Rise and Fall

Product Description
2001 release from the trippy, freewheeling, nine-member group which includes two drummers & four guitarists - often focuses heavily on dark, amphetamine-fueled hard rock skree & titanic singular-riff freakouts (the jagged, sawtooth guitars of the Velvet Underground's 'Sister Ray' seem to be a huge influence). 9 tracks. Bomp Records.

Rise and Fall,The Warlocks,Bomp Records,American Underground,Indie Rock,Neo-Psychedelia,Pop,Post-Punk,Rock,Rock/Pop,Space Rock

---

Rise and Fall

Average customer rating: Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am Awesome Bowie Ziggy will captivate you! Trip down memory lane "Wam, Bam thank you Mam!!"

The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust David Bowie Manufacturer: Virgin Records Us ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Proto Punk | Hardcore & Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Britain | British Isles | Europe | International | Styles | Music General | Pop | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Progressive Rock | Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music Hard Rock | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music Glam | Classic Rock | Styles | Music $8.99 and Under | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Pop | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Classic Rock | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Rock | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Alternative Rock | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music International | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music All Blowout Music | Blowout Music | Stores | Music $8.99 and Under | Prices | Blowout Music | Stores | Music More Titles at Least 25% Off | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Hunky Dory Aladdin Sane The Man Who Sold the World Space Oddity Low ASIN: B00001OH7P Release Date: 1999-09-28

Tracks:

1. Five Years
2. Soul Love
3. Moonage Daydream
4. Starman
5. It Ain't Easy
6. Lady Stardust
7. Star
8. Hang On To Yourself
9. Ziggy Stardust
10. Suffragette City
11. Rock 'N' Roll Suicide

Amazon.com essential recording

After flirting with heavy guitar rock ("The Man Who Sold the World") and lighter pop ("Hunky Dory"), Bowie found middle ground on Ziggy Stardust. The creation of the Ziggy Stardust persona would live on well after Bowie shed the alien skin, marking the first rock concept album by a sexually ambiguous, artistically bent musician who confounded critics at every turn. A blend of dramatic strings, swaggering saxophones, jagged guitars, and theatrical arrangements, the album's darker rock numbers like "It Ain't Easy," "Moonage Daydream," "Ziggy Stardust," and the irresistible "Suffragette City," still serve as solid excursions into the future (then and now) of rock. The buoyant "Hang on to Yourself" and the dreamy "Star" offer hints of optimism in Ziggy's bleak world. The dramatic "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" and the image-heavy "Star Man" ("he'd like to come and meet us but thinks he'd blow our minds!") no doubt provided plenty of stage-worthy moments when Ziggy toured in the '70s, but years later they still thrill. Bowie blew our minds! --Lorry Fleming

Customer Reviews:

Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am.......2007-07-07

Now I do like this. But it is not my favorite David Bowie album. Too many so-so songs ("Star"; "Hang Onto Yourself"; "Five Years"); too much campy over-orchestration ("Rock and Roll Suicide"), one total bomb ("It Ain't Easy") - he even recycles the "Sweet Jane" riff on "Starman", which is otherwise very good. Still, it's Ziggy Stardust, man! You know? It's not like there aren't all kinds of excellent songs on this album, because there are a truckload! You know "Moonage Daydream", right? What a guitar solo! And you know "Ziggy Stardust", I assume! The lyrics! The riff! And, again, the guitar solo! "Starman" is pretty good too, though I think Bowie could've written his own riff rather than take one of Lou Reed's. Been spending too much time around Jimmy Page, have you? Continuing on, "Suffragette City" may not be terribly insightful, but it's a Stonesy rocker with a powerful horn section, so I like it. Another two songs I like that you don't often hear too much of are the cathartic "Soul Love" and the groupie-themed rocker "Lady Stardust". Oh yeah, and then there's the concept. The bisexual androgynous alien coming down from space to save everybody's life. It's a bit clunky, but like Tommy I find Ziggy Stardust is more about the music than the concept. And the music's good!

Awesome Bowie.......2007-06-28

This album is still my favorite dating back to 1972.
Bowie was the genius of the 70's.
All serious Bowie fans should add this cd to their collection, this is Bowie at his best,each song could easily be a number 1 hit even today!

Adrian.T.

Ziggy will captivate you!.......2007-06-25

I love David Bowie and could listen to "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust" over-and-over. The poetics of Bowie's lyrics and the phenomenal guitar riffs hold this album together and are what makes it a classic, must have album. This is Bowie at his height of fame and truly captures Bowie's glam rock side of the late 1970s. I could not choose a favorite song from this album because, to me, each song builds off of one another like a good concept album should. From the opening of "Five Years" right to the end "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust" shows the various levels of Bowie's artistic ability.
This is a must have for any serious collection of Bowie and for anyone interested in good, wholesome rock showcasing one of the best artists of the 1970s.

Trip down memory lane.......2007-06-10

I was in a restaurant when I heard this album being played and it really brought back memories. I used to listen to it as a teenager and I knew I'd enjoy listening to it again as an adult. It didn't disappoint! Classic Bowie!

"Wam, Bam thank you Mam!!".......2007-04-24

Wow, rock n roll can be raw, catchy, dramatic, and quite sophisticated. So what is the need for new bands? Whenever people talk about Bowie they tend to speak in terms of him paving the way for a lot of today's music. Although that is true I don't think any new rock band has come close to this album. It's too painful for some people to look at the 1970's for what it truly was: the golden age of Rock N Roll, an age that younger people like myself missed out on and only live through their C.D. collection. It is much more comforting to call the 1970's the springboard for modern rock and ignore the fact that modern rock is passionless, corporate, crap.
This album is basically the essence of rock n roll. The songs are short, catchy, and upbeat. These are all qualities that most so called "modern rock" bands avoid like the plague although it is what rock music has always truly been about. Ziggy Stardust is from an era when quality was just plain expected in an album. You couldn't release an album with 10 crapped out songs and 1 decent single like today's bands (by the way music downloading and IPODs are not helping this problem).
If you love great rock music (real rock music) please do yourself a favor and buy Ziggy Stardust and give your Track Skip button a long deserved rest.

