Alabama Song [Enhanced]

Amazon.com
Shania Twain, Trisha Yearwood, and LeAnn Rimes are all becoming pop stars as country music continues its migration from, well, country music. But those yearning for a twangin' gal should consider this newcomer, singer/songwriter Allison Moorer. On Alabama Song, Moorer, the younger sister of singer Shelby Lynne, delivers a collection that spans from Buck Owens-like revelry to shuffles and bittersweet balladry. The star attraction, though, is Moorer's steamy voice, which can prompt a slow burn deep inside while thankfully sidestepping the all-too-frequent overwrought delivery of many a Nashville femme. With enough shine to entice those looking for country's more refined ways, Alabama Song is definitely rooted in the mainstream, but it's the album's down-to-earth soul that makes it a winner. --Neal Weiss

Alabama Song,Allison Moorer,Mca Nashville,Contemporary Country,Country,Country & Western,Neo-Traditionalist Country,Pop

Average customer rating: Pure pleasure Classic Another repackaging but... You can almost smell the cornbread cooking! Solid Alabama Primer

Ultimate Alabama 20 # 1 Hits Alabama Manufacturer: RCA ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Contemporary Country | Country | Styles | Music Cowboy | Country | Styles | Music General | Country | Styles | Music Contemporary | Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music Country Rock | Rock | Styles | Music Pop | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Rock | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Country | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music All Blowout Music | Blowout Music | Stores | Music More Titles at Least 25% Off | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Alabama - Greatest Hits III In the Mood: Love Songs 50 Number Ones Brooks & Dunn - Greatest Hits Alan Jackson - Greatest Hits Collection ASIN: B0002YJ2DU Release Date: 2004-10-12

Tracks:

1. Born Country
2. Jukebox In My Mind
3. Reckless
4. Feels So Right
5. Love In The First Degree
6. Mountain Music
7. Song On The South
8. Tennessee River
9. Take Me Down
10. Lady Down On Love
11. She And I
12. Down Home
13. Why Lady Why
14. I'm In A Hurry (And Don't Know Why)
15. Roll On (Eightenn Wheeler)
16. You've Got The Touch
17. There's No Way
18. Forty Hour Week (For A Livin')
19. If You're Gonna Play In Texas (You Gotta Have A Fiddle In The Band)
20. Southern Star

Customer Reviews:

Pure pleasure.......2007-03-09

I made my choice , entered all the info and before I knew it I had the product in my hands. very fast and good. The CD is great . Thank you
Amazon is the only way to buy CD's
The songs are super.
The service is great.
What else can a person ask for??

Classic.......2006-12-26

If you love Alabama's classics, this is the CD for you. All the popular songs are included. Alabama is a good ol' country group that will never grow old. Get this CD!

Another repackaging but..........2006-01-03

Ultimate Alabama is yet another greatest hits album from Alabama. However, it's a very good starting point for a casual Alabama fan.

This collection has had a great remastering job as well. I purchased this for my wife, and I could tell a big difference in sound quality versus older Alabama cd's.

You can almost smell the cornbread cooking!.......2005-10-30

While I agree with other reviewers that this collection is a bit concise, I still think it is a phenomenal collection. Nearly all of my favorite Alabama songs are represented, and at least I don't have to switch CDs while I'm driving to hear the other half of the collection.

These songs hold so many fond memories - Alabama is one of those great bands that has it all - beautiful harmonies, catchy riffs, and lyrics that make you proud to be (or wish that you were) Southern! I put this CD on when I miss the south - my home - and instantly, songs like "Down Home", "Born Country", "Mountain Music", and "Tennessee River" take me home. If you know Alabama, you know that no one can express the little nuances of the south quite the way they can. And when they start up with the fiddle - watch out!

This CD has been in constant rotation as a driving CD, and I bought a copy for my dad last Christmas. It may not be the definitive Alabama collection, but it's pretty dang good.

Cassie

Solid Alabama Primer.......2005-03-27

For casual country fans, "Ultimate Alabama" is a great starter. It features twenty number ones, though they had plenty more. I'll agree with another reviewer that the definitive hits package by Alabama is their double disc set, but for those of us who may not be able to or do not want to plunk down a nice hunk of change for the double set, this one will suffice. Also, if you aren't a huge fan of Alabama, but want something representative of their work in your collection, I highly recommend this disc.

It's Alabama, so just about anything they put on a disc will sound great. Personal highlights of this album include "If You're Gonna Play In Texas," "Jukebox In My Mind," and "Roll On." Everything else contained here is great.

Once again, this is an excellent introduction for the casual country fan, but hardcore Alabama fans probably already have everything on this disc.

Highly recommended.

Average customer rating: One of the greats I cannot live without this album. Lenya and Weill at their best! Buy It. "An important landmark in dancing history" "An important landmark in dancing history"

Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins & Berlin Theatre Songs Manufacturer: Sony ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Weill | Weill, Kurt | ( W ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Theatrical, Incidental & Program Music | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music Cantatas | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Cantatas | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Musical Theater | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Cabaret | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Opera & Vocal | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Musicals | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Similar Items: Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill / Levine, Lenya, Armstrong, Gilford, et al The Threepenny Opera (1954 New York Cast) (Blitzstein Adaptation) September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill Weill - The Threepenny Opera / Kollo · Adorf · Dernesch · Lemper · Milva · Reichmann · Tremper · Boysen · RIAS · Mauceri ASIN: B0000029YI Release Date: 1997-12-09

Tracks:

1. The Seven Deadly Sins: Prologue: Andante sostenuto
2. The Seven Deadly Sins: Idleness: Allegro vivace
3. The Seven Deadly Sins: Pride: Allegretto, quasi andantino - Schneller Walzer
4. The Seven Deadly Sins: Anger: Molto agitato
5. The Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony: Largo
6. The Seven Deadly Sins: Lust: Moderato
7. The Seven Deadly Sins: Avarice: Allegro giusto
8. The Seven Deadly Sins: Envy: Allegro non troppo - Alla marcia, un poco tenuto
9. The Seven Deadly Sins: Epilogue: Andante sostenuto
10. The Threepenny Opera: 'Moritat vom Mackie Messer'
11. The Threepenny Opera: 'Barbara-Song'
12. The Threepenny Opera: 'Seerauberjenny'
13. Aufstief und Fall der Stadt mahogany: 'Havanna-Lied'
14. Aufstief und Fall der Stadt mahogany: 'Alabama-Song'
15. Aufstief und Fall der Stadt mahogany: 'Denn Wie Man Sich Bettet'
16. Happy End: 'Bilbao-Song'
17. Happy End: 'Surabaya-Johnny'
18. Happy End: 'Was die Herren Matrosen sagen'
19. Das Berliner Requiem: 'Ballade vom ertrunkenen Madchen'
20. Der Silbersee, Ein Wintermarchen: 'Lied der Fennimore'
21. Der Silbersee, Ein Wintermarchen: 'Casar Tod'

Amazon.com essential recording

Whether playing Anna in The Seven Deadly Sins or singing "Moritat vom Mackie Messer" ("Mack the Knife"), Lotte Lenya helped define the music of her husband, Kurt Weill. The duo literally created the soundtrack for the prewar Berlin of our fantasies--an exotic land of nicotine and nightlights--where cabaret, jazz, and the odd American instrumental influence all coexist happily. Now remastered, this collection gathers Lenya's legendary 1957 recordings of Sins and her 1955 recording Sings Berlin Theatre Songs. Forget subtlety--Lenya is all about emotion. On cuts like "Pirate Jenny," Lenya's voice sounds fluttery and frantic, and on "Surabaya-Johnny," her German sounds fragile and sweet, but mostly she's just herself--bittersweet, raw, and (most of all) human. In spirit, Marianne Faithfull, PJ Harvey, and a host of others all kept the torch of Lenya's style going. But after listening to these Berlin theater songs in classic form (and in their original tongue), you'll never hear them the same way again. --Jason Verlinde

