Search - Mischa Spoliansky, Friedrich Hollaender, Rudolf Nelson :: Ute Lemper - Berlin Cabaret Songs

This is a great album! It's definitely worth the money!

blnkfrnk | Arcata, CA | 06/23/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love this album. Despite not speaking German and (at the time of purchase) not knowing anything about cabaret culture or Ute Lemper, this has become one of my favorite records. The songs sound silly and sweet at first listen, and are a stylistic treat. Ute Lemper has a beautiful voice with remarkable depth and range -- even when you don't now what she's singing about, it's still very enjoyable. The orchestral accompaniment is just about perfect. When you do listen to the lyrics, never fear-- there's full lyrics and translations in the liner notes, which are exceedingly helpful and useful. The songs are mainly about politics, sex, and survival, and are ironic, humurous, and occasionally bittersweet. Even though these songs are from another country and another time, I find that they are much more relevant to my life and times than the entire Top 40 Hit Parade. This record is worth it-- as are Ute Lemper's other albums (I can especially recommend Punishing Kiss, Illusions, and City of Strangers.)"

Superb performances in both languages. Buy it twice!

B. Marold | Bethlehem, PA United States | 10/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"`Berlin Cabaret Songs' by Ute Lemper are issued as part of London recording company's `Entartete Musik' series or music suppressed by the Third Reich. One of the very best things about this issue is the fact that Ms. Lemper and London have issued the album in two versions. One is in the original German and one is sung entirely in English.



For starters, I strongly suggest you listen to both, but if you simply have no interest in listening to the German version, I will reassure you that the English performance is musically virtually identical to the German. The instrumentals almost sound as if they were done Kareoke style, with Ms. Lemper's English or German mixed in afterwards. I'm almost certain this was not actually done, as the translations probably changed a few things here and there about the meter of the lyrics, but I could find nothing in the instrumental or vocal performances to prefer in one over the other, except for the genuine experience of hearing it the same way as the cabaret audiences in Berlin would hear it.



Ms. Lemper's English interpretations, as they are in all her earlier albums, is impecible. It also seems to be about as accent free as you can imagine. Not only is it free of German inflections, it is free of a British accent as well, so it should sound great to American ears.



The first thing which strikes me about the lyrics of these songs is that to my ear, there is practically nothing which is critical or even satiric of a specific government. There is not even much which is sexually explicit, let alone lewd. Some pieces from Kurt Weill in `Mahagonny' may be more objectionable than most songs in this album. One thing that tells us is exactically how extremely conservative the Nazis were about any art whatsoever. The most strident politically oriented song is in favor of women's rights and makes no mention of the Nazi government or any other political party for that matter.



The only weakness of the album may be that virtually all this material is unfamiliar to the average listener, so we don't have the pleasure of seeing how Ms. Lemper does a new version of, for example, `Bilbao Song' or Jacques Brel's `Amsterdam'. But then, I relish any chance whatsoever to hear Ms. Lemper sing. She is still fresh and free of the kind of syrupy sweetness we get from, for example, Barbra Streisand, these days from her `Guilty Pleasures' album.

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