Average customer rating: One of the greats I cannot live without this album. Lenya and Weill at their best! Buy It. "An important landmark in dancing history" "An important landmark in dancing history"

Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins & Berlin Theatre Songs Manufacturer: Sony ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Weill | Weill, Kurt | ( W ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Cantatas | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Cantatas | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Cabaret | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music Opera & Vocal | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Musicals | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Similar Items: Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill / Levine, Lenya, Armstrong, Gilford, et al The Threepenny Opera (1954 New York Cast) (Blitzstein Adaptation) September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill Weill - The Threepenny Opera / Kollo · Adorf · Dernesch · Lemper · Milva · Reichmann · Tremper · Boysen · RIAS · Mauceri ASIN: B0000029YI Release Date: 1997-12-09

Tracks:

1. The Seven Deadly Sins: Prologue: Andante sostenuto
2. The Seven Deadly Sins: Idleness: Allegro vivace
3. The Seven Deadly Sins: Pride: Allegretto, quasi andantino - Schneller Walzer
4. The Seven Deadly Sins: Anger: Molto agitato
5. The Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony: Largo
6. The Seven Deadly Sins: Lust: Moderato
7. The Seven Deadly Sins: Avarice: Allegro giusto
8. The Seven Deadly Sins: Envy: Allegro non troppo - Alla marcia, un poco tenuto
9. The Seven Deadly Sins: Epilogue: Andante sostenuto
10. The Threepenny Opera: 'Moritat vom Mackie Messer'
11. The Threepenny Opera: 'Barbara-Song'
12. The Threepenny Opera: 'Seerauberjenny'
13. Aufstief und Fall der Stadt mahogany: 'Havanna-Lied'
14. Aufstief und Fall der Stadt mahogany: 'Alabama-Song'
15. Aufstief und Fall der Stadt mahogany: 'Denn Wie Man Sich Bettet'
16. Happy End: 'Bilbao-Song'
17. Happy End: 'Surabaya-Johnny'
18. Happy End: 'Was die Herren Matrosen sagen'
19. Das Berliner Requiem: 'Ballade vom ertrunkenen Madchen'
20. Der Silbersee, Ein Wintermarchen: 'Lied der Fennimore'
21. Der Silbersee, Ein Wintermarchen: 'Casar Tod'

Amazon.com essential recording

Whether playing Anna in The Seven Deadly Sins or singing "Moritat vom Mackie Messer" ("Mack the Knife"), Lotte Lenya helped define the music of her husband, Kurt Weill. The duo literally created the soundtrack for the prewar Berlin of our fantasies--an exotic land of nicotine and nightlights--where cabaret, jazz, and the odd American instrumental influence all coexist happily. Now remastered, this collection gathers Lenya's legendary 1957 recordings of Sins and her 1955 recording Sings Berlin Theatre Songs. Forget subtlety--Lenya is all about emotion. On cuts like "Pirate Jenny," Lenya's voice sounds fluttery and frantic, and on "Surabaya-Johnny," her German sounds fragile and sweet, but mostly she's just herself--bittersweet, raw, and (most of all) human. In spirit, Marianne Faithfull, PJ Harvey, and a host of others all kept the torch of Lenya's style going. But after listening to these Berlin theater songs in classic form (and in their original tongue), you'll never hear them the same way again. --Jason Verlinde

Customer Reviews:

One of the greats.......2007-04-17

When I was a student in 1965, the turntable in my college apartment was kept busy spinning The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Broadway show cast albums, Nina Simone and Lotte Lenya. Lotte Lenya? Yes, the widow of German composer Kurt Weill and the star of the legendary 1950s off-Broadway revival of THE THREEPENNY OPERA, who also played James Bond's adversary Rosa Kleb in the movie FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. (Rosa Kleb was a martial arts expert with poison knives in the toes of her shoes.) But my theory is that Lotte Lenya enjoyed great cachet with the baby-boomers primarily because of the cover of Bob Dylan's 1965 "Bringing It All Back Home" album. That cover shows Dylan and a brunette woman in a rather elegant setting crammed with books and phonograph records. Prominent among the stack of recordings is Lenya's "Berlin Theatre Songs of Kurt Weill" album. Even though this was the age of "Don't trust anyone over thirty," if Bob Dylan liked Lotte Lenya, then she was okay. I loved everything about her Berlin Theatre Songs album, from the expressionistic cover portrait to all the unfamiliar songs sung in quavery German.

Now that CDs have made phonograph records obsolete, I've wanted to replace my LP version of the Berlin Theatre Songs for some time. Well, I feel that I've hit the jackpot with this Masterworks Heritage CD reissue which is packaged with the Brecht-Weill THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS, an experimental dance-drama that Brecht and Weill created in Paris after fleeing Nazi Germany. I had never heard THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS. It is a revelation. It could have been written by no one else. The haunting melodies, the offbeat orchestrations and the unorthodox subject matter combine to form a Brecht-Weill classic. I love this music and have played it repeatedly for weeks. Lenya's voice during this period had not yet become raspy and her saucy personality shines through. My German is much better now than it was as a college student and I can at last appreciate Lenya's perfectly enunciated German. I find this recording mesmerizing. The CD is packaged as a foldout album/book, rather than a jewel box. It includes a brief essay by Teresa Stratas and helpful notes by Mario R. Mercado. Also included are more than a dozen sepia-toned photos of the recording session and four beautiful color photographs of Lenya in Hamburg in 1956. And of course, that wonderful Saul Bolasni portrait that graced the original LP is included on the inside cover of the jacket.

I think this CD is essential. For me, it conjures up a whole era, maybe a whole century. Five stars.

I cannot live without this album. .......2006-06-09

The Weill/Brecht "Seven Sins" may not be as famous as the Threepenny, and it's certainly not as long. The songs aren't "catchy"-- no Doors or Darin or David Bowie or Dresden Dolls are going to cover any of the ballet's nine pieces. But, in all its operatic beauty, it's one of my favourite musical works on this planet.

In short: the Seven Sins is unbelievable. It's Brecht/Weill at their very best. It will latch itself onto your brain, stick its claws into your skull, surpass anything you've ever heard before. From the very start -- just three notes that will, I promise, make you shiver -- to the beautiful, melancholy ending; it's what opera should be like, and it's beyond perfect.

Miss Lotte Lenya, who was the smartest woman in the world for marrying Kurt Weill TWICE, sings what's probably the definitive version of Anna-Anna. Yes, it's two octaves lower than what was intended (but if it's high-pitched warbling you're after, I can highly recommend the lovely Anne Sofie von Otter version), and some people seem to be slightly allergic to Lotte's voice. Which I still fail to understand. She embodies everything Weill writes -- every word out of her mouth feels just right, just exactly the way it was intended.

One other version I'm particularly fond of is the one starring Marianne Faithfull. The differences are easy to spot: Marianne sings in English. Marianne sounds more stoic. Marianne's choir is more overwhelming, but smoother, though the pieces don't fit together quite as well. Marianne is just slightly faster, less emotional, slightly sweeter. Lotte, on the other hand, gives it everything she's got -- never holds back -- and fills the part with emotion. Lotte's choir is tinny, Berlin-y cabaret-y. Lotte's orchestra is much more solid. And Lotte toys more with the lyrics. Both versions are perfect, and I would VERY highly recommend buying both if you can afford it, if just to compare.

Just like Marianne's CD, this album is filled up with as much other Brecht/Weill stuff as would still fit on the disc. The final notes of the Seven Sins epilogue are quickly followed with a gorgeous full Mack The Knife (yes, uncensored), an unbelievable (and definitive) Pirate Jenny, an Alabama Song... pretty much everything these people are famous for, and even some rather obsure songs. The orchestra and background singers mix perfectly with Lotte's vocals on every track. There's not a single flaw -- not in the music, not in the recording quality, nothing -- every bit of it is as perfect as these songs get.