Customer Reviews:

One of the greats.......2007-04-17

When I was a student in 1965, the turntable in my college apartment was kept busy spinning The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Broadway show cast albums, Nina Simone and Lotte Lenya. Lotte Lenya? Yes, the widow of German composer Kurt Weill and the star of the legendary 1950s off-Broadway revival of THE THREEPENNY OPERA, who also played James Bond's adversary Rosa Kleb in the movie FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. (Rosa Kleb was a martial arts expert with poison knives in the toes of her shoes.) But my theory is that Lotte Lenya enjoyed great cachet with the baby-boomers primarily because of the cover of Bob Dylan's 1965 "Bringing It All Back Home" album. That cover shows Dylan and a brunette woman in a rather elegant setting crammed with books and phonograph records. Prominent among the stack of recordings is Lenya's "Berlin Theatre Songs of Kurt Weill" album. Even though this was the age of "Don't trust anyone over thirty," if Bob Dylan liked Lotte Lenya, then she was okay. I loved everything about her Berlin Theatre Songs album, from the expressionistic cover portrait to all the unfamiliar songs sung in quavery German.

Now that CDs have made phonograph records obsolete, I've wanted to replace my LP version of the Berlin Theatre Songs for some time. Well, I feel that I've hit the jackpot with this Masterworks Heritage CD reissue which is packaged with the Brecht-Weill THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS, an experimental dance-drama that Brecht and Weill created in Paris after fleeing Nazi Germany. I had never heard THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS. It is a revelation. It could have been written by no one else. The haunting melodies, the offbeat orchestrations and the unorthodox subject matter combine to form a Brecht-Weill classic. I love this music and have played it repeatedly for weeks. Lenya's voice during this period had not yet become raspy and her saucy personality shines through. My German is much better now than it was as a college student and I can at last appreciate Lenya's perfectly enunciated German. I find this recording mesmerizing. The CD is packaged as a foldout album/book, rather than a jewel box. It includes a brief essay by Teresa Stratas and helpful notes by Mario R. Mercado. Also included are more than a dozen sepia-toned photos of the recording session and four beautiful color photographs of Lenya in Hamburg in 1956. And of course, that wonderful Saul Bolasni portrait that graced the original LP is included on the inside cover of the jacket.

I think this CD is essential. For me, it conjures up a whole era, maybe a whole century. Five stars.

I cannot live without this album. .......2006-06-09

The Weill/Brecht "Seven Sins" may not be as famous as the Threepenny, and it's certainly not as long. The songs aren't "catchy"-- no Doors or Darin or David Bowie or Dresden Dolls are going to cover any of the ballet's nine pieces. But, in all its operatic beauty, it's one of my favourite musical works on this planet.

In short: the Seven Sins is unbelievable. It's Brecht/Weill at their very best. It will latch itself onto your brain, stick its claws into your skull, surpass anything you've ever heard before. From the very start -- just three notes that will, I promise, make you shiver -- to the beautiful, melancholy ending; it's what opera should be like, and it's beyond perfect.

Miss Lotte Lenya, who was the smartest woman in the world for marrying Kurt Weill TWICE, sings what's probably the definitive version of Anna-Anna. Yes, it's two octaves lower than what was intended (but if it's high-pitched warbling you're after, I can highly recommend the lovely Anne Sofie von Otter version), and some people seem to be slightly allergic to Lotte's voice. Which I still fail to understand. She embodies everything Weill writes -- every word out of her mouth feels just right, just exactly the way it was intended.

One other version I'm particularly fond of is the one starring Marianne Faithfull. The differences are easy to spot: Marianne sings in English. Marianne sounds more stoic. Marianne's choir is more overwhelming, but smoother, though the pieces don't fit together quite as well. Marianne is just slightly faster, less emotional, slightly sweeter. Lotte, on the other hand, gives it everything she's got -- never holds back -- and fills the part with emotion. Lotte's choir is tinny, Berlin-y cabaret-y. Lotte's orchestra is much more solid. And Lotte toys more with the lyrics. Both versions are perfect, and I would VERY highly recommend buying both if you can afford it, if just to compare.

Just like Marianne's CD, this album is filled up with as much other Brecht/Weill stuff as would still fit on the disc. The final notes of the Seven Sins epilogue are quickly followed with a gorgeous full Mack The Knife (yes, uncensored), an unbelievable (and definitive) Pirate Jenny, an Alabama Song... pretty much everything these people are famous for, and even some rather obsure songs. The orchestra and background singers mix perfectly with Lotte's vocals on every track. There's not a single flaw -- not in the music, not in the recording quality, nothing -- every bit of it is as perfect as these songs get.

Whether you're just starting out collecting Berlin cabaret, or finally look to complete your collection, this album is simply something you can't NOT buy. So buy it. Buy it. Yes. Excellent. And, if you're searching for more excellent related stuff, here's some other CDs I can recommend:

- Die Dreigroschenoper: 1999 version, starring Nina Hagen, Max Raabe, HK Gruber
- The Threepenny Opera: 1954 Blitzstein adaptation (English softened version)
- Jasperina de Jong - Sieben Rosen hat der Strach (Brecht tribute)
- Cathy Berberian - The Unforgettable
- The Tiger Lillies - Twopenny Opera (It's One Cheaper)

And a final note: avoid the Ute Lemper version at all costs. She's a great singer, absolutely, but will never be Anna-Anna.

Lenya and Weill at their best! Buy It........2005-11-04

'Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins and Berlin Theatre Songs' is a single CD combining two separate 1955 LPs recorded in Germany, five years after the death of husband and composer, Kurt Weill.

As a lifelong Weill fan who has heard many different interpretations of these songs most notably from Ute Lemper and Maria Stratas, I was struck by how dramaticly better was Lenya's performance of the lyrics. I think this goes far beyond the fact that many of these works were written specifically to be performed by Lenya in Berlin between 1927 and 1933. It is obvious to my ear that even though Lemper is a great cabaret singer, Lenya trumps this with years of performing on the live stage without the aid of electronic amplification.

Lenya does 'Die Sieben Todsunden' with the version done for a lower voice (same as Lemper) rewritten for her by Weill. As other reviewers have noted, this was originally a combination ballet / song cycle commissioned in Germany by George Balanchine where the singer and the ballerina perform two sisters, both named Anna.

None of the individual songs are nearly as popular on their own as the following collection of songs from the German works, 'The Threepenny Opera', 'Mahagonny', and 'Happy End'.

My first encounter with Lotty Lenya's singing was on a Columbia collection done on vinyl in the 1960s, done, probably following on her appearance in the second James Bond movie, 'From Russia, With Love' as the Russian Colonel Klebb. I think this recording is far superior to that issue or to any other recent recording where Lenya does songs she never performed on the stage.

"An important landmark in dancing history".......2001-06-16

The seven Deadly Sins was commissioned as a dance piece for Les Ballets 1933 with choreography by George Balanchine, Balanchine re-staged it at the New York City Ballet with Lenya at 1958. Anna Sokolow who has difficulties to work with Bertold Brecht to close (Galileo), gave her own independent interpretation to this play as a director with Netherland Dance Theatre in 1967 and at Detroit in 1967 (Cleo Laine).

"An important landmark in dancing history".......2001-06-16

The seven Deadly Sins was commissioned as a dance piece for Les Ballets in 1933 with choreography by George Balanchine. Balanchine restaged it at the New York City Ballet with Lenya in 1958. Anna Sokolow who had difficulties working with Bertold Brecht closely (Galileo), gave her own interpretation to this play as a director with Netherlands Dance Theatre in 1967 and in Detroit in 1976 (Cleo Laine, Mary Hinkson), and in Boston in 1990.

