| Strange Weather | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Marianne Faithfull |
| Cover: | Strange Weather (Marianne Faithfull album).jpg |
| Released: | July 1987 |
| Recorded: | 1987 |
| Studio: | A&R Recording Studios, New York City; Bearsville Studios, Bearsville, New York; Record Plant Studios, New York City |
| Genre: | Blues, dark cabaret, rock |
| Length: | 38:44 |
| Label: | Island |
| Producer: | Hal Willner |
| Prev Title: | Rich Kid Blues |
| Prev Year: | 1985 |
| Next Title: | Blazing Away |
| Next Year: | 1990 |
Strange Weather is a 1987 studio album by British singer Marianne Faithfull, recorded after recovering from a 17-year addiction to heroin in 1986. The album's three predecessors on Island Records were all recorded while Faithfull confronted personal struggles, and contained a majority of lyrics and some music penned by Faithfull herself. In contrast, Strange Weather is a striking mix of rock, blues and dark cabaret, and though none of the songs were written by Faithfull, all are tied together by the spare and nuanced production of Hal Willner, using a notable group of contributing musicians, such as Bill Frisell. The title track has since become a Faithfull concert staple and has appeared live in three additional recordings.
In 1985 Faithfull contributed a single track, "Ballad of the Soldier's Wife", to Lost In The Stars, a tribute to the music of Kurt Weill by various contemporary artists. In response to the success of the project and to favourable reviews for Faithfull's contribution, producer Hal Willner suggested the potential of an expanded project of classic compositions, but, according to Willner in Strange Weathers liner notes, he believed it was "one of those projects which usually never comes to fruition."
Just prior to her recovery, Faithfull began work on a new album of rock songs, but Island Records scrapped the project[1] Instead, Willner re-entered the picture and the concept of the album of classic standards was expanded to include not only material contemporary to Weill's Weimar Republic era but a more recent song by Bob Dylan, two early folk-era spirituals, traditional piano blues with accompaniment by Dr. John (credited as Mac Rebennack), and all new material was written specifically for the project. The album’s title track was written by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, and "Hello Stranger" was written by Rebennack and Doc Pomus. Faithfull also re-recorded her 1964 hit, "As Tears Go By," in a markedly different arrangement using a slower tempo, and sung a full octave lower than the original.
Strange Weather failed to make it to the US Album charts (it did chart in both the UK and Australia), and never charted its only single "As Tears Go By".
| Chart | Peak position | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart[2] | -- | accessdate=20 May 2011--> | 48 |
| Canadian RPM Albums Chart[3] | 71 | ||
| Dutch Mega Albums Chart[4] | 45 | ||
| New Zealand Albums Chart[5] | 16 | ||
| Swedish Albums Chart[6] | 32 | ||
| UK Albums Chart[7] | 78 | ||