She Walks In Beauty

Marianne Faithfull & Warren Ellis - She Walks In Beauty
Critic Score
Based on 19 reviews
2021 Ratings: #259 / 753
User Score
Based on 54 ratings
Liked by 3 people
April 30, 2021 / Release Date
LP / Format
BMG / Label
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
The Independent
Faithfull is rising from the ashes of the past, breathing fierce, sharp magic into these old words. She’s a time-conquering dragon queen.
90
musicOMH
Sonorous and calmly delivered, it’s indeed a surprising joy to let the words wrap around you. A large part of that gratification comes from Ellis’s charismatic score. Unobtrusive to the point of almost being fictional.
90
Crack Magazine
What Faithfull accomplishes here, to great success, is the deep, lush and honeyed delivery of every line, gliding swanlike across Ellis’ ambient instrumentation with nary a ripple.
90
Clash
You can hear her experiences in every word she says. Her delivery is precise yet warming. It embraces you like a hug from a friend you haven’t seen for a while.
80
AllMusic

She Walks in Beauty is a loving testimony to the power and lasting vigor of the Romantic poets, and also a reminder of how lucky we are to have an artist as gifted as Marianne Faithfull giving us this remarkable tutorial.

80
Mojo
This is music that seems to inhale and exhale around Faithfull, making space for wonder to unfurl without crassly signposting it.
80
PopMatters
A wonderful stylist and an accomplished actress. She employs these talents on the album, finding the majesty and bruised heart of the poetry she reads.
80
The Observer
Faithfull is on impeccable form in beautiful settings by Ellis of the Romantic poetry beloved of her youth.
80
FLOOD Magazine
Her passionate, supple grace and guile and her scuffed bassoon-like vocals give each of these poets pulse, their iambic pentameter real guts, groove, and swagger.
80
The Sydney Morning Herald
This is a towering benchmark for a recording combining spoken word and music. It works brilliantly.
80
Record Collector

She Walks In Beauty emerges as an atmospheric collection rich in nuance and detail. The grandeur of Faithfull’s elegantly dramatic voice is brilliantly served by her now regular collaborator Warren Ellis’ evocative soundscapes.

80
The Irish Times

She Walks in Beauty has Faithfull’s voice underpinned and complemented with birdsong, sounds of the sea and electronics that seem to glow, a recurrent musical motif, with Ellis’s version of musique concrète.

70
Rolling Stone

She Walks in Beauty is best taken in small doses to appreciate its majesty.

70
Uncut

Guests Brian Eno, Nick Cave (on pellucid piano) and cellist Vincent Ségal add further depth to arrangements that never intrude, yet are nonetheless striking. What lingers is that vivid voice, as heroically time-worn as the effigy of Shelley’s “Ozymandias”.

70
Classic Rock
With its gentle, unwaveringly steady, never-changing tone and rhythm, it demands work on the part of the listener ... But block out all external stimulation, and savour words beloved by generations, and the rewards are there for the taking.
67
Pitchfork

The ceaseless lull of her voice accounts for the record’s ambient feel, but it also makes She Walks in Beauty seem like an actual poetry reading that drags on for a quarter hour too long.

60
American Songwriter

All told, She Walks In Beauty proves a surreal stroll indeed.

60
The Arts Desk
It’s just not an artistic landmark and is more likely to soundtrack occasional moments in time rather than to become a turntable regular.
59
Spectrum Culture
Faithfull’s voice and Ellis’ textures might serve as a comforting way to unwind, but the album doesn’t offer enough to warrant sustained engagement.
TheCarioca
54

She Walks in Beauty - 3/5
The Bridge of Sighs - 3/5
La Belle Dame sans Merci - 2/5
Ode to a Nightingale - 2/5
To Autumn - 3/5
Ozymandias - 3/5
The Prelude: Book One Introduction - 3/5
Surprised by Joy - 3/5
To the Moon - 3/5
So We'll Go No More a Roving - 3/5
The Lady of Shallot - 2/5

NTTR
61

Marianne Faithfull with Warren Ellis - She Walks in Beauty (with Warren Ellis)

Genre: Poetry
Country:

Final Verdict: 61% (Good Album)
Yearly Ranking: 183th / 391

Highlight: She Walks in Beauty (with Warren Ellis)

Made me think of:
Kate Tempest

Z.Younk
70

The sounds of falling asleep with PBS on

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Added on: January 20, 2021