Average customer rating: some brilliant renditions, but can't quite all mix together Cool and Camp September Song Music of Kurt Weill It's a long time between January and December Ain't we Hip?!!?

September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill Manufacturer: Sony ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Punk | Hardcore & Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music American Punk | Hardcore & Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music All Works by Weill | Weill, Kurt | ( W ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Traditional Jazz General | Traditional Jazz & Ragtime | Jazz | Styles | Music Vocal Jazz General | Vocal Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Traditional Vocalists | Compilations | Pop | Styles | Music General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music Adult Alternative | Pop | Styles | Music Traditional Pop | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music General | Compilations | Rock | Styles | Music General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music Hard Rock | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music General | Musicals | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music Traditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music General | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music $7.99 and Under | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music All Classical Music Blowout | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Traditional | ( T ) | Composers, A-Z | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Weill, Kurt | ( W ) | Composers, A-Z | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Opera & Vocal | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Opera & Vocal | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Musicals | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Similar Items: Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill / Levine, Lenya, Armstrong, Gilford, et al Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins & Berlin Theatre Songs Weird Nightmare - Meditations on Mingus Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill Stratas Sings Weill ASIN: B0000029WM Release Date: 1997-08-19

Tracks:

1. Mack The Knife - Nick Cave
2. Ballad Of The Soldier's Wife - P.J. Harvey
3. Alabama Song - David Johansen
4. Youkali Tango - Teresa Stratas
5. Lost In The Stars - Elvis Costello
6. Pirate Jenny - Lotte Lenya
7. Speak Low - Charlie Haden
8. Oh, Heavenly Salvation - The Persuations
9. Lonely House - Betty Carter
10. Surabaya- Johnny - Teresa Stratas
11. Furchte Dich Nicht - Mary Margaret O'Hara
12. September Song - Lou Reed
13. Mack The Knife - Bertolt Brecht
14. What Keeps Mankind Alive? - William S. Burroughs

Customer Reviews:

some brilliant renditions, but can't quite all mix together.......2006-10-19

I like the spirit of this album, which is to let the music of Kurt Weill attach itself to the many worlds it came from. This was classical music that also used elements of popular music at the time, all with a very dark and almost mechanical tone. So it would seem fitting to have exquisite voices like Teresa Stratas rub elbows with darker elements like Nick Cave in this collection. There are also the jazz influences developed by Charlie Haden and Betty Carter.

In all, there are some brilliant interpretations of Weill here. I am a fan of Cave's "Mack the Knife" and David Johansen's "Alabama Song," and how can someone NOT like Lotte Lenya herself on "Pirate Jenny" and the drolling of the immortal William S. Burroughs talking through "What Keeps Mankind Alive?"

But other tracks feel to be just too short of brilliance. I love that Lou Reed tries to turn "September Song" into a kind of rock ballad, almost a VU "It Was a Pretty Good Year," but the rendition seems a little short of energy and falls flat after a while. Elvis Costello, though magnificent as an overall artist, just doesn't bring new life to "Lost in the Stars."

Perhaps the problem in the end that the choices were a little too much of the Top 40 Weill (if there really can be such a term). These are songs that have for a long time been regarded as the best of Weill, and it might have furthered the purpose of his music to find new gems and bring them into the sunlight.

Cool and Camp.......2006-08-24

This is a very biased review- I originally had much of Weill's work on cassette tape- way back in the olden days- before CD's- so I am already very partial to many of the tracks on this CD- I would recommend it not only to Kurt Weill fans, and the fans of the various artists featured, but I would also strongly recommend this to anyone who likes artsy, camp, fun burlesque, Bohemian European stuff. The record, even though performed by contemporary artists still retains much of it's zeitgeist, it evokes the era in which Weill was writing and it rounds out any great eclectic record collection. It's a great musical discovery for fans of all sorts of genres, and EVERYONE should own at least one recorded arrangement of "Mack The Knife". (You know, for parties and stuff!)

September Song Music of Kurt Weill.......2006-08-22

Songs from the film-documentary done by various artists. Excellent choice if you like Mr Weill's music. I saw the film and always wanted the CD. Now I have and I recommend it highly.

It's a long time between January and December.......2004-06-11

Kurt Weill is one of those composers who juggles Jewish angst with Catholic guilt: and possibly vice versa. As a collection, it is nonpareil. Each interpretation becomes a definitive reading of the "song". Lord, it is one of the best assemblies of contemporary artists going. Lou couldn't be better; Ms O'Hara, in fine form, performs her deranged puppet-dance to the X. OK. An unknown. Roping-in, such a postmodern figure as, well, you-know-who, to orate Weill's lyrics is never less than exceptional. An amazing collection. Is there a DVD?

Paul

Ain't we Hip?!!?.......2003-07-23

This is the avant version of these songs, everything done with that Downtown fingers-across-the-blackboard screech. They even got Johanson doing it, which is no less than amazing. The sole exception is the Persuasions' "O Heavenly Salvation", but one song does not an album make.

The mystery here is that there's a perfectly good compilation from the 80s, "Lost in the Stars: the Music of Kurt Weill", featuring many of the same songs--and, if I'm not mistaken some of the same performers. That's the one you want. Too bad it's OP.

Average customer rating: not to great Not so bad, 100 tunes for 4$ You get what you pay for. Now I know why there were no song samples to listen to ...

100 Favorite Patriotic Songs Manufacturer: Bci / Eclipse Music ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Copland | Copland, Aaron | ( C ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Dvorák, Antonín | ( D ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Elgar | Elgar, Sir Edward | ( E ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Foster, Stephen | ( F ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by MacDowell | MacDowell, Edward | ( M ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Smith, John Stafford | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Sousa | Sousa, John Philip | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Sullivan | Sullivan, Arthur | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Romantic | Symphonies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music Marches | Theatrical, Incidental & Program Music | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Ballets & Dances | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Folk Songs | Songs & Lieder | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Hymns | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Psalms | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Marches | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music 4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: America's Favorite Patriotic Songs United We Stand: Songs for America American Pride: Sixteen Stirring Patriotic Themes America's Bugle Calls Patriotic Country ASIN: B0000A1HT8 Release Date: 2003-08-12

Tracks:

1. America the Beautiful
2. All Quiet on the Potomac Tonight
3. Ballad of the Green Berets
4. On Top of Old Smokey
5. Coyote Warrior
6. Semper Fidelis
7. Breeze from Alabama
8. Onward Christian Soldiers
9. Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming
10. Patriot
11. Sweet Betsy from Pike
12. Marines' Hymn
13. America Is
14. When Johnny Comes Marchin' Home
15. Happy the Soldier
16. American Trilogy
17. Home Sweet Home
18. Washington Post March
19. Enraptured I Gaze
20. Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair
21. Yellow Rose of Texas
22. Over There
23. Simple Gifts
24. Liberty Bell
25. Star Spangled Banner

Tracks:

1. God Bless the USA
2. Yankee Doodle Dandy
3. Katy Cruel
4. I Vow to Thee My Country
5. King Cotton
6. Beautiful Dreamer
7. America
8. American Patrol
9. Mine Eyes Have Seen the Beauty
10. Mohican Dream
11. Red, White and Blue
12. Some Folks
13. Liberty Song
14. Pomp and Circumstance
15. Hail to the Chief
16. Bennington Rifles
17. Peace on the Battlefield
18. I've Been Working on the Railroad
19. Under the Double Eagle
20. Red River Valley
21. My Country 'Tis of Thee
22. Camptown Races
23. Wild Blue Yonder
24. Hands Across the Sea
25. Fanfare for the Common Man

Tracks:

