When Faithfull first stepped her foot in the music industry, she played folk shows in coffee shops. As she began entering London’s social scene, she began meeting important producers and agents. Then she was discovered by Andrew Loog Oldham at a Rolling Stones release party. In 1964 she found herself writing her first big hit with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards titled “As Years Go By”.

After Faithfull ended her first marriage to John Dunbar shortly after giving birth to their child, she moved in with Mick Jagger. The two began a heavily publicized relationship, and Faithfull started using a variety of drugs once the couple became a large part of the London Swinging scene.

She was found wearing only a rug while the London police were conducting a drug raid at Keith Richards home. Faithfull says the incident destroyed her, and pointed out that when men were openly drug addicts it was commendable to act in this kind of way. “A woman in that situation becomes a slut and a bad mother”.

The Rolling Stones had previously written songs concerning Faithfull, specifically “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and “Sympathy for the Devil”. Their song “Sister Morphine” sparked a legal battle, with Richards and Jagger releasing the song in their own name despite Faithfull being listed as a co-writer. This eliminated her chance of getting royalties or any form of payment for the song.

By 1970, Faithfull was homeless and battling a heroin addiction and anorexia despite having been one of the most famous singers in the UK and previously releasing 5 studio albums. She stopped making public appearances and attempted to take control of her addiction several times throughout these years. After losing custody of her son she attempted suicide but thankfully survived.

She got back on her feet enough to release another country album, “Dreamin’ My Dreams” (also titled “Faithless”), in 1976. Three years later “Broken English” skyrocketed her career once more. Faithfull calls it her masterpiece.

Since Faithfull was previously a country/folk musician, hearing an album so based on hard rock was a sharp stylistic turn.

Her voice also changed very much throughout her time living on the streets due to untreated illness such as bronchitis and laryngitis as well as smoking heavily. Her voice in “North Country Maid”, her fourth folk album released in 1966, is much higher and not raspy in the slightest. It lilts, and uses vibrato in her high notes.

However, in “Broken English”, her voice is very deep and extremely raspy. Since the album delves deeply into Faithfull’s drinking habits, drug addiction, and homelessness, this voice is the most emotional part of the album. It is a tangible way to see how this period in her life changed her. It shows us what Faithfull is really singing about.

The first couple of songs don’t get into Faithfull’s difficult experiences, but are still exemplary of her musical changes. The album starts out with the title track, “Broken English”, which was inspired by the terrorist group called Baader-Meinhof Gang. After Faithfull read and watched a documentary about a co-founder of the group, she was inclined to write this song to question their motives.

“Witches’ Song” has a much more uplifting meaning. The lyrics tell the story of a group of witches that find solace in one another. There is a definite feeling of hopefulness. The song ends with the lyric “remember death is far away and life is sweet”. This is a comforting sentiment from someone who once thought that their life wasn’t worth living anymore.

The next song, “Brain Drain”, begins to touch on Faithful’s drug addiction. Tim Hardin, one of the most popular American folk singers at the time, co-wrote the song. It was one of the last songs he wrote before he died of a heroin overdose in 1980 and is uncredited on the album.

The bridge of the song, “Got so much to offer, but I can’t pay the rent/I can’t buy you flowers ‘cause the money’s all spent”, speaks to me the most. Since an addict is no less of a person than anybody else, of course they have much to offer even if they can’t always act on it. This line seems like a foreshadow to the rest of Faithfull’s life. Even though she was still an addict when “Broken English” came out, it was a catalyst to her eventual sobriety.

“Guilt” is a confusing song for me, and probably my least favorite on the album. Faithfull repeats the kinds of crimes or wrongdoings she hasn’t committed, but would embrace if she had. She still feels like she’s done these things, however, which is causing her to feel guilty. I can see how, given her past, she would have a lot of experience with these mixed emotions. People often tell addicts that they are doing everything wrong, but it’s not always something that can be helped.

