Customer Reviews

But One Day

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the world of singers, there are some singers who can do it all: sing, write, and play instruments. Then there are the singers who *strictly* sing, i.e. they don't write any of their own material, or play any instruments. They just sing, and that's it. You can just see them in the recording studio, and the producer says to him or her, "Just sing along to this pre-recorded track, baby, and we'll sell millions!" But I DO make exceptions for "strictly" singers who are unquestionably, without a doubt, 100% *phenomenal* at the microphone, whose passionate voices can instantly grab you & hold your attention, and who can make any song they sing completely their own. Frank Sinatra was such a singer. Tom Jones is such a singer. And, on the female side, German cabaret goddess Ute Lemper is such a singer. Ute Lemper is a magnificent, outstanding vocalist (AND stunningly gorgeous, which doesn't hurt either). Ute completely throws herself at the mike with tremendous passion, sensuality, and presence on every song she sings, quite often within the many characters of these songs. Ute Lemper doesn't just sing, she *performs*. If ever there was a woman who was born to sing, it's Ute Lemper. Her latest album, "But One Day," is quite possibly the best thing she's ever done. She serves up a marvelously sung collection of songs by Weill, Brel, Piazzolla, Heymann and Eisler, AND, in the nicest surprise of all, Lemper herself. She can now add "songwriter" to her list of talents, as she sings five songs of her own, a first for her. Ute's own compositions, including "I Surrender," and "Lena" (featuring Laurie Anderson), are excellent, emotional songs that perfectly showcase what she can do at the mike. And, as Lemper has proved many times before, she also knows how to wrap her silky voice around anything by the likes of Weill, Brel, or Piazzolla, like "Speak Low," "Buenos Aires," and "Amsterdam." The album's arrangements and production are both sparkly, and a perfect match for Lemper's commanding, sultry pipes. With her blossoming songwriting talent, "But One Day" shows tremendous growth for this already-established German diva. It's arguably her best album to date, and her most accessible. If you're interested in checking out the amazing Ute Lemper, this is a wonderful place to start.

I have read several unflattering reviews of the import version of this CD. Reviewers described the CD as unlistenable and too avant garde. I have to disagree. I think it is a very accessible, beautiful, and haunting CD. I think that anyone who has "expectations" for a performer as fluid and as connected to humanity as Lemper are doomed to be disappointed. Lemper is a soulful, spiritual singer who needs to connect with her material and tell a story. On this new CD, she does it with grace. Ute's work will always take a few listens before you can properly engage it.After a while you really start to pick up the subtlety of the delivery and the power of her phrasing. Ute is never going to be a Linda Eder or Barbara Streisand (sorry, folks,Ute's not singing too many show tunes anymore).She is political, theatrical, a mother, a women, and her work reflects her unique experiences. Ute's "But One Day" is a great CD for relaxing or reflecting. One of the best qualities of Ute is knowing that her music evolves as she does. As people we all change over time. Why wouldn't an artist's music change over time. If you don't "get" Ute Lemper, check her out in concert, you will instantly be converted and will understand her music much better. The standouts on this CD are "September Song", "Buenos Aires", and my favorite, "The Ballad of Marie Sanders". Enjoy!!!

`but one day...' is a long drink of water for Ute Lemper fans. Its choice of songs is positioned almost perfectly in the middle of her defining repertoire of Kurt Weill, Jacques Brel, Steven Sondheim and classic German cabaret songs. It is neither all German / all Weill nor very edgy like her selection of songs on `Punishing Kiss' nor too conventional like the selection of songs on `Life is a Cararet' where Ms. L tries the Lisa Minelli mantle.

The selection is centered on two very classic Weill songs, `September Song' and `Speak Low', both originally written by Weill for two of his best Broadway shows. This traditional material is joined by two from Brel, `Ne me quitte pas' in French and `Amsterdam' done in French and English. From Bertolt Brecht and Hans Eisler is an obscure English / German song `Ballad of Marie Sanders, the Jew's Whore'. From Werner Heymann and Robert Ziegler we have `Living Without You' which is sung in English.

This is the first Lemper album on which I recall seeing works by Astor Piazzolla. Apparently, Ute has been doing them in concert for quite some time. The two Piazzolla selections `Buenos Aires' and `Oblivion' are sung in English. In the liner notes, Lemper says she would have really liked to sing them in Spanish but it is not a language she knows well and she felt she simply could not do the songs justice without giving a lot of time to learning the language well enough to put the right feeling into the songs. As German is her native language, which I know, I have always been impressed by the interpretation she is able to give equally to both German and English lyrics, and I can really appreciate and respect her reluctance to risk slighting the interpretation of songs in a language with which she is not comfortable. To my ear, neither of these two Piazzolla songs are true tangos, although one can sense the typical Piazzolla Euro/Argentine fatalism in both.