1. Stars and Stripes Forever
2. Living in America
3. Home on the Range
4. Old Colony Times
5. Clementine
6. Invincible Eagle
7. Ring Ring de Banjo
8. Yankee Doodle
9. Largo from "The New World"
10. To a Wild Rose
11. Hail Columbia
12. Alexander's Ragtime Band
13. Gettysburg
14. Carry Me Back to Old Virginny
15. Capitan
16. Prairie Daughter
17. Little Brown Jug
18. Marching Through Georgia
19. Entertainer
20. Steamboat Around the Bend
21. Revolutionary Tea
22. Cassions Keep Rollin' Along
23. Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier
24. Amazing Grace
25. Grand Old Flag

Tracks:

1. God Bless America
2. National Emblem
3. Soldier, Soldier Won't You Marry Me
4. Anchors Away
5. Oh, Susannah
6. Tramp, Tramp, Tramp
7. Toast
8. Dixie
9. St. Louis Blues
10. Appalachian Spring
11. Bonnie Blue Flag
12. Old Hundreth
13. Swanee River
14. Battle Cry of Freedom
15. U. S Field Artillery
16. Sidewalks of New York
17. Chester
18. Auld Lang Syne
19. Kingdom Come
20. My Old Kentucky Home
21. Hail to the Spirit of Liberty
22. Battle Hymn of the Republic
23. Shenandoah
24. Abraham's Daughter
25. This Land Is Your Land

Customer Reviews:

not to great.......2007-04-04

We were disappointed with this CD, but for the price I guess we can't expect much. I didn't care for the new style presentation of the songs. I like a more traditional rendering.

Not so bad, 100 tunes for 4$.......2005-06-22

I red the comments of two other people who have bought this 4 CD BOX SET and it is not really so bad. I will even add that there are some excellent tunes. However, I must agree with the fact that few tunes seem to have been recorded 40 or 50 years ago, mainly when you hear the scratches of an old turntable but it is just 2 or 3 tunes. Furthermore, if you do not know American music, it is a good BOX SET to buy if you consider that you received 4 CD for 4$ including 100 tunes. On these 4 CD, I have heard some orchestration that I have never heard before and I consider that they are different but interesting. Any way, after hearing these 100 tunes, you will say to yourself that you like this tune, this other tune, this other tune and so on and you will be able to buy a more expensive CD with the tunes that you like. However, I have bought many CDs in the last few weeks and as you know, there are always some tunes that you like and some tunes that you do not like on every CD that you will buy. So, don't buy it at 25$ but at 4 or 5$ dollars, it is a very good choice for 100 tunes.

You get what you pay for........2004-07-04

You get what you pay for. The singers put their own spin on the singing of each song. If you didn't hear the words you would not recognize some of them. Even some of the music sounds like a bad recording of music played on a turntable. Definitely not worth the price.

Now I know why there were no song samples to listen to ..........2004-07-04

I wish this review had been here when I was thinking of purchasing it. I guess you get what you pay for. If you are thinking of buying this, you are better off recording your own CDs (or at least buying one that you can listen to a sampling of the songs). This album includes songs that were mere recordings of the songs playing on an old record player. It's almost so unbelievable that it is funny.

Average customer rating: Available at retailers for about $18 A classic compilation A dis-service to Joplin Unique Great set

Scott Joplin: His Complete Works Manufacturer: Bescol ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Waltzes | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music Serenades & Divertimentos | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music | Divertimentos Intermezzos | Theatrical, Incidental & Program Music | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music Marches | Theatrical, Incidental & Program Music | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General Contemporary | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Keyboard | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Vocal Jazz General | Vocal Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music Ragtime | Traditional Jazz & Ragtime | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music English | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Classical | Box Sets | Stores | Music Bargain Box Sets | Classical General | Classical | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | Classical General | Classical | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music Bargain Box Sets | Jazz General | Jazz | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | Jazz General | Jazz | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music Bargain Box Sets | Opera & Vocal General | Opera & Vocal | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | Opera & Vocal General | Opera & Vocal | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music Similar Items: Complete Piano Music of Scott Joplin King of the Ragtime Writers Entertainer: Classic Ragtime from Rare Piano Rolls Joplin: Treemonisha Scott Joplin: Piano Rags ASIN: B000001RR2 Release Date: 1994-07-19

Tracks:

1. Please Say You Will - Richard Zimmerman
2. A Picture Of Her Face - Richard Zimmerman
3. The Great Crush Collision March - Richard Zimmerman
4. Harmony Club Waltz - Richard Zimmerman
5. Combination March - Richard Zimmerman
6. Original Rags - Richard Zimmerman
7. Maple Leaf Rag - Richard Zimmerman
8. Swipesy - Cake Walk - Richard Zimmerman
9. Sunflower Slow Drag - Richard Zimmerman
10. Peacherine Rag - Richard Zimmerman
11. Augustan Club Waltz - Richard Zimmerman
12. The Easy Winners - Richard Zimmerman
13. Cleopha - Richard Zimmerman
14. The Strenuous Life - Richard Zimmerman
15. I Am Thinking Of My Pickanniny Days - Richard Zimmerman
16. The Ragtime Dance - Richard Zimmerman
17. A Breeze From Alabama - Richard Zimmerman
18. Elite Syncopations - Richard Zimmerman

Tracks:

1. March Majestic - S. Joplin
2. The Entertainer - S. Joplin
3. Something Doing - S. Joplin
4. Weeping Willow - S. Joplin
5. Little Black Baby - S. Joplin
6. Palm Leaf Rag - S. Joplin
7. The Favorite - S. Joplin
8. The Sycamore - S. Joplin
9. The Cascades - S. Joplin
10. The Chrysanthemum - S. Joplin
11. Rosebud March - S. Joplin
12. Bethena - S. Joplin
13. Leola - S. Joplin
14. Sarah Dear - S. Joplin
15. Binks Waltz - S. Joplin
16. Eugenia - S. Joplin
17. Antoinette - S. Joplin
18. Snoring Sampson - S. Joplin

Tracks:

1. Gladiolus Rag - S. Joplin
2. Searchlight Rag - S. Joplin
3. The Nonpareil (None to Equal) - S. Joplin
4. When Your Hair Is Like The Snow - S. Joplin
5. Rose Leaf Rag - S. Joplin
6. Heliotrope Bouquet - S. Joplin
7. School Of Ragtime - S. Joplin
8. Fig Leaf Rag - S. Joplin
9. Sugar Cane - S. Joplin
10. Pine Apple Rag - S. Joplin
11. Wall Street Rag - S. Joplin
12. Solace - S. Joplin
13. Pleasant Moments - S. Joplin
14. Country Club - S. Joplin
15. Paragon Rag - S. Joplin
16. Euphonic Sounds - S. Joplin
17. Stoptime Rag - S. Joplin
18. Felicity Rag - S. Joplin

Tracks:

1. Highlights From Treemonisha - Richard Zimmerman
2. A Real Slow Drag - Richard Zimmerman
3. Prelude To Act 3 - Richard Zimmerman
4. Frolic Of The Bears - Richard Zimmerman
5. Lovin' Babe - Richard Zimmerman
6. Scott Joplin's New Rag - Richard Zimmerman
7. Kismet Rag - Richard Zimmerman
8. Magnetic Rag - Richard Zimmerman
9. Reflection Rag - Richard Zimmerman
10. Silver Swan Rag - Richard Zimmerman
11. Lily Queen - Richard Zimmerman
12. Sensation - Richard Zimmerman

Customer Reviews:

Available at retailers for about $18.......2006-12-21

Excellent collection - but there are re-sellers listed here that are selling this for as much $50 or $60. Yikes, most major retailers are selling this complete set for $18 - so beware.

