Marianne Dissard’s collection of cover versions recorded in 2020/21 during lockdown, in conjunction with Raphael Mann, and featuring a smorgasbord of talented musicians playing across this extraordinary collection of songs, finally gets a well deserved release as a truly coherent album.
Rappel (which translates as Reminder) is just one of the many projects from the French born multi-talented chanteuse, who now resides in the Dear Green Place, in a career which has seen her take on the role of singer, songwriter, author, film-maker and photographer. Not one to let the grass grow under her feet, despite residing in Glasgow for a relatively short time, Marianne is already in the throes of arranging a photography project/exhibition revolving around the Clyde.
Although she released her debut album in 2006, Marianne first came to my attention with her cover of Richie Valens Come On, Lets Go, this breathless and radically re-worked version stopping me in my tracks and hooking me in enough to backtrack and delve into her back catalogue, as well as reading her engrossing memoir, Not Me.
In an interview with Marianne on my blog last year, she was unsure if the planned album of covers would ever see the light of day, as a result of COVID, and having released several of the songs as singles. All I can say is, for one, I am delighted Rappel has finally been released and I would urge anyone who loves music and has a desire to hear some refreshingly unique takes on songs that take the listener off the beaten track of oft covered songs. She has made these songs her own, and together, the songs make up an album that is as enchanting as the person who sings them.
These songs have been lovingly chosen my Marianne, and Raphael, each one having a defined place and a real meaning on the album. The 1970s novelty Italian nonsense hit, Prisencolinensinainciusol, has been turned around and takes on a new powerful edge as a takedown of some of the worst politicians the world has seen in the likes of Trump and Johnson, with cleverly selected samples sitting next to Marianne’s vocal including the acid tongued “motherfucker, you be all, all lying” without the song losing any of its addictive danceability. While political activist and protest singer, Phil Ochs, The Scorpion Departs But Never Returns became Marianne’s statement on COVID as it took its hold in 2020. Nothing has been left to chance, and there are absolutely no filllers. And these are just two of the bonus tracks. Wait until you hear the rest of the album.
The album opens with a magnificent take on Steely Dan’s ”Dirty Work”, and if there is a better way to grab my attention than with a passionate sax intro just like that, I don’t know what it is. As the sax gives way to Marianne’s beguiling vocal, all is well with the world. At Seventeen gets two versions (His and Hers), with the flute really taking centre stage on the bonus ”Hers” version, the vocal on this song feels like it was written for Marianne to sing. Bobby Gentry’s Refractions follows, with the musical arrangement and Marianne’s vocal reflecting perfectly the lyric ”I had a most distressing dream last night”.
A Tramp Shining brings up the tempo several notches with crunching guitars providing the foil for Ms Dissard’s captivating vocal as it sweeps and soars over the melee. What follows is probably one of the most powerful songs on the album, both musically, with its empathetic strings adding texture to the timpani drums, and as a choice of song for its thought provoking lyrics around social inequality. This becomes even more powerful with the coda by Art Terry, and the realisation that this song was recorded around the time of the murder of George Floyd. Spine-tingling stuff. The revolution WILL be televised…
The song which started my journey of discovery into the life and music of Marianne Dissard, Come On, Lets Go follows. This song is extraordinarily sultry, a steamy and breathlessly captivating vocal atop a slinky sax, and a laidback guitar groove. In my head I’m in a bar in Arizona, fan spinning, the air heavy with the desert heat with this playing in the background, or should that be front and centre…
Scott Walker’s Rosemary gets the Marianne treatment next, doing justice to the great man’s songwriting, before the epic Slippin’ Into Darkness, darkly affecting in its nigh on sinister delivery and unnerving strings, easily a contender for a David Lynch movie. The album closes (before the bonus songs) with the poignantly touching duet with Raphael Mann, If I Needed You, Townes Van Zandt’s lyrics delivered wistfully and emotively, enough to bring a tear to a glass eye.
I asked Marianne last year if there was any likelihood of live dates, to which she replied, she didn’t know when she would play live again. I hope this is something she reconsiders after all there are loads of great venues around this city that would be perfectly suited to her music…
In the meantime, if, like me a couple of years ago, Marianne Dissard is a new name, dip your toe in the water with this remarkable collection, read her memoir and explore her back catalogue. And look out for photography exhibitions in and around Glasgow…
Marianne Dissard – website – Bandcamp – Frizz Record bandcamp