Customer Reviews

Excellent live collection from Marianne's early years - By: Mr. A. G. Batt, 17 Jul 2008
This is a really fascinating collection, for all devotees of Marianne, but especially for those fans that are keener on her early work. All the 60's hits are here except `Is this what I get for loving you?' The collection runsin chronological order, & even includes the interviews Marianne gave prior to the live sessions which are interestingin their own right, with Marianne coming across as shy & well spoken.

The first session on the disc is a little tentative, but Marianne's voice is on the whole strong, confident & pure throughout; indeed, several of the performances go beyond what was committed to disc. Notably `Yesterday', which is performed without the orchestral backing, `Cockleshells' with its lovely harmony vocals & a delicate `Tomorrow's Calling'. `As tears go by', with a different arrangement to the single is charming as always. Fans will also delightin the spontaneous performances of `Come & stay with me', `This Little Bird', `Go Away from My World' & `Summer Nights'. Marianne's folk singing is also well represented with great versions of `Lullaby' & `Last thing on my mind' originally from perhaps her finest disc of the 60's the excellent `North Country Maid'.

This is an essential release for fans of Marianne, & has the advantage of being endorsed by the lady herself, who writes a lovely forward to the discin the sleeve notes. The packaging is also sumptuous with many rare & unusual photographs.

Customers may not know that they can actually win signed prints of the artwork at Marianne's official website. Townsend records are also giving away art prints to the first 500 customers, so look sharp!

Andrew