Whether you're just starting out collecting Berlin cabaret, or finally look to complete your collection, this album is simply something you can't NOT buy. So buy it. Buy it. Yes. Excellent. And, if you're searching for more excellent related stuff, here's some other CDs I can recommend:

- Die Dreigroschenoper: 1999 version, starring Nina Hagen, Max Raabe, HK Gruber
- The Threepenny Opera: 1954 Blitzstein adaptation (English softened version)
- Jasperina de Jong - Sieben Rosen hat der Strach (Brecht tribute)
- Cathy Berberian - The Unforgettable
- The Tiger Lillies - Twopenny Opera (It's One Cheaper)

And a final note: avoid the Ute Lemper version at all costs. She's a great singer, absolutely, but will never be Anna-Anna.

Lenya and Weill at their best! Buy It........2005-11-04

'Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins and Berlin Theatre Songs' is a single CD combining two separate 1955 LPs recorded in Germany, five years after the death of husband and composer, Kurt Weill.

As a lifelong Weill fan who has heard many different interpretations of these songs most notably from Ute Lemper and Maria Stratas, I was struck by how dramaticly better was Lenya's performance of the lyrics. I think this goes far beyond the fact that many of these works were written specifically to be performed by Lenya in Berlin between 1927 and 1933. It is obvious to my ear that even though Lemper is a great cabaret singer, Lenya trumps this with years of performing on the live stage without the aid of electronic amplification.

Lenya does 'Die Sieben Todsunden' with the version done for a lower voice (same as Lemper) rewritten for her by Weill. As other reviewers have noted, this was originally a combination ballet / song cycle commissioned in Germany by George Balanchine where the singer and the ballerina perform two sisters, both named Anna.

None of the individual songs are nearly as popular on their own as the following collection of songs from the German works, 'The Threepenny Opera', 'Mahagonny', and 'Happy End'.

My first encounter with Lotty Lenya's singing was on a Columbia collection done on vinyl in the 1960s, done, probably following on her appearance in the second James Bond movie, 'From Russia, With Love' as the Russian Colonel Klebb. I think this recording is far superior to that issue or to any other recent recording where Lenya does songs she never performed on the stage.

"An important landmark in dancing history".......2001-06-16

The seven Deadly Sins was commissioned as a dance piece for Les Ballets 1933 with choreography by George Balanchine, Balanchine re-staged it at the New York City Ballet with Lenya at 1958. Anna Sokolow who has difficulties to work with Bertold Brecht to close (Galileo), gave her own independent interpretation to this play as a director with Netherland Dance Theatre in 1967 and at Detroit in 1967 (Cleo Laine).

"An important landmark in dancing history".......2001-06-16

The seven Deadly Sins was commissioned as a dance piece for Les Ballets in 1933 with choreography by George Balanchine. Balanchine restaged it at the New York City Ballet with Lenya in 1958. Anna Sokolow who had difficulties working with Bertold Brecht closely (Galileo), gave her own interpretation to this play as a director with Netherlands Dance Theatre in 1967 and in Detroit in 1976 (Cleo Laine, Mary Hinkson), and in Boston in 1990.

Average customer rating: some brilliant renditions, but can't quite all mix together Cool and Camp September Song Music of Kurt Weill It's a long time between January and December Ain't we Hip?!!?

September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill Manufacturer: Sony ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Punk | Hardcore & Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music American Punk | Hardcore & Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music All Works by Weill | Weill, Kurt | ( W ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Traditional Jazz General | Traditional Jazz & Ragtime | Jazz | Styles | Music Vocal Jazz General | Vocal Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Traditional Vocalists | Compilations | Pop | Styles | Music General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music Adult Alternative | Pop | Styles | Music Traditional Pop | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music General | Compilations | Rock | Styles | Music General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music Hard Rock | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music General | Musicals | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music Traditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music General | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music $7.99 and Under | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music All Classical Music Blowout | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Traditional | ( T ) | Composers, A-Z | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Weill, Kurt | ( W ) | Composers, A-Z | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Opera & Vocal | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Opera & Vocal | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Musicals | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Similar Items: Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill / Levine, Lenya, Armstrong, Gilford, et al Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins & Berlin Theatre Songs Weird Nightmare - Meditations on Mingus Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill Stratas Sings Weill ASIN: B0000029WM Release Date: 1997-08-19

Tracks:

1. Mack The Knife - Nick Cave
2. Ballad Of The Soldier's Wife - P.J. Harvey
3. Alabama Song - David Johansen
4. Youkali Tango - Teresa Stratas
5. Lost In The Stars - Elvis Costello
6. Pirate Jenny - Lotte Lenya
7. Speak Low - Charlie Haden
8. Oh, Heavenly Salvation - The Persuations
9. Lonely House - Betty Carter
10. Surabaya- Johnny - Teresa Stratas
11. Furchte Dich Nicht - Mary Margaret O'Hara
12. September Song - Lou Reed
13. Mack The Knife - Bertolt Brecht
14. What Keeps Mankind Alive? - William S. Burroughs

Customer Reviews:

some brilliant renditions, but can't quite all mix together.......2006-10-19

I like the spirit of this album, which is to let the music of Kurt Weill attach itself to the many worlds it came from. This was classical music that also used elements of popular music at the time, all with a very dark and almost mechanical tone. So it would seem fitting to have exquisite voices like Teresa Stratas rub elbows with darker elements like Nick Cave in this collection. There are also the jazz influences developed by Charlie Haden and Betty Carter.

In all, there are some brilliant interpretations of Weill here. I am a fan of Cave's "Mack the Knife" and David Johansen's "Alabama Song," and how can someone NOT like Lotte Lenya herself on "Pirate Jenny" and the drolling of the immortal William S. Burroughs talking through "What Keeps Mankind Alive?"

But other tracks feel to be just too short of brilliance. I love that Lou Reed tries to turn "September Song" into a kind of rock ballad, almost a VU "It Was a Pretty Good Year," but the rendition seems a little short of energy and falls flat after a while. Elvis Costello, though magnificent as an overall artist, just doesn't bring new life to "Lost in the Stars."

Perhaps the problem in the end that the choices were a little too much of the Top 40 Weill (if there really can be such a term). These are songs that have for a long time been regarded as the best of Weill, and it might have furthered the purpose of his music to find new gems and bring them into the sunlight.

Cool and Camp.......2006-08-24

This is a very biased review- I originally had much of Weill's work on cassette tape- way back in the olden days- before CD's- so I am already very partial to many of the tracks on this CD- I would recommend it not only to Kurt Weill fans, and the fans of the various artists featured, but I would also strongly recommend this to anyone who likes artsy, camp, fun burlesque, Bohemian European stuff. The record, even though performed by contemporary artists still retains much of it's zeitgeist, it evokes the era in which Weill was writing and it rounds out any great eclectic record collection. It's a great musical discovery for fans of all sorts of genres, and EVERYONE should own at least one recorded arrangement of "Mack The Knife". (You know, for parties and stuff!)

