Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story
Rod the Mod finds his solo footing, headed for stardom, with the Faces in his wake.
6:00 AM GMT 22/06/2011
Features Disc of the day
The Young Gods
The Young Gods Play Kurt Weill
(PLAY IT AGAIN SAM, 1991)
Mack The Knife gets a hacksaw…
PJ Harvey, Lou Reed and The Doors are just three of the many that have tried their hand at covering material by legendary German composer and author of musical hall/theatrical standards, Kurt Weill. None, however, have come close to translating Weill’s work in the scarifying, modern day manner that Swiss nouveau industrialists The Young Gods have on this album.
Asked to perform tributes to Weill at two music festivals, the band – led by the ever-present vocalist Franz Treichler – found themselves inspired enough to lay down their unique studio interpretations with long-time collaborator/producer Roli Mossiman at the helm. The eight brutalising tracks bring to the fore the menace that lurks within Weill’s oeuvre in a chilling manner. For instance, his most famous song, Mackie Messer (aka Mack The Knife, taken from The Threepenny Opera) is punctuated by Treichler’s guttural sneer and welded to a charred soundscape that loops the intro riff to Guns N’ Roses Welcome To The Jungle. On paper it sounds daft, on record the effect is heavy, warped and macabre. Elsewhere, September Song is a mournful, unsettling finale that could easily have featured on Scott Walker’s iconoclastic Tilt album, while Alabama Song makes The Doors version sound positively vaudevillian. Easy listening, this ain’t.
When asked whether his clanking 1995 set Outside was influenced by Trent Reznor, David Bowie replied: "No. I was influenced by a Swiss band called The Young Gods." And one would assume this album in particular.
Phil Alexander
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 11/09/2008
Further Listening
Lost In the Stars - The Music Of Kurt Weill Hal Willner (A&M, 1985)
The Young Gods - L’Eau Rouge (PIAS, 1989)
Various - Weill Speak Low (Universal Classics, 2000)
Previous Disc of the day
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Earl Brutus - Larky
Last salvo of Ginsters Pasty-Warholism from Britpop ramraiders.
12:04 PM GMT 08/06/2011
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Loudon Wainwright - T-Shirt
An overlooked small wonder from an unpredictable career.
6:00 AM GMT 03/06/2011
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Landscape - From The Tea-rooms Of Mars… To The Hell-holes Of Uranus
Dry computer club Futurists, upon hitting implausible chart paydirt.
6:00 AM GMT 17/05/2011
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Causa Sui - Summer Sessions Vol 1-3
Epic Danish jams, for when the neighbours get you down.
6:00 AM GMT 12/05/2011
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This could be on the buried treasure section. I also add "TV Sky", to the two mentioned above.
And with Bowie as always, on the right spot...
Posted by M.A.Melo at 11:41 AM GMT 12/09/2008 Report Abuse
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