“The Ballad of Lucy Jordan” is a song written by Shel Silverstein, a famous poet and children’s book writer from Chicago. The song was originally written for and recorded by Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show and deals with the declining mental health of a housewife.

Lucy Jordan is looking back on her life at all the things she could have done but didn’t, since her life was devoted to her husband and children. “At the age of thirty-seven/she realised she’d never ride/through Paris in a sports car/with the warm wind in her hair”. The song ends with Jordan going to the roof of her building and supposedly committing suicide, but Faithfull says she prefers to interpret the ending as an ambulance ride to a mental hospital instead.

“What’s the Hurry” is one of my favorite songs on “Broken English”. I like the driving rhythm that persists throughout the majority of the song though I usually can’t stand repetition. There’s also a classic 80’s rockish vibe that was often in the music I listened to growing up that I love hearing. Guitar is also highlighted much more in this song which hasn’t been done much so far. Faithfull’s vocals are also slightly more impressive here.

Faithfull covers John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero” as her second to last track. The song is recognizable as Lennon’s since both Faithfull and Lennon’s vocals push to the forefront of their respective songs. Lennon’s acoustic delivery is lost on her album however. Her raspy voice and rockier musical accompaniment create an angrier mood from the song. This fits in with the rest of “Broken English” very well as Faithfull sings the story of her downfall.

The lyrical content in the final song, “Why’d Ya Do It?”, is the most different from all other songs on the album. The song vaguely samples Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower”. By my interpretation, the tune tells the obscure tale of a bird asking Faithfull why she let so many different people hurt her enough to put her on the streets. I’m not sure what the exact meaning of this song is, but it sees to be angry for the sake of being angry.

This week’s Woman Who Didn’t Get a List is Lizzo. A pioneer in the indie hip hop genre, Lizzo has founded several groups such as the Chalice, Grrrl, The Clerb, Absynthe and more. She has released one solo album, “Lizzobangers”, followed by an EP “Coconut Oil”. She was also featured on “BOYTROUBLE” from Prince and 3RDEYEGIRL’s album “PLECTRUMELECTRUM”.

Listen to “Broken English” by Marianne Faithfull and “Coconut Oil” by Lizzo below!

Stella is a column surrounding analysis and appreciation of the 150 albums chosen by NPR as the best created by women thus far. Each week I choose an album from this list I’ve been wanting to listen to, that peaks my interest, or that seems like essential listening to write about. The column’s goal is to provide female identifying readers with the empowerment that can only be obtained through a badass woman and her amazing music.

The post Stella: “Broken English” by Marianne Faithfull appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Emmylou Harris is a country singer and has released 26 studio albums alongside 11 compilation albums and three live albums from the 60’s up until 2011. “Wrecking Ball” is her 18th studio album and widely considered a point of new direction for her music.

When country radio stations began giving airplay from traditional country music artists to “new country” geared toward youth in the 90’s, Harris began working with Daniel Lanois. Lanois is a producer that has worked with artists like U2 and Peter Gabriel. While this pushed her further away from those country radio stations, it gave her a huge push into the alternative-country, Americana, and alternative country sphere.

It’s easy to hear this shift in style between her previous albums and the music she makes post “Wrecking Ball.” The way she sings has much less twang and isn’t nearly as the acoustic guitar-banjo combo. While some of these traditional country elements still make their way into her atmospheric, airy alt-country music, it’s easier to dig deeper into.

All but two of the songs on the album are renditions of other artists’ songs; similar to Joan Baez’ “Diamonds and Rust,” which I wrote about in the last edition of Stella. These songs include Neil Young’s “Wrecking Ball,” Steve Earle’s “Goodbye,” Julie Miller’s “All My Tears,” Jimi Hendrix’s “May This Be Love,” Anna McGarrigle‘s “Goin’ Back to Harlan,” and Gillian Welch’s “Orphan Girl.”

Some of these songs were previously covered in the banjos and twangy voices that used to cover Emmylou Harris’ music, specifically “Goodbye,” “Goin’ Back to Harlan,” and “Orphan Girl”. However, these songs have an entirely different emotion when given to “Wrecking Ball.”

