Customer Reviews

Blood & Feathers: Live at the Cafe Carlyle

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`blood & feathers', a recording of a live Ute Lemper performance at New York City's Café Carlyle is easily one of Fraulein Lemper's most enjoyable albums, a fact over which I could not be more happy, as Ms. Lemper has been my favorite vocalist for the last several years, ever since Barbra Streisand went into semi-retirement and stopped doing `interesting' material on which she based her early career.

I am always just a bit apprehensive of `Live' and `Best of' albums, especially for performers of whom I own a large selection of their recordings. There is always the risk that the albums will simply repeat material I already own. While about half of the material on this album does appear on other Lemper albums, the mix of musical numbers with on-stage commentary and juxtapositions between songs make the whole album a totally new and totally pleasant experience for Lemper fans.

Aside from Lemper's great vocal skills, the most amazing thing about the recording of the stage performance is Lemper's flawless American accent or, to our ears, the total lack of any accent, in spite of the fact that she is a native of Germany, has worked most of her life in Europe, and switches effortlessly between French, German, and English lyrics. Her impeccable English lyrics are not simply the result of excellent mimicry.

Even seemingly tired material is given a new live such as the old chestnut, `Pirate Jenny' from `The Threepenny Opera' is done half in German and half in English with some improvisation on some of the best known lyrics.

The centerpiece of the set is the `Moon Medley' consisting of Brecht and Weill's `Bilbao Song', Van Morrison's `Moondance', Sting's `Moon over Bourbon Street', Brecht and Weill's `Moon of Alabama', Joni Mitchell's `Moon at the Window', Arlen and Harburg's `It's Only a Paper Moon', and Tom Waits' `Grapefruit Moon'. It's such a major part of the set that it's odd the album isn't named `Moon Songs'.

The final track is a `Cararet medley' dedicated to songwriter Fred Ebb, a collaborator on Cabaret and Chicago. The dedication give a great thumbnail sketch of Lemper's career and great stage presence, where she speaks with an assumed Sally Bowles accent which sounds like it grew up in darkest Brooklyn. That is, until she jumps into the German opening to `Mack the Knife'.

Buy this even if you have every other Lemper album ever pressed!

As I've said in past reviews, Ute Lemper is not always an easy listen, but well worth the effort. On her latest disc, "Blood and Feathers" Ute captures herself live at the Cafe Carlyle. On one of the liner notes written by a critic, he states how refreshing it is to see a woman perform who isn't pandering to the audience, but allowing you to witness her authenticity. So is the case with Ute this time around. Her song selection is all over the place, but each version she makes her own. I continue to love that she is not belting out better known standards to please the masses. She picks unique songs and sings and speaks in several languages on the CD. She maintains her consistency. I imagine she does the same show all over the world, not "Americanizing" it for NYC. I've seen Ute live several times and while her witty banter is intact on the disc, what I longed for was her mannerisms, her coy smile, expressive eyes and movement, and her glamourous vamping. Fortunately for all of us, the DVD is only a few weeks away. Ute fans enjoy this sassy disc. Bon Appetit!

This is a live recording that really comes alive with repeated listenings. It's not a ho-hum performance by any means, but an experience as Ute engages the audience and gives them her all.

The Moon Medley has moments ...and sustained moments of shear brilliance. Her selection and reading of songs from different eras brings it all together.

The Cabaret Medley is virtuosity by the singer who has much to draw on and shows her command of singing by inserting others' songs into it besides just a run-through of Kander & Ebb.

It's so wonderful to experience a singer like Ute Lemper who takes risks, has a commanding presence, gives it her all, and without pretentions.

My name is Gonzalo and I'm from Argentina. I had the pleasure of seeing Ute twice, here in Buenos Aires. She doesn't change her show, it's the same all over the world. Her unique and genuine voice is always flawless and fraught with sheer emotion. The way she carries herself on stage. And she always speaks in several languages urging the audience to pay attention and following her in every word she says, inspiring people to learn languages. She does it all. I had the privilage of sharing the stage with her in Buenos Aires, I'll never forget that night as long as I live. Can't wait for her to come back. She always keeps you guessing...clearly not a predictable artist which we have in abundance nowadays.

Fans of the idiosyncratically talented Ute Lemper will be will be immensely entertained and those curious about her could be by this CD recorded live during a performance of her nightclub act at The Cafe Carlyle in 2005.

A few Brecht/Weil standards from her extensive repertoire as well as an eclectic selection of songs that include ones by Sting, Van Morrison, Tom Waits and a loopy rendition of Sondheim's "The Ladies Who Lunch" are commandingly performed.

These are interspersed with her witty erudite patter which along with applause, laughter and some background sounds thrillingly capture the experience of her live. The pictures in the CD booklet do justice to her visual sensuality as well.

The finale is an eloquently heartfelt tribute to Fred Ebb followed by a rousing medley where she dynamically zooms through the Kander and Ebb songbook.

ute.....i really like nearly everything you do...your singling is
more than just singing....it is a type of art presentation.....
she sings...yes...she dances....she talks....and it is amazing to
witness....

it is rare to see any performer that can entertain on a global
scale....most sing or act in their native language....take it or
leave it...with ute; there is something for everyone....

I was once an Ute Lemper fan - liked her early CDs and enjoyed her in "Chicago" on Broadway - until she developed that tiresome habit some singers develop of departing from the song as it was written by the composer and lyricist. I call it "star-knows-best syndrome".

It's a syndrome that's become more pronounced with each new Ute Lemper CD and finally takes over on this recording. Song after song gets the Lemper treatment as she wails up and down the scale, wherever her voice takes her, to disguise the fact that she has nothing to add to the material. Just listen to the preview of "Moon Dance" and you'll hear what I mean.

Lemper has a well-publicised love-hate relationship with her native Germany. As someone who has made Germany his adoptive home, I'll tell you why. The Germans long ago saw through her one-trick pony act and grew tired of her thinly-spread talent and mannered style. Bitter at this, she now attacks Germany in concerts elsewhere in the world.

If you want to know why no one in Germany wants to hear her anymore, this CD is Exhibit A. Lemper is an anti-singer, an Empress in New Clothes who uses and abuses songs to mask her modest talent. Singers like Barbara Cook and Rosemary Clooney are the opposite: talented singers who have respect for song writers, sing each song as written, and still make it theirs.

My condolences to the Cafe Carlyle crowd. I just hope Barbara Cook returns soon to banish Lemper's bad karma.