September Song Music of Kurt Weill.......2006-08-22

Songs from the film-documentary done by various artists. Excellent choice if you like Mr Weill's music. I saw the film and always wanted the CD. Now I have and I recommend it highly.

It's a long time between January and December.......2004-06-11

Kurt Weill is one of those composers who juggles Jewish angst with Catholic guilt: and possibly vice versa. As a collection, it is nonpareil. Each interpretation becomes a definitive reading of the "song". Lord, it is one of the best assemblies of contemporary artists going. Lou couldn't be better; Ms O'Hara, in fine form, performs her deranged puppet-dance to the X. OK. An unknown. Roping-in, such a postmodern figure as, well, you-know-who, to orate Weill's lyrics is never less than exceptional. An amazing collection. Is there a DVD?

Paul

Ain't we Hip?!!?.......2003-07-23

This is the avant version of these songs, everything done with that Downtown fingers-across-the-blackboard screech. They even got Johanson doing it, which is no less than amazing. The sole exception is the Persuasions' "O Heavenly Salvation", but one song does not an album make.

The mystery here is that there's a perfectly good compilation from the 80s, "Lost in the Stars: the Music of Kurt Weill", featuring many of the same songs--and, if I'm not mistaken some of the same performers. That's the one you want. Too bad it's OP.

Average customer rating:

Handel: The Masterworks (Box Set) Manufacturer: Brilliant Classics ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Trios | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Handel | Handel, George Frideric | ( H ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Concerto Grossi | Concertos | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Concertos | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Sonatas | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music Trio Sonatas | Sonatas | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Flute | Reeds & Winds | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music Oboe | Reeds & Winds | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music Recorder | Reeds & Winds | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music Violin | Strings | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Cantatas | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Italian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Oratorios | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Anthems | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Cantatas | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Hymns | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Passions | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Blowout Box Sets | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music More Titles at Least 20% Off | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music All Classical Music Blowout | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Handel, George Frideric | ( H ) | Composers, A-Z | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Opera & Vocal | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Brilliant Classics | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Similar Items: Vivaldi: The Masterworks (Box Set) Haydn: The Masterworks [Box Set] Mendelssohn: The Masterworks [Box Set] Dvorák: The Masterworks [Box Set] Schubert: The Masterworks [Box Set] ASIN: B00062FLI8 Release Date: 2004-11-30

Average customer rating: Wonderful original recording, plenty extras. This one is really fine.

Die Dreigroschenoper: Berlin 1930 Manufacturer: Teldec ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Weill | Weill, Kurt | ( W ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Operettas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music Similar Items: The Threepenny Opera (1954 New York Cast) (Blitzstein Adaptation) The Collector's The Threepenny Opera Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins & Berlin Theatre Songs Weill: Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny The Threepenny Opera ASIN: B00005Y34P Release Date: 2003-02-18

Tracks:

1. Ouvertd Moritat Von Mackie Messer
2. Seererjenny
3. Kanonensong [Cannon Song]
4. Liebeslied
5. Barbara Song
6. Erstes Dreigroschen-Finale
7. Abschied
8. Zuherbassatle
9. Ballade Von Angenehmen Leben
10. Eifersuchtsduett - Lotte Lenya, Theo Mackeben & his Jazz Orchestra
11. Zweites Dreigroschen-Finale - Lotte Lenya, Theo Mackeben & his Jazz Orchestra
12. Lied Von Der Unzullichkeit des Menschlichen Strebens
13. Moritat und Schlusschoral - Marlene Dietrich
14. Wie Man Sich Bettet - Curt Bois
15. Alabama Song - Marlene Dietrich
16. Nachtgespenst
17. Peter - Lotte Lenya, Theo Mackeben & his Jazz Orchestra
18. Guck Doch Nicht Immer Nach Dem Tangogeiger Hin
19. Jonny
20. Vom Seemann Kuttel Daddeldu
21. Chant des Canons
22. Chant d'Amour
23. Tangoballade
24. Ballade de la Vie Agrle
25. Die Seererjenny
26. Barbara Song
27. Die Moritat Von Mackie-Messer
28. Lied Von Der Unzullichkeit des Menschlichen Strebens
29. Alabama Song [Alternate Take]

Amazon.com

Performed in 1930 by the cast and orchestra of the 1928 Berlin premiere (except for Willi Trenk-Trebitsch, the Mackie of the 1929 Prague premiere), this extraordinary recording must be the last word in genuine, unvarnished "authenticity." Even the remastered sound is amazingly good and life-like. The half-spoken, half-sung delivery captures the biting sarcasm of Brecht's text as well as the abrasive bitterness and sinuous lyricism of Weill's melodies, underlined by the punchy, swinging rhythms and indigenously jazzy sound of the orchestra. The result is an uncanny evocation of a historical period and its atmosphere. One can smell the smoky nightclub air, see the garish colors, and feel the unbridled sensuousness. This "abridged" version offers 13 familiar numbers, with most strophic repeats omitted, but includes alternate versions of several songs--four in French, two sung by Brecht himself. There are also two songs from Mahagonny, a long "scene" by Wilhelm Grosz, and two songs each by Rudolf Nelson and Friedrich Hollaender (who wrote the music for the film "The Blue Angel), two of them sung by Marlene Dietrich with her inimitable lascivious sensuality. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful original recording, plenty extras. .......2006-09-11

In quick summary:
- If you're at all familiar with the Dreigroschenoper and all its incarnations, be sure to buy this album. It's the closest you could get to an 'original'.
- If you're completely new to the Threepenny story, I would recommend starting with the 1999 Nina Hagen concert version instead. It's got all the songs left out here, better recording quality, and a more modern approach to the music.

This is not a complete collection of original cast Dreigroschen songs. Rather, it's a selection of the best tracks from the play, often censored and cut short (in all the usual ways), and filled up with seemingly random extras in the genre.

The performers are all quite brilliant, and it's refreshing to hear a 3P without all the screaming and biting from recent versions. Though the songs are by no means slow, they're much more relaxed, more saccharine I would say, than what they've later evolved into. I love both type interpretations, but I often prefer this one.

One very nice bonus is the inclusion of a handful Threepenny songs in French. Otherwise pretty hard to come by. Also, the famous final lines of the movie version (Moritat reprise) are present, which I've only seen in one other recording (the 1981, also led by Miss Lotte Lenya). All in all, an essential CD for Brecht/Weill fans.

This one is really fine. .......2006-03-03

I've been a three-penny freak ever since I was a hanger-on at a Stanford production 40 years ago directed by a Brecht associate from Berlin. It's wonderful to get the authentic original cast records. I really like the added Berlin Chansons, too. "Don't Goggle at that Tango Dancer, Keep Your Eyes on the Guy You Came with!" Or Marlene Dietrich, with "Jonny, When it's Your Birthday, I'll Be Your Guest for a Night."

