EDMONTON - Still part of my "must hear" series is Marianne Faithfull's 2002 album, Kissin' Time.
Not being a baby boomer, the heydays and darker ones of her career eluded me, but the list of collaborators on the newer album intrigued me: Beck, Billy Corgan (of Smashing Pumpkins) and Pulp's Jarvis Cocker.
She would later go on to work with the likes of Nick Cave, Blur's Damon Albarn and PJ Harvey.
When I spoke to Faithfull last year, and given the recent bit of company she's been keeping in the studio, I asked whether fans here could expect to hear a set of rock 'n' roll.
My phrasing, admittedly, was a little off and she instead understood my asking whether she could still rock.
"Oh, for God's sake!" she muttered. I'll never forget the tone.
The answer came late during her set at the Winspear Centre on Thursday night with a blistering rendition of Broken English, from her 1979 breakthrough album of the same name.
Her drummer took a break, opting for the bass and letting a driving electronic beat take over.
The keys provided atmosphere and the frizzy-haired lead guitarist nailed his licks again and again, as he'd been doing all night long.
The band was indeed top- drawer, though, according to the promoter, not the same group Faithfull was to have appeared here with last winter - that date was cancelled after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Raspy, raw, ragged and weary, Faithfull's distinctive voice worked best on the Cold War-era protest song that's just as poignant today: "Lose your father, your husband, your mother, your children. What are you dying for? It's not my reality."
She followed that up with the Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and Andrew Oldham penned As Tears Go By - her first big single.
Based on the standing ovation she got afterwards those were the two songs the crowd was most counting on hearing.
But a smallish crowd, really, one that was padded by batches of tickets that had been given out for free in the week leading up to the show - sales had been slow.
A portion of what sales there were went to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.
And Faithfull is most certainly an acquired taste.
A survivor who dates back to the '60s, prone to scandal by way of a heroin addiction. A cult figure. But not necessarily a singer. If it hadn't been Marianne Faithfull of all people up there, singing out of key like an art form, anyone else might've been booed off the stage. Luckily enough, though, even if Faithfull's voice isn't a soaring thing of beauty, she is obviously a disciple of music and songwriters.
She was shooting from the hip, she says, doing up covers of PJ Harvey (No Child of Mine) and John Prine (All the Best).
Spike Driver Blues was dedicated to American folk hero John Henry and the Irma Thomas-inspired bit of bluesy doo-wop on Ruler of My Heart marked another highlight.
While Faithfull's cancer had been caught in the early stages and she has gone on record as saying she's made a full recovery, she did appear to fade towards the end of what turned out to be a fairly short set.
It's unclear whether she drew more applause for obliging the crowd with the hits, or for just surviving - either the '60s, '70s or cancer (take your pick).
Married to Edmonton's own Lester Quitzau, opener Mae Moore beamed about just how happy she was to be back in the River City, an adopted home away from home for her.
Singing folk songs with a breathless jazziness, Moore was perky and cute, but not enough to compensate for the sameness of her material. Strummed acoustic melodies started out strongly only to dissipate into a repetitive drone and her tunes, while well sung, didn't offer enough vocal variation to truly distinguish them from one another, new or old.
Moore was at least consistent, like a long drive through Saskatchewan - and about as dull, too.
