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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!
