese edition of the DVD contained the full concert, not just the hour long broadcast:
1. Alabama Song
2. Pirate Jenny
3. Illusions
4. Bilbao Song
5. 20th Century Blues
6. Complainte de la Seine
7. Ballad of the Soldier’s wife
8. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
9. Falling In Love Again
10. Mack The Knife
11. Chat -Life Without Drugs
12. Don’t Forget Me
13. Surabaya Johnny
14. Street Singers Farewell
15. If Love Were All
16. As Tears Go By
17. Hang On To A Dream
18. Love Is Teasin’