Harris sounds like she’s singing across miles. It’s like she’s singing back a few years. Like her voice is sailing through wind or through envelopes. The beautiful production also doesn’t hurt this feeling. Windows were opened throughout Country and Americana genres because of this new feeling. There was finally another way for this kind of music to sound and it was doing exceptionally well.

While she only contributed her writing to two songs on the album, “Deeper Well” and “Waltz Across Texas Tonight,” the touch she puts on each of the songs is worthwhile and opened up a few genres to more amazing, expansive possibilities.

My personal favorites from Emmylou Harris’ “Wrecking Ball” are “Where Will I Be,”  “Goodbye,” “Wrecking Ball,” “Goin’ Back to Harlan,” “Every Grain of Sand,” “Sweet Old World.” “May This Be Love,” “Blackhawk,” and “Waltz Across Texas Tonight.” In other words, basically the entire album.

“Where Will I Be” and “Goodbye” display the differences between her previous work and her sound after “Wrecking Ball” really well and better than any other songs on the album.

The lyrics from “Waltz Across Texas Tonight” are lovely: “We folded out cards when the hand wasn’t strong’ and ‘You’ve crossed over bridges and bridges they burn/So many rivers and so much to learn.” Since she wrote some of the lyrics to this song, it makes me wish that we’d been able to see more of that here, in the album she used to transform her sound.

I’m not the largest fan of “Deeper Well,” “May This Be Love” (other than the guitar, I just believe that the drums take away from the rest of the song) and “Orphan Girl” (the original by Gillian Welsh is preferable).

This weeks Woman Who Didn’t Get a List is Quay Dash: a rapper and trans woman of color from the Bronx. She was discovered by the same people who discovered Azealia Banks and was signed to an independent label. After releasing several singles she released her first EP titled “Transphobic” last September on her 24th birthday.

My favorite songs of hers are “Bossed Up,” closely followed by “Decline Him.” Both, which are on her EP. She calls her song “Wilin'” a big “f*ck you to transphobia,” and also shows how rhythmically involved she is. Her music is very body confident and sex-positive alongside the amazing production put into her EP. The world needs more of Quay Dash and her music since she’s speaking out for the rights of trans women of color and also just makes really cool songs.

Listen to Emmylou Harris’ “Wrecking Ball” and Quay Dash’s “Transphobic” below!

Stella is a column surrounding analysis and appreciation of the 150 albums chosen by The National Public Radio (NPR) as the best created by women thus far. Every other week I choose an album from this list I’ve been wanting to listen to that either peaks my interest or seems like an essential piece to listen to and write about. The column’s goal is to provide female identifying readers with the empowerment that can only be obtained through a badass woman and her amazing music.

The post Stella: “Wrecking Ball” by Emmylou Harris appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Her album “Diamonds and Rust” was released in 1975 near the end of her singing career. Majority of her recognition before said album was solely focused toward either her covers or interpretations of other musicians’ songs. Which, were predominantly men. While this album also contains many renditions of different artists’ songs, Baez begins to focus on her own songwriting and what her voice can say that others cannot.

Baez worked closely with Bob Dylan throughout their romantic relationship that spanned throughout the first half of the 1960’s. The only album I have of hers is a compilation of the different songs she covered of Dylan’s. Baez didn’t start to delve into her own sound and singing her own words until she released “Diamonds and Rust,” which became the main reason it was placed on National Public Radio’s (NPR) list of 150 best women-led albums.

I haven’t listened to any music that Baez wrote on her own and I don’t know much about her personality; however, I do know that she changed the 60’s with her voice and her activism. I also know that Jenny from Forrest Gump wanted to be just like her and that she performed at Woodstock along with many other amazing and influential artists.

Joan Baez spent a good portion of her life trying to make the world a better place through her music. She performed the civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome” at the March on Washington in 1963. She also sang the same song at the Free Speech Movement protests at the University of California, Berkeley, which took place the following year.

