Marianne Faithfull - Go Away From My World

I really can't say I've ever listened to Marianne Faithfull.

The first thing that really jumped out at me, aside from the nearly horrific condition of the record, was her voice. Particularly her vibrato. I know this was something of a hallmark in the early '60s among some folk singers but dang it, it just makes me think of running my finger up and down my Adam's apple while trying to sing.

Of course the Germans have a word for this. They seem to have a word for everything to describe any situation. So off to the internet I went. Originally I was looking for a word my mum used to use that sounded a bit like "hecka" that she said described the sound a chicken made just before you chopped off its head.

As you'd expect that search came up with a lot, A LOT of unusable trivia. However, eventually I settled on Die Schwebung, which roughly translates to a "floating" or "hovering" vibrato. In German acoustic terms, a Schwebung happens when two pitches are so close they create a beating, wave-like oscillation. It describes an untutored, dreamy, and airy warble that feels like it’s floating just slightly out of strict pitch (thank you Musicology Now).

I am getting ahead of myself, let's take a moment to reset. For those of us who had (still have) cassette decks, think of this as pressing the RTZ (return to zero) button. I was recently visiting my friend Paul and he had two boxes of old records in his den. He saw me eyeballing them and said, "Look, I'm getting rid of those, take a look and help yourself."

Rooting around I pulled out an old Dave Clarke Five album, a Vera Lynn Christmas record, something by Delaney and Bonnie and this undated mono release of Marianne Faithfull's Go Away From My World. There were also a few records by the Mom and Dads I regret not pulling out. They were no joke and racked up more gold and platinum records in Canada than most of the rock bands I liked.

The back cover has a short essay by Andy Wickham that I suppose in the mid '60s was cool, man. The little blurb name checks Dylan, Joan Baez and Rolling Stones. Marianne was still in her late teens when this came out in '65. By comparison I was two, so the most intelligible sounds I was making were non-verbal.

This era of the folk scene is like an early map of the new world. Here be dragons, or more specifically "Puff, the Magic Dragons." Aside from a few names that have been woven into popular culture I really don't know much about this period. Marianne Faithfull was always more of a name that came up in British rock circles, but as to her own contributions to the scene I was oblivious. So it was this album I was curious to hear.

Sadly, it is true the first thing I noticed was her voice and vibrato, and being me I couldn't help but take some potshots, but from the first track, "Go Away From My World," there was something about her delivery and warmth that was more endearing than irritating. Who knows how much was the result of producer Mike Leander, or Marianne, but the result felt special.

The record doesn't list songwriting credits, but there are a handful of recognizable covers from The Beatles' "Yesterday" to Simon and Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair" (to be fair, Paul didn't write it, so was it a cover?) but there are a number of traditional folk songs as well. The most beautiful, yes I said beautiful, being "Wild Mountain Time" (yes Time, not Thyme, but she means Thyme, but it's spelled Time on the back cover), which is captivating. As to the musicians, there's a photo of guitarist Jon Mark and Big Jim Sullivan, both of whom were well-known English session men.

There are a dozen tracks here, and the whole thing clocks in at under 30 minutes, but it doesn't feel short. There's enough going on that it feels like a much more substantial listen, and I think that's part of what surprised me about it.

Go Away From My World was one of her early albums, and there was something special happening. Looking at the cover, this is the image I have when I think of her, and reading about the tumultuous years makes me sad. This early album was all sunshine and rainbows and a future full of unrealized promise, and the desire to be left alone to be happy was right there in the title.