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Boston Globe NOVEMBER 10, 2014 - by James Reed

MARIANNE FAITHFULL: GIVE MY LOVE TO LONDON

Marianne Faithfull does not bend to musical styles: They bend to her. As early as 1979's Broken English, each of the English singer-songwriter's albums has been as much about her persona as a damaged but defiant survivor - or "the bohemian grandmother," as she described herself to the Globe in 2011. Give My Love To London has a poignant air of saying farewell, and if it is indeed her swan song, it's a triumphant sendoff that reiterates what a singular figure she has been in rock music. It's among her broadest work, spanning intimate ballads (Love More Or Less), apocalyptic art songs (Late Victorian Holocaust), and harrowing blues (True Lies). The title track summons the jingle-jangle of her 1960s folk-pop beginnings, except now she's surveying the decay: "I'll visit all the places / I used to know so well / From Maida Vale to Chelsea / Paradise to hell." Working with a cast that includes Roger Waters, Nick Cave, Anna Calvi, and Brian Eno, Faithfull commands your attention with the grace and gravitas at play in her voice.