Audio CD review:
Nick Cave, Elvis Costello, N.S. Engel, Philip Glass, Joby Hannon Neil Talbot, Steve Nieve, Tom Waits, Kathleen Waits Tom Brennan, Ute Lemper, John Beal - Punishing Kiss

Nick Cave, Elvis Costello, N.S. Engel, Philip Glass, Joby Hannon Neil Talbot, Steve Nieve, Tom Waits, Kathleen Waits Tom Brennan, Ute Lemper, John Beal - Punishing Kiss

Band: Nick Cave, Elvis Costello, N.S. Engel, Philip Glass, Joby Hannon Neil Talbot, Steve Nieve, Tom Waits, Kathleen Waits Tom Brennan, Ute Lemper, John Beal Title: Punishing Kiss Rating: Release Date: 04 April, 2000 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: The Case Continues 2: Tango Ballad 3: Passionate Fight 4: Little Water Song 5: Purple Avenue 6: Streets Of Berlin 7: Split 8: Couldn't You Keep That To Yourself 9: Punishing Kiss 10: You Were Meant For Me 11: The Part You Throw Away 12: Scope J

Editoral Review Her long association with the works of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, as well as her one-woman shows based on the repertoires of Edith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich, has always marked her as a maverick in a world overpopulated by bland belters and cute ingénues. Despite her roles in mainstream musicals such as Cats and Chicago, Ute Lemper has never been a typical Broadway baby. Lemper's distinctive voice isn't an instrument for easy listening. At full tilt, it's dangerous and edgy. In subdued mode, it's dark, ironic, and despairing. The cruelty that runs through many of her interpretations is taken on the chin. Lemper deals in defiance rather than submission. With just one, edgily updated Weill song ("Tango Ballad") and a host of contributions from Nick Cave, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Philip Glass, and the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon, Punishing Kiss is a modern, bleak look at love in the 21st century. At times the tone is murderous, even apocalyptic ("The Case Continues"). The duet "Split," sung with Hannon, is a grimly humorous riot of punches and counterpunches in a disintegrating relationship. There's fleeting, poignant beauty too, in tracks like Waits's "Purple Avenue. " Essential listening for anyone who likes their torch songs blood-stained, not just dampened by a few tears. --Piers Ford .. You can see a complete list of all Nick Cave, Elvis Costello, N.S. Engel, Philip Glass, Joby Hannon Neil Talbot, Steve Nieve, Tom Waits, Kathleen Waits Tom Brennan, Ute Lemper, John Beal discography, or go back to the Nick Cave, Elvis Costello, N.S. Engel, Philip Glass, Joby Hannon Neil Talbot, Steve Nieve, Tom Waits, Kathleen Waits Tom Brennan, Ute Lemper, John Beal tabs