A classic compilation.......2006-10-07

This collection is one of my most treasured possessions. (My father gave me the original 5-album set in the 70's when it was originally released on vinyl.)

This is the definitive collection of Scott Joplin's work. Richard Zimmerman provides wonderful performances that accurately reflect Joplin's intentions. (As evidence beyond my personal opinion, I submit the recent releases of digital recordings made from Joplin's piano rolls.)

A few points to consider regarding negative comments you may encounter in other reviews:
* This is a digital recording from an analog master. Lack of quality in the recording does not imply a lackluster performance.
* This is a complete collection. Some similarity is due to Joplin re-exploring melodic themes. But some is due to the fact that these are "rags". One might as well complain that all 50's doo-wop (or all 70's disco) sounds the same.
* Many pieces of the period exhibit formal musical structures, such as the marches of John Phillips Sousa. (Both Sousa and Joplin performed at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis.) Actually, Joplin is responsible for extending the formal boundaries of ragtime to concert waltzes (Bethena) and opera (A Guest of Honor, Treemonisha)
* This is probably one of the few collections which will include selections from "Treemonisha". It is my understanding that after the initial release, one of Joplin's descendants made a copyright claim that was upheld in court. (I presume the issue was that Joplin had to finance "Treemonisha" himself, and therefore the customary performance clearances did not cover those selections.)

For ragtime students and enthusiasts, this is a "must-have" collection at a very affordable price.

A dis-service to Joplin.......2006-02-01

Sadly, the only virtue this set possesses is completeness.

The pianist does not play Joplin's pieces "as written", the piano is of poor quality, and not properly in tune.

This is emphatically NOT the set to buy. A far better set, beautifully annotated and well played on a good concert grand piano, is the complete works played by Guido Nielsen on the Basta Label.

This set is a dis-service to Joplin and his music. He deserves better, and gets it elsewhere.

Unique .......2004-10-19

I have several cd sets of Joplin's music: Rifkin, Arpo, Nielsen, and Zimmerman. All have their excellent qualities. What sets Zimmerman's set apart is the inclusion of excerpts from Joplin's opera, Treemonisha---especially "A Real Slow Drag." Why the other sets do not include excerpts from Treemonisha, I don't know---because they are some of his most beautiful and joyful pieces of music. Of course, you can hear the orchestrated version of Treemonisha in the Houston Grand Opera recording, and it is spectacular. But Zimmerman's piano version, especially of "A Real Slow Drag," is not to be missed.

Great set.......2001-10-16

I guess this will be a rather one sided review. I have been a fan of Scott Joplin since I first learned to play a piano.

I was shocked to see that one reviewer thought it all sounded the same. How silly. All of Frank Sinatra's music sounds like Frank Sinatra. All of Led Zeppelin sounds like Led Zeppelin. So, if the songs were drastically different, I would question if the same author composed them. As it is, though, each song on this set is fantastic!!

I don't know that I have heard of Richard Zimmerman, and I was a little leary as to what I would be getting, I certainly was impressed. Without a doubt the best renditions of "Weeping Willow" and "Bethena" I have heard, and at least a dozen songs I didn't know Joplin wrote.

Without a doubt, this album is fantastic. A very good price, as well.

Average customer rating: Awesome Alabama Artist I ll tell you a secret Baby: I LET GO FIRST!!!! Great debut album Excellent debut! Best Country CD of Last 10 Years

Alabama Song Allison Moorer Manufacturer: Fontana Mca N'ville ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Contemporary Country | Country | Styles | Music New Traditionalist | Contemporary Country | Country | Styles | Music General | Country | Styles | Music Contemporary | Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music Similar Items: The Hardest Part The Duel Miss Fortune Show (CD & DVD) Getting Somewhere ASIN: B00000BKI3 Release Date: 1998-09-22

Tracks:

1. Pardon Me
2. Long Black Train
3. Alabama Song
4. Call My Name
5. The One That Got Away (Got Away With My Heart)
6. Found A Letter
7. Easier To Forget
8. Set You Free
9. A Soft Place To Fall
10. Tell Me Baby
11. Is Heaven Good Enough For You

Amazon.com

Shania Twain, Trisha Yearwood, and LeAnn Rimes are all becoming pop stars as country music continues its migration from, well, country music. But those yearning for a twangin' gal should consider this newcomer, singer/songwriter Allison Moorer. On Alabama Song, Moorer, the younger sister of singer Shelby Lynne, delivers a collection that spans from Buck Owens-like revelry to shuffles and bittersweet balladry. The star attraction, though, is Moorer's steamy voice, which can prompt a slow burn deep inside while thankfully sidestepping the all-too-frequent overwrought delivery of many a Nashville femme. With enough shine to entice those looking for country's more refined ways, Alabama Song is definitely rooted in the mainstream, but it's the album's down-to-earth soul that makes it a winner. --Neal Weiss

Customer Reviews:

Awesome Alabama Artist.......2006-04-07

It's surprising this lady isn't better known. Possibly, after this album, she just decided to "do her own thing". Whatever, this disc is excellent. It will be pleasing to fans of modern country while sounding traditional enough to satisfy fans of that genre too. Allison's voice is truly memorable, with a wonderful Southern sound to it. All the songs have real emotion to them. The uptempo tunes are energetic and will have the listener tapping along with the foot. Good guitar work. Definitely a worth inclusion in any collection.

I ll tell you a secret Baby: I LET GO FIRST!!!!.......2006-03-30

I cant tellyou how much i love Allison, really i cant she is Adorable, beautifull, sexy, funny ,ironic ,she have a facinating personality sings incredible, writte excellent lyrics, amazing songs she is versatile, country , folk ,blues, rock , she loves what she does and is careless about a massive sales sucess trading this possiblity for the critic mention and she even doesnt loose her sleep for that, you gotta love this woman, she is not a "girl" she is a WOMAN and that is so appealing for a change in this days, the cuts are very selected actually a would say handpicked by Miss Moorer "a soft place to fall" , "Set you free", "pardon me" , "long black train" a remarkable debut that won some mentions from the critics.
No news regarding a new Allison release after the stunning "The Duel" i hope to hear something new soon.
HM

Great debut album.......2005-05-17

Rarely do two sisters both succeed in popular music with separate solo careers, but Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer are among the rare exceptions. Shelby was expected to be a major country star of the nineties but it didn't happen. Shelby faded into obscurity for a while and it was at this point that Allison began her career, making her debut on a soundtrack (Horse whisperer) with A soft place to fall. That song is included on this album, the rest of which is in a similar style. Melancholy bluesy country ballads are Allison's speciality. The cover picture shows Allison looking utterly miserable in keeping with the songs.

Disillusionment is a factor in Pardon me, about the end of a relationship, and Long black train, about returning home after the big city fails to live up to expectations. The title track, an excellent ballad but not melancholy, expresses Allison's desire to return to Alabama. Allison returns to the subject of broken relationships in Call my name, The one that got away (this song is up-tempo), I found a letter, Easier to forget and Set you free. The subject continues in A soft place to fall, but this time the woman wants to rekindle an old flame, if only temporarily. Tell me baby goes back to a more typical broken relationship situation. The album concludes with a different type of broken relationship, where the man has died and the woman is left to grieve and wonder why this has happened to her.

With the exception of the title track and the music to The one that got away, this is a very downbeat album, but it is superbly performed. Knowing that Allison's father killed his mother before killing himself, it's no real surprise that Allison's music is so melancholy.

Following this impressive debut, Allison has continued to record great music since while Shelby has also re-established her career. Both have moved away from their country roots but that's fine by me - what really counts is the quality of the music, which is always excellent.