Average customer rating:

The Rise and Fall of Keite Young Keite Young Manufacturer: Hidden Beach ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | R&B | Styles | Music General | Soul | R&B | Styles | Music General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music Similar Items: El Camino It Can Happen to Anyone Collaborations I Am Planet Earth ASIN: B000QUCQ5Q Release Date: 2007-08-28

Tracks:

1. My Change (Intro)
2. Shine
3. Thinkuboutmi
4. If We Were Alone
5. Pray
6. E.N.S. (Everybody Needs Somebody)
7. U Got It
8. Masks
9. Hey Joy...
10. The Wash
11. Time
12. Alright
13. The Way That U Love Me
14. Pressure

Average customer rating:

Land of My Fathers: 100 Great Welsh Choir Favourites Manufacturer: Castle Pulse ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Beethoven | Beethoven, Ludwig van | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Boito, Arrigo | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Foster, Stephen | ( F ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Gounod | Gounod, Charles | ( G ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Handel | Handel, George Frideric | ( H ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Offenbach | Offenbach, Jacques | ( O ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Porter | Porter, Cole | ( P ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Puccini | Puccini, Giacomo | ( P ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Rutter | Rutter, John | ( R ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Rossini | Rossini, Gioacchino | ( R ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Schubert | Schubert, Franz | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Sibelius | Sibelius, Jean | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Sullivan | Sullivan, Arthur | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Verdi | Verdi, Giuseppe | ( V ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Mancini | Mancini, Henry | ( M ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music Romances | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music French | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Italian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Operettas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Oratorios | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Choruses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Folk Songs | Songs & Lieder | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Hymns | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Noels | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | International | Styles | Music Movie Scores | Soundtracks | Styles | Music Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music International | Imports | Stores | Music Similar Items: Favourite Welsh Choirs Land of Song Welsh Choral Classics Welsh Choirs: Wonderful Welsh Choirs Bryn Terfel - We'll Keep a Welcome Traditional Songs of Wales ASIN: B0009SOFXG Release Date: 2005-08-01

Tracks:

1. Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer (CWM Rhondda) - Caerphilly Make Voice Choir
2. Land of My Fathers - Caerphilly Make Voice Choir
3. Dies Irae
4. Men of Harlech
5. You'll Never Walk Alone
6. Cadwyn O Emyn Donau Cymreig: Joanna (Trad./Elfion Wyn)/Crugybar (Trad.
7. Old Folks at Home
8. Il Liza Jane
9. Faust/Soldier's Chorus - Caerphilly Make Voice Choir
10. Vergine Degli Angeli
11. Ballard of Rourke's Drift - Cwt-Y-Collen Choir
12. My Hero
13. God Bless the Prince of Wales - Caerphilly Make Voice Choir
14. German Mass/Gloria
15. German Mass/Sanctus
16. Misbles/Master of the House/On My Own/Drink with Me/Empty Chairs at
17. All Through the Night - Caerphilly Make Voice Choir
18. Arwelfa
19. Invictus
20. Softly as I Leave You

Tracks:

1. Diolch l'R L
2. Hine E Hine (Maori Lullaby)
3. Pererin Wyf (Amazing Grace)
4. Tribute to the USA: America the Beautiful (Ward/Bates)/God Bless ...
5. Memories of Martha
6. I Lombardi/The Crusaders' Chorus - Treorchy Male Choir
7. Myfanwy - Treorchy Male Choir
8. Tales of Hoffman/Barcarolle
9. Creation's Hymn
10. In the Spirit!
11. Shall We Gather at the River
12. Nos a Bore
13. Very Best Time of Year
14. Soon Ah Will Be Done
15. Thanks Be to God
16. Flower That Shattered the Stone
17. Rhys - Treorchy Male Choir
18. Where Shall I Be?
19. Bywyd y Bugail
20. Lord's Prayer

Tracks:

1. Ave Maria
2. Pearl Fishers/Divine Brahma
3. She Was Beautiful (Cavatina) - Treorchy Male Choir
4. Cymru Fach
5. Nidaros
6. Jacob's Ladder - Treorchy Male Choir
7. Watching the Wheat
8. Pan Ddaw y Saint (When the Saints Go Marching In)
9. Misbles/Stars
10. Rachie
11. Pirates of Penzance/With Cat-Like Tread - Treorchy Male Choir
12. There Is a Balm in Gilead
13. Rise Up Shepherd and Foller
14. My Lord, What a Mornin'
15. Bryn Myrddin
16. Jesus Christ Superstar/Medley: Jesus Christ Superstar/Hosanna/The Last
17. Finnish Forest (Suomen Salossa)
18. Nabucco/The Glory of Israel
19. Ride the Chariot
20. Tydi a Roddaist - Treorchy Male Choir

Tracks:

1. Y Nefoedd
2. Phantom of the Opera/Think of Me
3. Morte Christe (When I Survey the Wondrous Cross)
4. By Babylon's Wave
5. I'm Gonna Sing
6. Where Could I Go But to the Lord?
7. Holy City - Treorchy Male Choir
8. Mefistofele: Ave Signor, Degli Angeli
9. Senzenina (Zulu Chant)
10. That's All I Want from You
11. Deep Harmony - Treorchy Male Choir
12. Give Me Jesus
13. Just a Closer Walk with Thee
14. My Wish for You
15. Jeptha/Waft Her Angels
16. Mose in Egitto/Prayer
17. Be Still My Soul (Finlandia Hymn)
18. God's Choir in the Sky
19. Floral Dance - Treorchy Male Choir
20. Smilin' Through

Tracks:

1. Calon Lan
2. True Love
3. Mor Fawr Wyt Ti (How Great Thou Art)
4. Aberystwyth
5. Comrades in Arms
6. Cats/Memory
7. They Led My Lord Away
8. State Fair/It's a Grand Night for Singing
9. When I Fall in Love
10. Let's Face the Music and Dance
11. Windmills of Your Mind
12. How Soon
13. Non Nobis Domine
14. Rhythm of Life
15. Kalinka
16. Sound an Alarm
17. Neapolitan Trilogy: It's Now or Never (Di Capua/Schroeder/Gold)/Mo ...
18. Turandot/Nessun Dorma
19. Christus Redemptor
20. Ann Evening's Pastorale

Album Details

Choirs Include the Morriston Orpheus Choir, the Pontadrddulais Male Voice Choir, the Caerphilly Male Voice Choir, the Cwrt-y-gollen Choir, the Treorchy Male Choir and the Lucknow Male Voice Choir.

Average customer rating: Affecting but oversold Great vocalist in three languages. Very best Weill interpreter Ute dramatically renders the best of Weill and Brecht! Voice non par excellence Ute! She knows how to trill me!

Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill Manufacturer: Decca ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Eisler, Hanns | ( E ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Weill | Weill, Kurt | ( W ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Cantatas | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Cantatas | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Traditional Pop | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music The Decca Records Store | Specialty Stores | Music Similar Items: Sings Kurt Weill, Vol. 2 Ute Lemper - Berlin Cabaret Songs All That Jazz: The Best Of Ute Lemper Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins & Berlin Theatre Songs Blood & Feathers: Live from the Café Carlyle ASIN: B0000041VG Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

1. The Winter's Tale: Fennimores Lied
2. The Winter's Tale: Casars Tod
3. The Winter's Tale: Die Moritat Von Mackie Messer
4. The Winter's Tale: Salomon - Song
5. The Winter's Tale: Die Ballade Von Der Sexuallen Horigkeit
6. The Winter's Tale: Zu Potsdam Unter Den Eichen
7. The Winter's Tale: Nannas Lied
8. The Winter's Tale: Lied Des Lotterieagenten
9. The Winter's Tale: Alabama-Song
10. The Winter's Tale: Denn Wie Man Sich Bettet
11. The Winter's Tale: Je Ne T'Aime Pas
12. The Winter's Tale: I'm A Stranger Here Myself
13. The Winter's Tale: Westwind
14. The Winter's Tale: Speak Low

Customer Reviews:

Affecting but oversold.......2006-11-28

Prompted by both friends and reviewers, I've tried to learn to like Ute Lemper's Weill, but after valiant efforts, I must say I don't. She has great facility, it's true, in several languages, and she knows the timbre of a song and works hard to put it across. For me, however, she works too hard, whether it's the distracting breathiness of "je ne t'aime pas" or the "street kid" Berlin Rrrs in "Mackie Messer" or the aggressive Noo Yorking in "I'm a Stranger Here Myself", I end up feeling that I'm having the song pushed at me rather than allowed to flower for itself. In a cabaret setting they might (maybe) work better, but on disk, I don't find her vocally strong enough to carry the music alone. Too much wobble in the voice and not always either the breath or the pitch to make the longer phrases work. The comparison with Theresa Stratas in "Je ne t'aime pas" (or even better, the terrifying German version "Wie Lange Noch") is instructive. Lemper is small, touching, you can feel why someone would have left her, she oozes powdery pathos over a nightclub table. Stratas, Piaf-like, is riven by love and music alike and takes the song's lines where they naturally lead. For me, it's no contest.

Great vocalist in three languages. Very best Weill interpreter.......2005-10-01

`Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill, Volumes 1 and 2' released in 1988 and 1993, plus the third album of Weill's two most important song cycles in German, `The Seven Deadly Sins' (`Die sieben Todsunden') and `Mahagonny Songspiel' released in 1990 unequivocally established Ms. Lemper as the leading Kurt Weill interpreter since Lotte Lenya, Weill's wife and the singer for whom many of his vocal pieces were written. These three disks, sample pieces from most major Weill works written in German, including his most famous musical play, `The Threepenny Opera' (`Die Dreigroschenoper').

The first disc has fourteen tracks with three from `Der Silbersee' with lyrics by Kaiser, three from `Die Dreigroschenoper' with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, two from `Berliner Requiem' with lyrics by Brecht, two from `Mahagonny' with lyrics by Mahagonny, `Je ne t'aime pas with French lyrics by Magre, and three from `One Touch of Venus' with English lyrics by S.J. Perelman and Ogden Nash.

The middle disc includes both works performed in their original German. After having listened to `The Seven Deadly Sins' done by several different artists, and having just reviewed a CD on which Anne Sofie von Otter does this work, I discover for the first time that the piece was written in two versions, one for a low voice and one for a high voice. Von Otter does the version for high voice and Lemper does the version for low voice that, I suspect, is the way it was originally performed by Fraulein Lenya. One service done by comparing Lemper and von Otter's performance is to see how much closer Lemper is to the original spirit of the work than is von Otter. Weill's venue was not the opera stages of Berlin or Vienna, it was the popular stage, actually much closer to what we see in the movie `Cabaret' than what we see in `Amadeus'. I enjoy von Otter's rendition, but Lemper stirs my heart where von Otter does not. Lemper also seems to have the benefit of a much better cast of supporting voices on the two works on Volume 1.

All albums are done with the backing of the RIAS Berlin Sinfonietta, conducted by John Mauceri who seems to get just the right tone of sleaze out of his ensemble to match the tone of the composition and lyrics by Weill and his various librettists, especially Berthold Brecht.

Volume 2 showcases Lemper's ability to sing with equal facility and understanding in German (Songs from `Happy End'), French (Songs from `Marie Galante'), and English (Songs from `Lady in the Dark'). While my understanding of French is far weaker than my understanding of the German and the English, when I compare Ms. Lemper's French interpretations with the French of Ms. Von Otter, I definitely prefer Lemper's treatment. She may not quite match Edith Piaf, but I feel she has a cachet all her own.

Lemper is a vocalist in that great European femme fatale tradition of Lenya, Piaf, and Dietrich and certainly to my lights the leading interpreter today of Weill's songs plus works by other European composers for the musical and cabaret (See her album `City of Strangers'). Compared to even some of the greatest contemporary American female vocalists on the stage such as Streisand and Minelli, both Yanks have their strength, but they can't or don't try to achieve the same depth of feeling behind the European `Weltschmertz' you hear from Lemper and her forerunners. The closest may be Minelli's performance as Sally Bowles in `Cabaret', but even there, she can't seem to hide her American innocence.

Of the three albums, the first of the three, `Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill' may be the best introduction, as it includes two of Weill's best English songs, `I'm a Stranger Here Myself' and `Speak Low'. The third, `Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill Vol. 2' has two of Weill's most famous German songs outside of `Die Dreigroschenoper', `Bilbao-Song' and `Surabaya-Johnny'.

If you encounter this review and have never heard Ute Lemper, I strongly urge you to try one of these albums. If the German and French turns you off, try Lemper's recent album, `Punishing Kiss'.

Very highly recommended.

Ute dramatically renders the best of Weill and Brecht!.......2004-09-25

This album is full of many highlights, Zu Potsdam, Die Sexuelle Hoerigkeit, Wenn Die Man Sich Bettet, etc. From beginning to end it is a triumph and masterpiece by the international singing sensation Ute Lemper.

Voice non par excellence.......2004-03-18

It seems that everywhere you turn there is someone "with a unique voice." Usually we nod and upon hearing the voice in question shake our heads and head on to the next great talent. But the trite saying is, for this case, proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.

These interpretations are just incredible, ultra-clear, and just the way one would imagine these songs presented. Several of the selections are more suited to a smoky speakeasy rather than the stage which is just fine by me. Lemper runs the gamut from the catty growl to the ultra-lush to the quiet melancholy to the joyous Bronx of "I'm Just a Stranger Here Myself." The three languages presented absolutely no problems: The German was sufficiently guttural, the French erotic and the English - well, as only English can sound.

A near perfect recording by a near perfect artist.

Ute! She knows how to trill me!.......2003-11-17

I'd never heard of Ute Lemper until I received a brochure announcing her March concert at the Cleveland Museum of Art. I fell for her picture. I saw a women who oozed style, class, and sensuality; she had to be a great singer, right? So I purchased the "Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill" CD, and fired it up as soon as UPS delivered. I didn't know what to think. The music was strange, the singing was stranger. Foreign. Had I wasted my money? Did I fall for slick marketing and a pretty face? I listened again...and again...and again... Ute's way of singing these haunting, powerful melodies-her key changes, her haughtiness, her sarcasm, her way of emphasizing key words and phrases, her trills (Oh, those trills)-grabbed me by the throat and shook me in a way that I thoroughly enjoyed. I can't get the songs out of my head. I find myself singing the last two lines of "Caesar's Tod" and "Zu Potsdam unter den Eichen" and the chorus of "Nanna's Lied" at work, auf Deutsche. These songs don't let go! I can't wait 'til March.

