But One Day

I have read several unflattering reviews of the import version of this CD. Reviewers described the CD as unlistenable and too avant garde. I have to disagree. I think it is a very accessible, beautiful, and haunting CD. I think that anyone who has "expectations" for a performer as fluid and as connected to humanity as Lemper are doomed to be disappointed. Lemper is a soulful, spiritual singer who needs to connect with her material and tell a story. On this new CD, she does it with grace. Ute's work will always take a few listens before you can properly engage it.After a while you really start to pick up the subtlety of the delivery and the power of her phrasing. Ute is never going to be a Linda Eder or Barbara Streisand (sorry, folks,Ute's not singing too many show tunes anymore).She is political, theatrical, a mother, a women, and her work reflects her unique experiences. Ute's "But One Day" is a great CD for relaxing or reflecting. One of the best qualities of Ute is knowing that her music evolves as she does. As people we all change over time. Why wouldn't an artist's music change over time. If you don't "get" Ute Lemper, check her out in concert, you will instantly be converted and will understand her music much better. The standouts on this CD are "September Song", "Buenos Aires", and my favorite, "The Ballad of Marie Sanders". Enjoy!!!

Ute Lemper is known for singing Kurt Weill, and many fans would like her to remain an artist of the Post WWII German "avant garde" Her fans want her to stop with the pop and go back to the "classical section." of their record stores. Marianne Faithfull sings songs of darkness and great beauty within a pop context. She has released an cd of Weill's "Seven Deadly Sins" Her fans wish her to sing more like she used too. They want "Broken English, Part II" Both sides are missing the power and beauty of these singers but trying to limit them to what the listener can understand without effort. I suggest everyone listen to Ute's more pop oriented cds and Faithfull's more "classical" oriented cds and let the judgments goes , for awhile, to allow you to just listen.

This is an album so good that you get lost listening to it. the instruments and arrangements are exciting and beautiful just like her voice. Own this.

While her German cabaret repetoire is my favorite, this has enough to please even the pickiest Utetarian.

`but one day...' is a long drink of water for Ute Lemper fans. Its choice of songs is positioned almost perfectly in the middle of her defining repertoire of Kurt Weill, Jacques Brel, Steven Sondheim and classic German cabaret songs. It is neither all German / all Weill nor very edgy like her selection of songs on `Punishing Kiss' nor too conventional like the selection of songs on `Life is a Cararet' where Ms. L tries the Lisa Minelli mantle.The selection is centered on two very classic Weill songs, `September Song' and `Speak Low', both originally written by Weill for two of his best Broadway shows. This traditional material is joined by two from Brel, `Ne me quitte pas' in French and `Amsterdam' done in French and English. From Bertolt Brecht and Hans Eisler is an obscure English / German song `Ballad of Marie Sanders, the Jew's Whore'. From Werner Heymann and Robert Ziegler we have `Living Without You' which is sung in English.This is the first Lemper album on which I recall seeing works by Astor Piazzolla. Apparently, Ute has been doing them in concert for quite some time. The two Piazzolla selections `Buenos Aires' and `Oblivion' are sung in English. In the liner notes, Lemper says she would have really liked to sing them in Spanish but it is not a language she knows well and she felt she simply could not do the songs justice without giving a lot of time to learning the language well enough to put the right feeling into the songs. As German is her native language, which I know, I have always been impressed by the interpretation she is able to give equally to both German and English lyrics, and I can really appreciate and respect her reluctance to risk slighting the interpretation of songs in a language with which she is not comfortable. To my ear, neither of these two Piazzolla songs are true tangos, although one can sense the typical Piazzolla Euro/Argentine fatalism in both.Finally, there are four works by Ms. L herself, all in English. From the liner notes for the album, I gather that Ms. Lemper now lives and works in New York City, as all of her material was recorded in New York with New York musicians, all in a very few sessions, and, like all of her albums, there is a great sense of uniformity in the quality of the performances. Ms. Lemper's songs are selected from a large number of her works that begin as poems. I believe these songs are not quite as soulfully memorable as the Weill, Brel, and Piazzolla classics, but they are definitely out of place, as they do not try for memorable music, but rely on heartfelt storytelling. The title song `But One Day' and `I Surrender' are straight love songs. Her children inspire `Little Face'. `Lena' is based on the mother of Ms. Lemper's Mexican publicist. While one can glide through her other three songs carried simply by the allure of the Ms. L's voice, the lyrics of `Lena' reach out and capture your attention. I simply did not have to read the lyrics of this song to catch all of the references to Holocaust and post World War II history.I first ran across Ms. Lemper's singing when I picked up her early recordings of Kurt Weill German works, as she started as a Kurt Weill specialist who, to my ears, brought something new to the traditional Lotte Lenya gravel voiced interpretations. I have reveled in all the new material Ms. Lemper has taken on without abandoning for long her European Marlene Dietrich / Edith Piaf inspired style.Ute Lemper fans will find more of everything we find appealing in her work. I also recommend this to anyone who likes female vocalists in general. Much more substance than the run of the mill diva and even a bit more genuine than Ms. Streisand.