Excellent debut!.......2004-03-24

Allison Moorer has won my heart and I've become a big fan. She has a very unique voice and such enormous talent. Her songs are so personal and revealing. She found a bit of success in 1998 with the song "A Soft Place To Fall" which was featured in the movie THE HORSE WHISPERER. The album ALABAMA SONG was released in the fall of 1998. The title track is one of my all time favorite songs by Moorer. The rest of the album is outstanding too. It opens with the wonderful "Pardon Me", into the great uptempo country tune "Long Black Train". The album closer "Is Heaven Good Enough For You" is a great song and definately one of the best tracks here. Other favorites include "A Soft Place To Fall", "Set You Free", and "Easier To Forget". If you want to hear something different, give Allison Moorer a try!

Best Country CD of Last 10 Years.......2003-07-01

Allison is simply astonishing. This CD is a tasteful, respectful throwback to to 60's and 70's with plenty of deep roots in the golden era of country. Not only are the songs (most recently minted) true to tradition, the instrumentation is flawless, the arrangements balanced, and the vocals awe-inspiring. Worth a 1,000 bogus Dixie Chicks plus every shirtless, goateed "hat act" of the last 10 years rolled into one. Do you miss the first time you heard Patsy Cline? Loretta Lynn? Tammy Wynette? Dolly Parton? Do you miss the straightforward licks provided by the Buckaroos or Merle Haggard's Strangers? GET THIS CD! Forget the pretenders, the hat acts, the "country diva" set; get Allison.

Average customer rating: Affecting but oversold Great vocalist in three languages. Very best Weill interpreter Ute dramatically renders the best of Weill and Brecht! Voice non par excellence Ute! She knows how to trill me!

Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill Manufacturer: Decca ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Eisler, Hanns | ( E ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Weill | Weill, Kurt | ( W ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Theatrical, Incidental & Program Music | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music Cantatas | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Cantatas | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Musical Theater | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Traditional Pop | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music The Decca Records Store | Specialty Stores | Music Similar Items: Sings Kurt Weill, Vol. 2 Ute Lemper - Berlin Cabaret Songs All That Jazz: The Best Of Ute Lemper Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins & Berlin Theatre Songs Blood & Feathers: Live from the Café Carlyle ASIN: B0000041VG Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

1. The Winter's Tale: Fennimores Lied
2. The Winter's Tale: Casars Tod
3. The Winter's Tale: Die Moritat Von Mackie Messer
4. The Winter's Tale: Salomon - Song
5. The Winter's Tale: Die Ballade Von Der Sexuallen Horigkeit
6. The Winter's Tale: Zu Potsdam Unter Den Eichen
7. The Winter's Tale: Nannas Lied
8. The Winter's Tale: Lied Des Lotterieagenten
9. The Winter's Tale: Alabama-Song
10. The Winter's Tale: Denn Wie Man Sich Bettet
11. The Winter's Tale: Je Ne T'Aime Pas
12. The Winter's Tale: I'm A Stranger Here Myself
13. The Winter's Tale: Westwind
14. The Winter's Tale: Speak Low

Customer Reviews:

Affecting but oversold.......2006-11-28

Prompted by both friends and reviewers, I've tried to learn to like Ute Lemper's Weill, but after valiant efforts, I must say I don't. She has great facility, it's true, in several languages, and she knows the timbre of a song and works hard to put it across. For me, however, she works too hard, whether it's the distracting breathiness of "je ne t'aime pas" or the "street kid" Berlin Rrrs in "Mackie Messer" or the aggressive Noo Yorking in "I'm a Stranger Here Myself", I end up feeling that I'm having the song pushed at me rather than allowed to flower for itself. In a cabaret setting they might (maybe) work better, but on disk, I don't find her vocally strong enough to carry the music alone. Too much wobble in the voice and not always either the breath or the pitch to make the longer phrases work. The comparison with Theresa Stratas in "Je ne t'aime pas" (or even better, the terrifying German version "Wie Lange Noch") is instructive. Lemper is small, touching, you can feel why someone would have left her, she oozes powdery pathos over a nightclub table. Stratas, Piaf-like, is riven by love and music alike and takes the song's lines where they naturally lead. For me, it's no contest.

Great vocalist in three languages. Very best Weill interpreter.......2005-10-01

`Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill, Volumes 1 and 2' released in 1988 and 1993, plus the third album of Weill's two most important song cycles in German, `The Seven Deadly Sins' (`Die sieben Todsunden') and `Mahagonny Songspiel' released in 1990 unequivocally established Ms. Lemper as the leading Kurt Weill interpreter since Lotte Lenya, Weill's wife and the singer for whom many of his vocal pieces were written. These three disks, sample pieces from most major Weill works written in German, including his most famous musical play, `The Threepenny Opera' (`Die Dreigroschenoper').

The first disc has fourteen tracks with three from `Der Silbersee' with lyrics by Kaiser, three from `Die Dreigroschenoper' with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, two from `Berliner Requiem' with lyrics by Brecht, two from `Mahagonny' with lyrics by Mahagonny, `Je ne t'aime pas with French lyrics by Magre, and three from `One Touch of Venus' with English lyrics by S.J. Perelman and Ogden Nash.

The middle disc includes both works performed in their original German. After having listened to `The Seven Deadly Sins' done by several different artists, and having just reviewed a CD on which Anne Sofie von Otter does this work, I discover for the first time that the piece was written in two versions, one for a low voice and one for a high voice. Von Otter does the version for high voice and Lemper does the version for low voice that, I suspect, is the way it was originally performed by Fraulein Lenya. One service done by comparing Lemper and von Otter's performance is to see how much closer Lemper is to the original spirit of the work than is von Otter. Weill's venue was not the opera stages of Berlin or Vienna, it was the popular stage, actually much closer to what we see in the movie `Cabaret' than what we see in `Amadeus'. I enjoy von Otter's rendition, but Lemper stirs my heart where von Otter does not. Lemper also seems to have the benefit of a much better cast of supporting voices on the two works on Volume 1.

All albums are done with the backing of the RIAS Berlin Sinfonietta, conducted by John Mauceri who seems to get just the right tone of sleaze out of his ensemble to match the tone of the composition and lyrics by Weill and his various librettists, especially Berthold Brecht.

Volume 2 showcases Lemper's ability to sing with equal facility and understanding in German (Songs from `Happy End'), French (Songs from `Marie Galante'), and English (Songs from `Lady in the Dark'). While my understanding of French is far weaker than my understanding of the German and the English, when I compare Ms. Lemper's French interpretations with the French of Ms. Von Otter, I definitely prefer Lemper's treatment. She may not quite match Edith Piaf, but I feel she has a cachet all her own.

Lemper is a vocalist in that great European femme fatale tradition of Lenya, Piaf, and Dietrich and certainly to my lights the leading interpreter today of Weill's songs plus works by other European composers for the musical and cabaret (See her album `City of Strangers'). Compared to even some of the greatest contemporary American female vocalists on the stage such as Streisand and Minelli, both Yanks have their strength, but they can't or don't try to achieve the same depth of feeling behind the European `Weltschmertz' you hear from Lemper and her forerunners. The closest may be Minelli's performance as Sally Bowles in `Cabaret', but even there, she can't seem to hide her American innocence.

Of the three albums, the first of the three, `Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill' may be the best introduction, as it includes two of Weill's best English songs, `I'm a Stranger Here Myself' and `Speak Low'. The third, `Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill Vol. 2' has two of Weill's most famous German songs outside of `Die Dreigroschenoper', `Bilbao-Song' and `Surabaya-Johnny'.

If you encounter this review and have never heard Ute Lemper, I strongly urge you to try one of these albums. If the German and French turns you off, try Lemper's recent album, `Punishing Kiss'.

Very highly recommended.