Average customer rating: Amazing! by far the best of 2006 Butch Walker. Simply Amazing. Unbelievable A Batter than Average Album

Rise & Fall of Butch Walker & The Let's-Go-Out-Tonites Butch Walker Manufacturer: Red Int / Red Ink ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music Hard Rock | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Adult Alternative | Pop | Styles | Music Similar Items: Left of Self-Centered Letters ReadySexGo! Hey! Album Rockford ASIN: B000FZESOY Release Date: 2006-07-11

Tracks:

1. Oooh...Aah...
2. Hot Girls in Good Moods
3. Ladies & GentlemenThe Let's Go Out Tonites
4. Bethamphetamine (Pretty Pretty)
5. Too Famous To Get Fully Dressed
6. We're All Going Down
7. Dominoes
8. Paid To Get Excited
9. Song w/o a Chorus
10. The Taste of Red
11. Rich People Die Unhappy
12. This is the Sweetest Little Song
13. When Canyons Ruled the World

Customer Reviews:

Amazing!.......2007-05-24

Butch Walker cannot do wrong. This album is great...it's different than either Letters or Left of Self-Centered but in a good way. It definately gives a nod to classic glam-rock from the 70's while still staying in tune with what Butch Walker fans want to hear. It's unbelievable that Butch Walker is as unknown as he is.

by far the best of 2006.......2007-04-06

I discovered Butch Walker over 2 years ago when i heard the song "Mixtape" on a TV soundtrack. The song immediatly stood out among all the others with the piano intro, the outstanding lyrics, and a great voice. Since then, Butch Walker has become my favorite artist in music and I have built a huge collection of his solo albums, live material, rare tracks, and all of the music I could find from his previous band the Marvelous 3. While I think "Letters" beats this one out by a nose, this album is one of the best to be released in a long time. If music sales were actually based on talent, then Butch Walker would be at the top of the pack. Not only is he a brilliant and original vocalist, a wicked guitar player, and the best performer i've ever seen, his songwriting abilities are better than those of any living musician. I realize the boldness of this claim, and will stand by it forever more. One listen to any of his albums will reveal exactly why this claim is true.

Walker, who seemed infinitely depressed on "Letters" is back to his happy and humorous self, something which is made immediatly clear by the title of the album. "The Rise And Fall Of Butch Walker And The Lets Go Out Tonites!" borrows from the title of the David Bowie album ("Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars") and for good reason, because the glam-rock influences are essentially the theme of this album. The opening track, "Hot Girls In Good Moods" is an infectiously catchy rocker and sets the tone for the rest of the album. It sounds like nothing else walker has ever done before, which seems to becoming customary with each album as his sound progresses. The next track, "Ladies & Gentlemen The Lets Go Out Tonites" is equally catchy with a jazzy piano riff igniting the background as Walker sings and plays. The song also begins a theme of anti-conformity that runs throughout the album (everybody telling the some joke/singing the same chorus to a song that hasnt even been wrote) (there is no right or right or wrong way for certain/make up your own version sing along).
The first single "Bethamphetamine" utilizes another sweet piano intro before exploding into an excellent rock song. This one has some great vocals as well. The catchy song streak continues with "Too Famous To Get Fully Dressed", and then Butch finally slows it down with "We're All Going Down", by far the weakest song on the album (or on any Butch album for that matter). It's not really bad, but it's just kind of...odd and Butch keeps doing this weird thing with his voice on the chorus(its hard to explain). The song just isnt very good and kind of hurts the mood of the album. Still, its better than almost all of the music out there right now.
As it turns out, it doesnt really matter because he completely makes up for it on "Dominoes", my personal favorite songs on the album. The band isnt needed for this one where Butch just sings and plays piano (with and brilliant string section to enhance it even more. Its this albums "Joan". The song is about his girlfriends grandparents who married very young and were together for most of their lives. The woman (named Grace) eventually passed away, and the man (who has alzheimers)plays a game of dominoes to try to remember her. The song is absolutely gorgeous (especially the vocals on the chorus) and is so beautifully written that it would be hard not to be moved by it.
However, Butch doesnt let you dwell on it for to long, because the next track brings things back to the uptempo. "Paid To Get Excited" is an anti-conformist, anti-bush anthem and is by far the loudest track on the album. It's actually one of the best anti-bush songs i've ever heard with the chorus proclaiming: "be free to love the ones you love/free to hate the ones you hate/free to like the land you live on not the one who leads". The songs builds to the final verse where butch forgoes good vocals for a scream. Normally this would really annoy me, but it completely works here, mostly because the song is so well written. Not the best track, but its still addicting. "Song Without A Chorus" continues the theme where Butch spews all his hate for record labels who all want to find the same kind of boring pop artist, and reflects on his experience with the marvelous 3 ("well they'll probably say this sucks you know but i dont really care/ and i'll use the gunshot words so it won't get on the air"). When Butch was with the marvelous 3, the record label kept trying to control everything butch did, so the band decided to make an album they knew the label wouldnt approve of (the arena rock based "ReadySexGo"). This led to the label's decision to cut promotion at which point the band decided to break up.
But of course things kept going, as they do now. The next track "The Taste of Red" is another candidate for best track on the album. Not only is the one of the most infectiously catchy songs on the album, but one of the most catchy songs i've ever heard. Add another excellent string arrangement and you have a truly classic song. "Rich People Die Unhappy" moves things from glam-rock to alt-country. The song is completely different from anything Butch has ever done before. Most artists would never even dream of the genre switching the Butch does throughout this album, but he has the talent to pull it off, and this is another great track (though not a favorite for me). The oddly titled "This Is The Sweetest Little Song" is another great, mostly acoustic song that serves to begin winding down the album. The verse lyrics are some of the finest on the album.
However, the closer "When The Canyons Ruled The City" is simply in a different league. The lyrics are genius, built around a clever concept of personification. The song is a triumphant singer-songwriter opus, and is the only song that could close this incredible album (and the other song that could be the album's best). Brilliant vocals, songwriting, instrumentation, everything. Easily one of the best songs Walker has ever written.

In the end, every excellent song comes together to form a truly incredible and addicting work. Since it's release, each and every one of this albums tracks has breached my itunes top 25 most played, just another testament to its greatness. This man also puts on an excellent live show, and at only around $15, you get more for your money than just about every other band out there (especially since he usually brings 2 other bands along with him).
3/4 of a year later and I still cannot get enough of this album. That should be enough to convince anyone to buy it.

