''A Secret Life'' is the twelfth studio album by

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

singer Marianne Faithfull. It was released on 21 March 1995 by

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

. The album marked her first studio release composed mostly of original material in over a decade. Faithfull collaborated with American composer

Angelo Badalamenti Angelo Daniel Badalamenti (March 22, 1937 – December 11, 2022) was an American composer, best known for his work scoring films for director David Lynch, notably '' Blue Velvet'', the ''Twin Peaks'' saga (1990–1992, 2017), ''The Straight St ...

after his work on the television series ''

Twin Peaks ''Twin Peaks'' is an American Mystery fiction, mystery serial drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It premiered on American Broadcasting Company, ABC on April 8, 1990, and originally ran for two seasons until its cance ...

''. Influenced by her interest in

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

, ''A Secret Life'' was a musical departure from her previous work and displayed a more tender side to her voice. Faithfull also worked with Irish poet and her longtime friend

Frank McGuinness Professor Frank McGuinness (born 1953) is an Irish writer. As well as his own plays, which include '' The Factory Girls'', ''Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme'', ''Someone Who'll Watch Over Me'' and ''Dolly West's Kitchen'', ...

and used some of his poems in the songs "Sleep" and "The Wedding". Musically, ''A Secret Life'' is an

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

album which was inspired by classical music and also incorporates elements of

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

. The songs deal with themes such as broken relationship on "She" or secret love affair on "Love in the Afternoon". ''A Secret Life'' received mixed reviews from music critics. Released only months after her successful autobiography ''Faithfull: An Autobiography'' and compilation album ''Faithfull: A Collection of Her Best Recordings'' (1994), the album was a commercial failure. "Bored by Dreams" was the only single released from the album and also failed to chart.

Critical reception

''A Secret Life'' received generally mixed reviews from music critics.

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave it three stars out of five, claiming that "Faithfull is still in rippingly fine voice, and her words still penetrate". However, he criticized Badalamenti's orchestral arrangements and noted that "while they can be effectively noirish, they can also create an inappropriately cold and detached ambience". He described the songs "Flaming September" and "She" as standout tracks.

Track listing

Notes * "Prologue" contains an interpolation of ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...

'' by

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

. * "Epilogue" contains an interpolation of '' The Tempest'' by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Personnel

*Marianne Faithfull – vocals *Carmine D'Amico – guitar * Vinnie Bell – guitar, mandolin * Gene Orloff – violin *Alfred Brown, Julien Barber, Lamar Alsop, Ann Barak, Mitsue Takayama, Ken Fricker, Juliet Haffner, Harry Zaratzian – viola *Fred Zlotkin, Clay Ruede, Beverly Lauridsen, Julie Green – cello *Albert Regni, Pamela Sklar, Lawrence Feldman – flute, alto flute *Shelly Woodworth, Sherry Sylar – oboe, oboe d'amore *Andre Badalamenti – clarinet *Bob Carlisle – French horn *Kinny Landrum,

– keyboards *Rufus Reid,

Mark Egan Mark Egan (born January 14, 1951 in Brockton, Massachusetts, United States) is an American jazz bassist and trumpeter known for his membership in the Pat Metheny Group and the Gil Evans Orchestra. He is co-founder of the jazz fusion band, Elem ...

, Rob Devito - bass *Sammy Merendino, Gordon Gottlieb – drums, percussion ;Technical *Gary Chester - string and woodwind recording, mixing *Art Polhemus - vocal and rhythm track recording * Tony Wright - art direction *Aldo Sampieri - design *

Michel Comte Michel Comte (born 19 February 1954) is a Swiss artist, filmmaker, fashion and portrait photographer. His most recent art project �Light��, focuses on the impact of environmental decline through his large-scale installations, paintings, sculpture ...

, Wayne Maser - photography

References

External links

* ''A Secret Life''at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Secret Life 1995 albums Marianne Faithfull albums Island Records albums Albums produced by Angelo Badalamenti