Ute dramatically renders the best of Weill and Brecht!.......2004-09-25

This album is full of many highlights, Zu Potsdam, Die Sexuelle Hoerigkeit, Wenn Die Man Sich Bettet, etc. From beginning to end it is a triumph and masterpiece by the international singing sensation Ute Lemper.

Voice non par excellence.......2004-03-18

It seems that everywhere you turn there is someone "with a unique voice." Usually we nod and upon hearing the voice in question shake our heads and head on to the next great talent. But the trite saying is, for this case, proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.

These interpretations are just incredible, ultra-clear, and just the way one would imagine these songs presented. Several of the selections are more suited to a smoky speakeasy rather than the stage which is just fine by me. Lemper runs the gamut from the catty growl to the ultra-lush to the quiet melancholy to the joyous Bronx of "I'm Just a Stranger Here Myself." The three languages presented absolutely no problems: The German was sufficiently guttural, the French erotic and the English - well, as only English can sound.

A near perfect recording by a near perfect artist.

Ute! She knows how to trill me!.......2003-11-17

I'd never heard of Ute Lemper until I received a brochure announcing her March concert at the Cleveland Museum of Art. I fell for her picture. I saw a women who oozed style, class, and sensuality; she had to be a great singer, right? So I purchased the "Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill" CD, and fired it up as soon as UPS delivered. I didn't know what to think. The music was strange, the singing was stranger. Foreign. Had I wasted my money? Did I fall for slick marketing and a pretty face? I listened again...and again...and again... Ute's way of singing these haunting, powerful melodies-her key changes, her haughtiness, her sarcasm, her way of emphasizing key words and phrases, her trills (Oh, those trills)-grabbed me by the throat and shook me in a way that I thoroughly enjoyed. I can't get the songs out of my head. I find myself singing the last two lines of "Caesar's Tod" and "Zu Potsdam unter den Eichen" and the chorus of "Nanna's Lied" at work, auf Deutsche. These songs don't let go! I can't wait 'til March.

Average customer rating: Wonderful original recording, plenty extras. This one is really fine.

Die Dreigroschenoper: Berlin 1930 Manufacturer: Teldec ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Weill | Weill, Kurt | ( W ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Operettas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music Similar Items: The Threepenny Opera (1954 New York Cast) (Blitzstein Adaptation) The Collector's The Threepenny Opera Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins & Berlin Theatre Songs Weill: Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny The Threepenny Opera ASIN: B00005Y34P Release Date: 2003-02-18

Tracks:

1. Ouvertd Moritat Von Mackie Messer
2. Seererjenny
3. Kanonensong [Cannon Song]
4. Liebeslied
5. Barbara Song
6. Erstes Dreigroschen-Finale
7. Abschied
8. Zuherbassatle
9. Ballade Von Angenehmen Leben
10. Eifersuchtsduett - Lotte Lenya, Theo Mackeben & his Jazz Orchestra
11. Zweites Dreigroschen-Finale - Lotte Lenya, Theo Mackeben & his Jazz Orchestra
12. Lied Von Der Unzullichkeit des Menschlichen Strebens
13. Moritat und Schlusschoral - Marlene Dietrich
14. Wie Man Sich Bettet - Curt Bois
15. Alabama Song - Marlene Dietrich
16. Nachtgespenst
17. Peter - Lotte Lenya, Theo Mackeben & his Jazz Orchestra
18. Guck Doch Nicht Immer Nach Dem Tangogeiger Hin
19. Jonny
20. Vom Seemann Kuttel Daddeldu
21. Chant des Canons
22. Chant d'Amour
23. Tangoballade
24. Ballade de la Vie Agrle
25. Die Seererjenny
26. Barbara Song
27. Die Moritat Von Mackie-Messer
28. Lied Von Der Unzullichkeit des Menschlichen Strebens
29. Alabama Song [Alternate Take]

Amazon.com

Performed in 1930 by the cast and orchestra of the 1928 Berlin premiere (except for Willi Trenk-Trebitsch, the Mackie of the 1929 Prague premiere), this extraordinary recording must be the last word in genuine, unvarnished "authenticity." Even the remastered sound is amazingly good and life-like. The half-spoken, half-sung delivery captures the biting sarcasm of Brecht's text as well as the abrasive bitterness and sinuous lyricism of Weill's melodies, underlined by the punchy, swinging rhythms and indigenously jazzy sound of the orchestra. The result is an uncanny evocation of a historical period and its atmosphere. One can smell the smoky nightclub air, see the garish colors, and feel the unbridled sensuousness. This "abridged" version offers 13 familiar numbers, with most strophic repeats omitted, but includes alternate versions of several songs--four in French, two sung by Brecht himself. There are also two songs from Mahagonny, a long "scene" by Wilhelm Grosz, and two songs each by Rudolf Nelson and Friedrich Hollaender (who wrote the music for the film "The Blue Angel), two of them sung by Marlene Dietrich with her inimitable lascivious sensuality. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful original recording, plenty extras. .......2006-09-11

In quick summary:
- If you're at all familiar with the Dreigroschenoper and all its incarnations, be sure to buy this album. It's the closest you could get to an 'original'.
- If you're completely new to the Threepenny story, I would recommend starting with the 1999 Nina Hagen concert version instead. It's got all the songs left out here, better recording quality, and a more modern approach to the music.

This is not a complete collection of original cast Dreigroschen songs. Rather, it's a selection of the best tracks from the play, often censored and cut short (in all the usual ways), and filled up with seemingly random extras in the genre.

The performers are all quite brilliant, and it's refreshing to hear a 3P without all the screaming and biting from recent versions. Though the songs are by no means slow, they're much more relaxed, more saccharine I would say, than what they've later evolved into. I love both type interpretations, but I often prefer this one.

One very nice bonus is the inclusion of a handful Threepenny songs in French. Otherwise pretty hard to come by. Also, the famous final lines of the movie version (Moritat reprise) are present, which I've only seen in one other recording (the 1981, also led by Miss Lotte Lenya). All in all, an essential CD for Brecht/Weill fans.

This one is really fine. .......2006-03-03

I've been a three-penny freak ever since I was a hanger-on at a Stanford production 40 years ago directed by a Brecht associate from Berlin. It's wonderful to get the authentic original cast records. I really like the added Berlin Chansons, too. "Don't Goggle at that Tango Dancer, Keep Your Eyes on the Guy You Came with!" Or Marlene Dietrich, with "Jonny, When it's Your Birthday, I'll Be Your Guest for a Night."

Average customer rating: HIDDEN JEWELS Innovative and dreamlike This is amazing magical music

Round About Weill Manufacturer: Ecm Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Weill | Weill, Kurt | ( W ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music Italy | Continental Europe | Europe | International | Styles | Music General | International | Styles | Music Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Vocal Jazz General | Vocal Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music Classic Big Band | Swing Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music Orchestral Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music ECM Classical | ECM Records | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music ECM Jazz & World | ECM Records | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Similar Items: Senderos Suspended Night Vaghissimo Ritratto Responsorium A Year from Easter ASIN: B0007DHQ34 Release Date: 2005-04-19

Tracks:

1. Dov'e La Citta
2. Ach, Bedenken Sie, Herr Jack O'Brien
3. Tango Ballade
4. Improvvisamente
5. Divagazioni Su 'Youlkali'
6. Mahagonny, Scene 6
7. Ein Taifun!...Tifone? No, Pioggerella
8. Lieben
9. Boxen
10. Round About Weill I/Denn Wie Man Sich Bettet, So Liegt Man
11. Mahagonny, Scene 13
12. Essen
13. Round About Weill II
14. Tief In Alaskas Schneeweissen Waldern
15. Ach, Bedenken Sie, Herr Jack O'Brien, Var
16. Mahagonny, Scene 4
17. Aber Dieses Ganze Mahagonny
18. Alabama Song
19. Mahagonny, Scene 6, Var.
20. Alabama Song, Var.
21. Interludio 'Ma Che Modi Sono?...': Cumparsita Maggiorata
22. Interludio 'Ma Che Modi Sono?...': Tristezze Di Fra' Martino
23. Denn Wie Man Sich Bettet, So Liegt Man, Var.