Finally, there are four works by Ms. L herself, all in English. From the liner notes for the album, I gather that Ms. Lemper now lives and works in New York City, as all of her material was recorded in New York with New York musicians, all in a very few sessions, and, like all of her albums, there is a great sense of uniformity in the quality of the performances. Ms. Lemper's songs are selected from a large number of her works that begin as poems. I believe these songs are not quite as soulfully memorable as the Weill, Brel, and Piazzolla classics, but they are definitely out of place, as they do not try for memorable music, but rely on heartfelt storytelling. The title song `But One Day' and `I Surrender' are straight love songs. Her children inspire `Little Face'. `Lena' is based on the mother of Ms. Lemper's Mexican publicist. While one can glide through her other three songs carried simply by the allure of the Ms. L's voice, the lyrics of `Lena' reach out and capture your attention. I simply did not have to read the lyrics of this song to catch all of the references to Holocaust and post World War II history.

I first ran across Ms. Lemper's singing when I picked up her early recordings of Kurt Weill German works, as she started as a Kurt Weill specialist who, to my ears, brought something new to the traditional Lotte Lenya gravel voiced interpretations. I have reveled in all the new material Ms. Lemper has taken on without abandoning for long her European Marlene Dietrich / Edith Piaf inspired style.

Ute Lemper fans will find more of everything we find appealing in her work. I also recommend this to anyone who likes female vocalists in general. Much more substance than the run of the mill diva and even a bit more genuine than Ms. Streisand.

i was first introduced to the work of ute lemper as a manager in a music store in NYC. "illusions" was my first taste of that heavenly voice and since that day i have followed her career with
intense pleasure. in this age of celine dions' and sarah brightmans' it is so appealling to be in the musical prescence of what i personally consider a master of her craft.....this woman can do it all: sing (in various tongues no less!!!), act
and now with the release of "but one day" write personal, involving music that takes you to a totally new level!!! ute's
style and approach make me yearn for a seat in some dusky weimar-
era berlin cabaret drinking absinthe and watching the world pass by with all the ennui i posess.......

I was very excited to here of this new album, by the one and only Ute Lemper. On this album she wrote four (4) wonderfully dark and artful songs, and continues to cover Weill as well as delving into Piazolla. Ute's voice and manner are in the Pop/Cabaret, give me a cigarette, a drink, and tell me dark stories vein. You cannot really describe what this woman does. She lights up a song and spits and purrs it at you. She is wonderful and you should by this album as well as Punishing Kiss.

According to the liner notes, this album, which was recorded in New York ("where nothing is the same"), is Lemper's response to the events of September 11 (the World Trade Center is visible in one of the photographs). Perhaps that accounts for her inclusion, at the beginning, of "September Song," a song she has recorded before but which serves here as the perfect umbrella for an otherwise motley assortment of tunes, including four that are self-penned. There are no American songs, as such, although both Weill compositions were written for Broadway, but most are rendered in English, often with new lyrics, as in the Piazolla selections, by Lemper herself. I can't help wondering whether her decision to write her own material as well as to include two Jacques Brel numbers, both covered elsewhere by Scott Walker, may be the fruit of her collaboration with Walker on "Punishing Kiss," a masterpiece of its kind but not really representative of what Lemper does best. Whatever their inspiration, the four new songs are easily the freshest things on this album, and the most immediately engaging, representing a culmination in Lemper's search for material that is both pop-inflected and worthy of inclusion among her international repertoire. The Heymann/Ziegler compostion, "Living Without You," also falls into this category and would make an excellent single. The more I listen to this ablum, the more I like it, at the same time that I am impressed by its artistry. No pretension here, and that's amazing on an album that includes Lemper's own "words inspired by" Bertolt Brecht. "But One Day" is a watershed in the constantly evolving career of one of the world's most challenging and creative artists.

Ute Lemper is known for singing Kurt Weill, and many fans would like her to remain an artist of the Post WWII German "avant garde" Her fans want her to stop with the pop and go back to the "classical section." of their record stores. Marianne Faithfull sings songs of darkness and great beauty within a pop context. She has released an cd of Weill's "Seven Deadly Sins" Her fans wish her to sing more like she used too. They want "Broken English, Part II"
Both sides are missing the power and beauty of these singers but trying to limit them to what the listener can understand without effort.
I suggest everyone listen to Ute's more pop oriented cds and Faithfull's more "classical" oriented cds and let the judgments goes , for awhile, to allow you to just listen.

While her German cabaret repetoire is my favorite, this has enough to please even the pickiest Utetarian.

My first exposure to Ute Lemper was the overly strong Punishing Kiss which blew me away. It's hard to find artists these days who are different from the mainstream. But One Day is a little softer and took some getting used to. Now it is haunting me. There is so much beauty in the melodies and her singing. Rarely does an album open up such emotional feelings.

Ute includes (for the first time) original compositions. The tango and Jacques Brel numbers are interesting additions to her repetoire (her liner notes explain why she doesn't sing the tango numbers in Spanish... look for her explanation, it's a hoot).

While it's not as accessible as her 'Caberet Songs' or any of her Kurt Weill discs, it's a very interesting disk and much more challenging than typical 'muzak' MOR discs.