Butch Walker. Simply Amazing........2007-04-04

This album is one of his more upbeat works, a sharp change of pace from "Letters." After listening to the album only a couple times, I get a kick out of just about every song. I can't pick a favorite, and it never seems to get old. Can't wait for more. (rumors of a new band formed: "1969")

Unbelievable.......2006-12-07

This man is the most unbelievable talent I have ever come across. Yet sadly, not one of my friends or even my husband know who he is!! What an injustice.

This is my favorite cd by far and even my 9 year olds sing along to The Taste of Red!

Can't wait to see Butch in Atlanta or Athens!

A Batter than Average Album.......2006-10-03

The music is certainly good, in fact it could at times be called infectious. Highlights from the album include Hot Girls in Good Moods and Bethamphetamine.

If their is some issue to be taken with this album, it is in the comparison it draws between itself and seminal David Bowie album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. While at times a similarity can be found, Mr. Walker ceratinly hasn't attained that level.

With that said, this album is still well-worth purchasing, as is his previous work.

Average customer rating: Her voice is every color of dream Stratas is sublime It is dangerous to use words like "definative," but.... Amazing The One

Stratas Sings Weill Manufacturer: Nonesuch ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Weill | Weill, Kurt | ( W ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Similar Items: Teresa Stratas - The Unknown Kurt Weill September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill Anne Sofie von Otter - Speak Low ~ Songs by Kurt Weill / Gardiner Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill / Levine, Lenya, Armstrong, Gilford, et al Sings Kurt Weill, Vol. 2 ASIN: B000005IXU Release Date: 1991-06-25

Tracks:

1. One Touch of Venus: I'm A Stranger Here Myself
2. Ausfstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny: Havanna - Lied
3. Happy End: Surabaya-Johnny
4. One Touch of Venus: Foolish Heart
5. Der Silbersee: Ich bin eine arme Verwandre (Fennimore's Song)
6. Lady In The Dark: One Life To Live
7. Marie Galante: J'attends un navire
8. Happy End: Das Lied von der harten Nuss
9. Street Scene: Lonely House
10. Marie Galante: Le Roi d'Aquitaine
11. Ausfstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny: Denn wie man sich bettet
12. Marie Galante: Le Train du ciel
13. Die Dreigroschenoper: Das Lied von der Untulanglichkeit menschlichen Strebens
14. Knickerbocker Holiday: It Never Was You
15. Happy End: Der kleine Leutnant des lieben Gotten

Amazon.com

Revealing an affinity for Weill, Teresa Stratas fulfills her promise to Lotte Lenya on her deathbed to "carry on the torch for Kurt Weill's music." Stratas's glorious soprano has never sounded better as she applies her operatic expertise to deliciously caress this music without losing any of the underlying subtext. Lacking the grittiness of other interpreters, she captures the emotional angles by letting her beautiful voice express the tortured heart beneath it; where others shout at you, Stratas sings at you. She casually bounces off the cheerier selections from One Touch of Venus and Happy End, letting Gerard Schwarz's brilliantly conducted orchestra display their wit. Program notes include a fascinating interview with Stratas. --Barbara Eisner Bayer

Customer Reviews:

Her voice is every color of dream.......2005-12-03

I don't care who knows it--I've been in love with Teresa Stratas since I was a senior in high school and saw her as Mimi in La Boheme one Friday night in 1961. That obsession preceded and outlasted my marriage:-). I lost a lot of years away from opera, then discovered that Stratas' recorded output is shamefully small. A difficult performer, probably, renowned for some unendearing quirks. But. What's there is gold. I have heard recordings I should not of her as Suor Angelica, Butterfly, and Melisande. I have seen her famous Zefirelli Boheme and Traviata. And Amahl. But the Weill material...it's unbelievable. When Lenya "ordained" her as her successor after seeing a performance of Mahagonny, the old lady knew what she was doing. Stratas has the perfect temperament for Weill's music. The voice coos, snarls, belts, and weeps. My favorite of all Weill songs, "Surabaya Johnny," is a mini-drama of love, hate, rage and despair. The only person who comes close to her in that song is the late Cathy Berberian.

Yes, get this. Get "The Unknown Kurt Weill." Lobby the Met to release her broadcasts, esp. The Bartered Bride. She was absolutely magnetic and the field isn't quite gone yet.

Stratas is sublime.......2005-03-27

Teresa Stratas is one of those singers whose reputation as a temperamental diva precedes her. Well, in my book, if it takes being temperamental to accomplish a collection like this, the end justifies the means. She is a singer of tremendous vocal and emotional range, and Weill's music provides what seems to be a perfect vehicle for both.

I've had this CD for at least 12 or 13 years and, no matter how many times I listen, I still notice new details in her interpretations.

It is dangerous to use words like "definative," but...........2004-04-04

Stratas's interpretations make one rush headlong into that danger.

Many singers have done beautiful Surabaya Johnnys but have any been as shattering as Stratas? Though years later she stumbled with her ill-concieved and eccentric Seven Deadly Sins, this CD is Stratas at in her prime, making bold choices about the material that blows the cobwebs off song we thought we knew. Even 15 years later, this album is fresh, uncliched, deeply affecting, and enthralling.

Stratas proves herself not only a great singer, but a great actress as well.

Amazing.......2000-06-29

Until I heard this and the Unknown Weill, I was a "stranger myself here,' as Stratas sings in the first selection. I simply did not appreciate nor understand the immediacy and importance of Weill to our musical heritage. Stratas simply transcends and reveals this music so intuitively that it is amazing.

The One.......2000-06-01

Stratas is the Weill singer, and everyone else is an also-ran. Ute Lemper is just a poser, and while Lenya was an important figure for Weill and she has her charms, but Weill wanted trained, operatic voices to sing his music, but not in the style of Verdi or Mozart. Here, Stratas delivers the composer's wish. Her voice is beautiful and cultivated in the best way, but it is her manner that is so important; straightforward, sincere, artless. From the opening "I'm a Stranger Here Myself" her affinity for this music is fully apparent. The selections span Weill's career and are delivered in many English, French and German, and regardless of the language, Stratas communicates completely. The orchestra plays the original orchestrations, and the sound is simply wonderful, nostalgic and modern all at once. This is where all Weill listeners and lovers should start.

Rap Music:

1. Robert Gordon with Link Wray/Fresh Fish Specials [Extra tracks]
2. Rockets
3. Roses on White Lace
4. Shades in Bed [Import]
5. Singles/Jebediah Split [EP]
6. Sisters of Avalon
7. Sixth in Sixes
8. Spend a Night in the Box
9. Stage
10. Sun Again

Rap Music

rap music

Recommended Music:

Trancemaster 3003 [Import]

Georgescu Legacy, Vol. 2: Ludwig van Beethoven

Emile Martyn's Band

Music: Dragon Fly [Import]

Danger

Cut to the Heart

Come Sunday

Bury The Hatchet [Limited Edition]

Dakar Sound Sampler, Vol. 1

Chopin: Complete Mazurkas / Frederic Chiu

Ernie Carson and Rhythm

America the Beautiful / Does the Sun Really Shine on the Moon?

Booty Classics Throwback [Enhanced]

American Jubilee

The Dance