Customer Reviews:

HIDDEN JEWELS.......2006-04-22

Gianluigi Trovesi (clarinets) & Gianni Coscia (accordion), Round About Weill (5*)
Gianluigi Trovesi (clarinets) & Gianni Coscia (accordion), In Cerca di Cibo (5*)

Gianluigi Trovesi is a hidden jewel in today's jazz. Perhaps he's undersung because he's Italian: he performs and records in Italy, not in American jazz clubs or for a central American jazz label. Maybe, on these two albums, it's because some afficionados look down on the "European" clean jazz typical to ECM records. Above all, I suspect it's because the music he plays --though not the way he plays it-- is hard to classify.

Take these two albums. Are they jazz? Italian folk music? Composed or 'classical' music? Trovesi and Coscia mesh as well as any duo in jazz --think of the exquisite music made by duos such as Charlie Haden and Kenny Baron, Jim Hall and Ron Carter, or Gary Burton and Chick Corea on Crystal Silence. But the music Torvesi and Coscia produce on these two albums is devilishly difficult to classify. Sometimes they settle for composed lines, heartbreaking melodies played simply, simply. At other times, they clearly improvise, but seldom on recognmizable jazz lines. They are demons --Trovesi especially-- at quoting wildly from other pieces: they close one piece on the Weill album with "Blue Moon," another time with (almost) "Frere Jacques." But it's jazz nonetheless, played by two hyper-alert and super-intelligent musicians who mine their musical ancestry to consummate effect.

Of the two albums, my wife has a very slight preference for the Weill album, which is made up half of tunes written by Weill and most of the rest of the artists' own tunes that fit the mood of Weill. Both clarinet and acordion capture well the cabaret atmosphere of so many Weill tunes, including different versions of "Alabama Song" and "Tango Ballade."

On the Weill album, Trovesi continues his fascination with John Lewis's "Django," the moving funeral dirge for French gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt first recorded by the Modern Jazz Quartet. (Trovesi plays "Django" on In Cerca di Cibo and quotes it on Around Small Fairy Tales.) This is appropriate because in some respects, Trovesi is like Lewis, though much hotter and more earthy at times. Both composed and have led groups that played music that critics saw as too 'classical.' Both used non-jazz idioms for jazz purposes.

I own five albums by Trovesi now, which is all I've been able to find and buy to date. Around Small Fairy Tales features Trovesi playing his own compositions with a string orchestra. From G to G and Fugace feature his octet, which sounds at times like a slightly woozy stepchild of the great George Russell experimental groups of the very early sixties. In an age that slights the clarinet as a solo instrument, Trovesi is arguably the best clarinetist in jazz, a major soloist and melodist.

I love this man and he's never sounded better than playing with Coscia. Needless to say, these two ECM albums are impeccably engineered for sound.

Dave Keymer

Innovative and dreamlike.......2005-10-24

The two reed instruments complement each other wonderfully in the tonal range of the human voice. They are smoothly blended even in stacatto pieces. Coscia reminds me of Dino Saluzzi, not as expressive, yet more rhythmically emphatic than Saluzzi and with much more variation in style. Trovesi's clarinet has a beautiful, liquid sound. The music varies from oom-pah folk to hypnotic wandering, all of it inventive. There are no cliches here. Reviewed well in Downbeat, but is it jazz? There is a classical foundation, but the rhythms, harmonies and melodies are all over the map. Even so, there is a certain sameness that sets in after a while, due to the limited pallette.

This is amazing.......2005-07-02

First, this CD is impressible-only two instruments but the music they play is incredible.The music in this CD-slow and fast-emotional.Amazing.And again...highly recommended!

magical music.......2005-05-03

Like this duo's ECM release "In cerca di cibo", this disc has a wonderful old world feel. The combination of trovesi's clarinets and Coscia's accordian suite Weil's compostions well. Beatuiful playing and recording quality. Highly recommended.

Average customer rating:

The Collector's The Threepenny Opera Manufacturer: VAI Audio ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Weill | Weill, Kurt | ( W ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Theatrical, Incidental & Program Music | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Operettas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Musical Theater | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music Similar Items: The Threepenny Opera (1954 New York Cast) (Blitzstein Adaptation) Die Dreigroschenoper: Berlin 1930 Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins & Berlin Theatre Songs Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill / Levine, Lenya, Armstrong, Gilford, et al The Threepenny Opera (1994 London Donmar Warehouse Cast) ASIN: B000053W80 Release Date: 2000-01-01

Tracks:

1. Die Dreigroschenoper: Ov - Lewis Ruth Band/Theo Mackeben
2. Die Dreigroschenoper: Moritat (Mack, The Knife) - Kurt Gerron
3. Die Dreigroschenoper: Ballad Of The Agreeable Life - Willy Trenk-Trebitsch
4. Die Dreigroschenoper: Love Duet - Erika Helmke/Willy Trenk-Trebitsch
5. Die Dreigroschenoper: Cannon Song - Kurt Gerron/Willy Trenk-Trebitsch
6. Die Dreigroschenoper: Pirate Jenny - Lotte Lenya
7. Die Dreigroschenoper: Act I Finale - Lotte Lenya/Erika Helmke/Erich Ponto
8. Die Dreigroschenoper: Barbara Song - Lotte Lenya
9. Die Dreigroschenoper: Jealousy Song - Lotte Lenya/Erika Helmke
10. Die Dreigroschenoper: Farewell - Erika Helmke/Willy Trenk-Trebitsch
11. Die Dreigroschenoper: Act II Finale - Willy Trenk-Trebitsch
12. Die Dreigroschenoper: Procurer's Ballad - Lotte Lenya/Willy Trenk-Trebitsch
13. Die Dreigroschenoper: Song Of The Inadequacy Of Life - Erich Ponto
14. Die Dreigroschenoper: Moritat (Reprise) - Lotte Lenya
15. Die Dreigroschenoper: Final Chor - 1930 German Cast
16. Die Dreigroschenoper: Moritat - Bertolt Brecht
17. Die Dreigroschenoper: Song Of The Inadequacy Of Life - Bertolt Brecht
18. Kleine Dreigroschenmusik (Little Threepenny Ste): Moritat - Berlin State Opr Orch/Otto Klemperer
19. Kleine Dreigroschenmusik (Little Threepenny Ste): Ballade - Berlin State Opr Orch/Otto Klemperer
20. Kleine Dreigroschenmusik (Little Threepenny Ste): Tango-Ballade - Berlin State Opr Orch/Otto Klemperer
21. Kleine Dreigroschenmusik (Little Threepenny Ste): Cannon Song - Berlin State Opr Orch/Otto Klemperer
22. Die Dreigroschenoper: Moritat - Mme. Damia
23. Mahagonny: Alabama Song - Lotte Lenya/The Three Admirals
24. Mahagonny: As You Make Your Bed - Lotte Lenya
25. Mahagonny: Medley - Lotte Lenya/Berlin Cast Of The Kurfurstendamm Theatre, Berlin
26. Happy End: Bilbao Song - Lotte Lenya

Music Album:

1. Apache/The Many Guitars of Jorgen Ingmann
2. Bandera
3. Billy and the Kid
4. Born to Be Hurt: The Anthology 1966-1982
5. Break in the Storm
6. Cattle Call/Thereby Hangs a Tale [Import]
7. Christmas With Marty Robbins
8. Classic Cash
9. Classic Christmas
10. Collison Course/The Wheel

Music Album