Before the Poison is the sixteenth studio album by British singer Marianne Faithfull, recorded in 2003 and released in France on 28 September 2004, and in the United States on 25 January 2005.

Overview

The album has a dark and fatalistic mood, which Faithfull attributes partially to the post-9/11 world. Faithfull enlisted musicians PJ Harvey and Nick Cave, as well as Damon Albarn and producer Jon Brion, with whom she had collaborated on her previous release, Kissin Time.

Charts

Before the Poison reached number 37 at Billboard Top Independent Albums in 2005. It peaked at number 31 in France, number 36 in Denmark and number 61 in Switzerland. In 2014 it was awarded a gold certification from the Independent Music Companies Association, which indicated sales of at least 75,000 copies throughout Europe.

Reception

Before the Poison received favorable review upon release, with an average score of 76/100 on Metacritic, indicating favorable reviews. Robb Webb from the BBC described the album as a "career high for Ms Faithfull and a timely release". Billboard described the album as a "winning collaborative combination [that] makes "Before the Poison" even stronger than its 2002 predecessor, "Kissin' Time", but with production and arrangements that are minimalist, dark and desolate". AllMusic described the album as "poetic and unnerving; it stands alone in her catalog in the same way that Broken English did—but this time, on the other side of the mirror". In his review for The New York Times, Jon Pareles wrote that "Most of the songs are elegiac, and Ms. Faithfull infuses them with desolate memories".

Track listing

Charts

Production credits