She participated in the Selma to Montgomery marches which advocated for the right of African-American’s to vote in 1965; the year after she founded the Institute for the Study of Nonviolence. She participated in numerous anti-Vietnam war protests, such as a free concert at the Washington Monument, which drew 30,000 people. While traveling to Vietnam as part of a peace delegation, she was caught in the “Christmas Bombing,” an eleven-day bombing of Hanoi in Northern Vietnam.

Baez has remained an activist up into the 21st century, speaking out for LGBT+ rights, against the death penalty and false incarceration, and against the United States’ invasion of Iraq. She wasn’t afraid to use her voice to change lives for people across the world or in the United States. She is respectable and strong and I admire the brave things she has dedicated her life to doing.

From the first track of “Diamonds and Rust,” her voice steals the song away. Even though the song is a little overpowered by the instrumentals, her voice permeates other sounds that layered on top of it. Since Baez initially built her career covering other artists’ music, it is only natural that her voice has stood out in a successful manner. There’s something about the lyric, “the Madonna was yours for free,” that gives me chills.

The meaning of “Diamonds and Rust” centers around Joan Baez’s relationship with Bob Dylan. The song narrates her feelings and memories as Dylan calls her about ten years after the events later sung about occurred. The song has a much more bittersweet undertone once I listen to it again with that knowledge. It is beautiful.

The next song Baez wrote for her own album doesn’t appear until about halfway through the album itself. “Children and All The Jazz” is really overwhelming to me. It doesn’t fit my tastes as much as the rest of her own songs, mainly because it doesn’t feature her amazing vocals.

“Winds of the Old Days” comes a few song later and it suits my own pace much more. It gives off the feeling of floating away and letting the past be over. Something very nostalgic comes from this song. There are some lyrics of her’s that really stand out from this track, such as, “Unguarded fantasies flying too far, memories tumbling like sweets from a jar.” Which, comes before “the winds of the old days will blow through my hair.”

The second to last song, “Didi,” is a duet between Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell concerning how the world got so lucky. I love this song despite the lack of actual lyrics and deep emotional reaction since it’s sole purpose is to showcase their beautiful voices.

The other songs on this album are covers by artists such as Bob Dylan (of course), Janis Ian, Stevie Wonder, John Prine and many others. They also sound absolutely amazing and I can definitely understand why the claim to her fame before her own songwriting was interpreting songs that weren’t her own. Her voice is enough to make anything about ten million times more meaningful and emotional.

My favorite tunes of these are her medley of “I Dream of Jeannie/Danny Boy” and “Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer.”

Something I want to start doing at the end of each “Stella” article is hyping up another powerful woman (in music or otherwise) that didn’t get a top-150-of list. This will be an amazing way to discuss even more women of different professions and walks of life that otherwise might not get as much recognition.

This week, that woman is Jen Kirkman, a comedian and writer that I’ve admired since I saw her stand up at last year’s Witching Hour Festival in Iowa (read my review of the event here). I anxiously await the newest episode of her podcast called “I Seem Fun” each week because her commentary on the world, politics, and the teeny tiny struggles of daily life makes me feel real again. Her Netflix specials are also hilarious, particularly “I’m Gonna Die Alone (And I Feel Fine).” I highly recommend watching or listening to her to treat your life.

Go ahead and listen to “Diamonds and Rust” on YouTube or Spotify below!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL40NQEtnq_AIwuM1AHn7ToUq769LQUB7t

Stella is a column surrounding analysis and appreciation of the 150 albums chosen by NPR as the best created by women thus far. Each week I choose an album from this list I’ve been wanting to listen to that either peaks my interest or seems like an essential thing to listen to and write about. The column’s goal is to provide female identifying readers with the empowerment that can only be obtained through a badass woman and her amazing music.

The post Stella: “Diamonds and Rust” by Joan Baez appeared first on KRUI Radio.