Berlin Cabaret Songs [German Version]

Performer: Ute Lemper
Engineer: Martin Atkinson
Producer: Michael Hass; Michael Haas
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Ute Lemper (vocals); Robert Ziegler (arranger, conductor); Jeff Cohen (piano); Matrix Ensemble. Recorded at CTS Studio 2, Wembley, London, England on January & February 1996. Includes liner notes by Peter Jelavich. Personnel: Ute Lemper (vocals); Robert Ziegler (arranger, conductor); Jeff Cohen (piano); Matrix Ensemble. Recorded at CTS Studio 2, Wembley, London, England on January & February 1996. Includes liner notes by Peter Jelavich. Personnel: Ute Lemper (vocals); Jeffrey Cohen (piano). Liner Note Authors: Peter Jelavich; Michael Haas. Recording information: 01/1996/02/1996. Editor: Jenni Whiteside. Photographers: Ullstein Bilderdienst; Mike Owen. Arranger: Robert Ziegler. The different photos on the English and German-language versions of Ute Lemper's BERLIN CABARET SONGS are indicative of how differently these 18 songs come across in the two languages; the photo on the English album is sexy and vampy, while the photo on the German album is sexy and chilly. Get past Lemper's sex kitten purr, however, and a different picture emerges. These songs were performed in the German cabarets of the '20s and early '30s, and, hearing them in English, the political subtext of the lyrics becomes absolutely clear. Specifically, the defiantly gay themes of "The Lavender Song" and "When the Special Girlfriend" (originally a duet by Marlene Dietrich and Margo Lion--Lemper sings both parts), and the female empowerment of "I Am a Vamp!" and "Chuck Out the Men" suggest why Hitler banned cabaret along with other art forms not in keeping with his totalitarianism. The different photos on the English and German-language versions of Ute Lemper's BERLIN CABARET SONGS are indicative of how differently these 18 songs come across in the two languages. The photo on the English album is sexy and vampy, while the photo on the German album is sexy and chilly. These songs were performed in the German cabarets of the '20s and early '30s, and while English speakers won't catch the explicit political subtext of these songs, like the defiantly gay "The Lavender Song" and "When the Special Girlfriend" (originally a duet by Marlene Dietrich and Margo Lion--Lemper sings both parts) and the female empowerment of "I Am a Vamp!," Lemper sings them with such passion, sly humor, and total commitment--complete with utterly authentic musical arrangements--that it becomes disturbingly clear why Hitler banned cabaret along with other art forms not in keeping with his totalitarianism. "Entartete Musik," of which 18 examples in English adaptation are provided here, includes, in the definition of producer Michael Haas, among other things, "important works lost, destroyed or banned by the political disruptions of the twentieth century," in particular, the Third Reich of Nazi Germany. Specifically, these are cabaret songs of the years of the Weimar Republic (1918-1933), written by such composers as Friedrich Hollaender (who became Frederick Hollander when he followed Marlene Dietrich to Hollywood) and Mischa Spoliansky. They reflect the decadence and unfulfilled hopes of a temporary oasis in German history marked by runaway inflation and agitations of the Left and Right, matters treated in the lyrics. The album contains material that provides the perhaps unrealized source of later re-creations like the score for the Broadway musical Cabaret. Ute Lemper (who has performed extensively in that show) gives bravura readings of songs that treat corruption, homosexuality, and a doomed social idealism with music, provided by the Matrix Ensemble, that recalls Kurt Weill and hot jazz. The looming Nazi era is inescapable in such Hollaender songs as "Oh, How We Wish That We Were Kids Again" and especially "M�nchhausen." The latter bears some similarity to the folk song "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream," except that we know what happened in Germany instead of the dream of peace and social justice Hollaender proposes. More than a mere history lesson, Berlin Cabaret Songs reawakens a lost era that engages issues of tolerance, sexual confusion, and political uncertainty that continue to affect listeners. It also contains some extremely funny numbers. Jeremy Lawrence's English lyrics, based on translations by Alan Lareau, Kathleen L. Komar, and Haas, are amazingly deft, retaining the German flavor but singing well in their adoptive language. [There is a version of the album sung in German, in addition to the English.] ~ William Ruhlmann

German chanteuse Ute Lemper is something of a renaissance woman. In addition to her successful recording career, she's known for her work in films and theater. Musically, the cabaret-rooted singer started out interpreting the songs of her primary influences, Edith Piaf, Marlene Dietrich, and Kurt Weill. By 2000 Lemper had crossed over to the pop world, releasing albums with material by the likes of Elvis Costello, Nick Cave, and Tom Waits, and collaborating with Neil Hannon (Divine Comedy) and Laurie Anderson.

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