Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An unusual project, January 6, 2004
The late Edward Gorey was a unique master of pen-and-ink illustration as well as macabre light verse and stories. The Tiger Lillies are a trio of English cabaret musicians who play musical saws, accordians, pianos, etc. while the male lead singer intones in a high, campy falsetto (a bit like a cross between Noel Coward and Dame Edna.) Apparently Gorey grew fond of their style and sent them a sheaf of his poems and stories in the hopes that he could collaborate with them on a musical work. Gorey's premature death silenced any true collaboration, but the Tiger Lillies have taken the words Gorey sent them and, with slight revision, set them to their own offbeat music quite well. After a while the listener may have his fill of the falsetto vocals, but the occasional dash of the excellent Kronos Quartet string section creates a fascinating blend with the music hall sound of the Lillies. Fans of Gorey will enjoy the lyrics, some of which are news to this Gorey fan.(The lyrics are also printed inside the nice booklet.) Fans of the obscure and offbeat may dig the Tiger Lilies and their uncommon sound - not the sort of thing one wants to listen to every day, but a fascinating nugget for your collection. (And, fans for the Kronos Quartet will wonder what on earth the quartet is doing this for when they could be off playing classical music, but one has to admire them for joining in!)
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cabaret in a mental hospital, October 8, 2004
...is the best way I can describe this.
Edward Gorey loved the Tiger Lillies, and toward the end of his life sent them a slew of his unpublished writings so they could do an album of his works. Alas, Edward died before the CD could be completed.
Personally, I think Edward would have loved it. It's perverse, surreal, and funny. The lead singer's falsetto is bizarre and makes you think of a drag queen in a long velvet gown and a feather boa...but it matches the campiness and surreal quality of the entire production.
My favorites are "ABC" and "The Weeping Chandelier," but I also like "Gin" and "QRV." Heck, I like 'em all. But "Weeping Chandelier" is great as a tango; you could dance to it.
I'm told the Gorey estate was opposed to this project and tries to pretend it doesn't exist. Honestly, I can't see why, but I guess it's their right. If Edward wanted it, that's fine with me. Personally, I find it perverse, strange, funny and delightful, just like Gorey's works.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wicked lunacy, and yet surprizingly moving at times... A true oddity., July 1, 2005
It was in the summer of 2003 that I first came across this CD in a small stationary gift shop, stacked near a pile of Edward Gorey calendars and postcards. Out of curiousity I dedcided to give it a listen...and, upon hearing the high-pitched falsetto shrieks of lead singer Martin Jacques, I at first was convinced I had wasted my money. How wrong I was. The Tiger Lillies are not for everyone, but damn, once you start really listening to them, and accept their vocal stylings on their own terms, they are pretty addictive. I soon became hooked.
THE GOREY END is perhaps the most accessible of the groups' work, second only to their remarkable, highly acclaimed SHOCKHEADED PETER stage tour and album. Other albums from the Tiger Lillies are usually much more vulgar and demented (a fact that may please even more people), but GOREY END gives listeners a variety of Edward Gorey-inspired songs that range from outlandish ("Jesus on a Windshield") to darkly hilarious ("ABC", reminiscient of Gorey's classic "Gashlycrumb Tinies" stories), to whimsically tragi-comic ("Hipdeep Family" and especially "Trampled Lilly"). For me, the best song of the bunch is "Learned Pig" -- a tale of a pig who learns to read, and meets a bittersweet end. Jacques gives it a heartfelt and mournful delivery, and it is surprisingly moving as well as satirical. (I managed to see Jacques perform this very song at a Los Angeles club last year, and it was the grandstanding moment of the whole show.)
THE GOREY END is a perfect album for fans of both the late Edward Gorey, as well as offbeat, cabaret-style music. The Tiger Lillies have garnered fervent fans across the globe, but in many ways, they still seem like an undiscovered treasure.
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