Inky Horizons

This brings back memories.

I listened to it again recently. Man, I forgot how great this album is.

Jesus Fucking Christ. It's BOB DYLAN for God's sake. I mean...arggghhh!  The stupid, it just burns!!!

(but it is kinda funny, too)

"I offered to bring in some of my Dylan albums. Unfortunately, she doesn't know what vinyl is either.'

Another great "story" song by Marty Robbins. He excels at this sort of thing.

Beautiful song. I really like the understated simplicity of the music and the narrative.

Bob Dylan remains the preeminent American poet/songwriter of our age. He's held that crown for a long time and there's no one on the horizon even close to wresting it away.

Frankly, I don't think anyone has the guts to try.

His new album Together Through Life is very, very good. The music and lyrics have a dark, snarly quality to them. Dylan's voice, marred and roughened with age, seems to fit the overall emotional theme of the album. In case you're wondering these aren't the highly polished songs of his earlier album, Modern Times. This is poetry wrenched out of his soul and thrown into your face.

If you're a Dylan fan you're gonna LOVE this album. If you're not a Dylan fan I believe you'll still like what you hear -- only because you haven't heard anything like it before. And I'm betting it will hook you to delve more deeply into his work because if you're not a fan and you listen to this album you'll want to know just what makes this fucker tick the way he does.

Jump on this one if you can. I think you'll like it a lot.

Bob Dylan's new album Together Through Life will be released on April 28.

WOO HOO!!

Un Ballo in Maschera (The Masked Ball) is one of those operas in which the music is better than the story. In fact it's one of those operas in which the story is extremely lame.  Very lame.  Lamey lame.

Lame -O- McLame.

It's all about the assassination of Gustave III of Sweden during a masked ball. That much is historically accurate.  The rest of the opera...not so much, even down to the last scene when the king is dying and forgives his assassin. Moving, yes, but not accurate. It's also one of those operas that can succeed or fail on the performance of a single character. In this case it's the aria of the gypsy witch Ulrica who prophesies the king's death. If she's believable the opera rocks. If not...it's even lamer than it already is.  At least as far as the story goes.

This opera was written by Verdi. It has all the usual Verdi touches: forbidden love, flashes of humor, jealousy, assassination, plans within plans.  And it's not a bad opera. It's just not all that great, either. Except for the extraordinary music which blows you away.

It's the music that makes this opera memorable. It's as beautiful as anything Verdi ever accomplished, and that's saying a lot. 

Opera is funny. You don't have to listen to a lot of them or watch a lot of them to get a feel of what the art form is about. There aren't that many operas anyway so if you listen/watch to about half a dozen you can develop an appreciation for what's going on artistically. Having said that Un Ballo in Maschera isn't a beginner's opera. You would do better to watch Aida or Tosca or maybe even Madame Butterfly if you're just starting out and want to learn about opera.

But if you already kind of know something about it, or at least have been exposed to opera on some level, then I think you will appreciate Un Ballo in Maschera.  But only with that caveat, and because the music is so moving, can I recommend it.

Give it a peek.

Hey, what happened. My LJ got crossed up somehow with another icon and I lost my entry. WTF. Anyway, here it is again:

Tomorrow I start my new story. I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to meet mjryan at a coffee shop and we'll start our own little writing group. Just a way for us to get into the groove of writing, something I need. I haven't worked on much since I finished the novel earlier this year.

My new story will have some ballet elements in it. Now, I'm not a big fan of ballet. My main interest stems from watching women in body stockings and tutus, I think. Still, when I was doing research for the story I came across this fantastic link of a pair dancing the ballet Giselle. If you don't know, Giselle is a corpse and her lover dances with her. Yeah, pretty gruesome, and not something you would expect from ballet. Then again Swan Lake is about a hunter making love to a swan, so you never know.

This is a beautiful piece. I was amazed how she moved across the stage. Notice how she floats like a feather in his arms when he picks her up. And that last part when she creeps toward him on tippy-toes with her hands crossed before her waist is truly freaky. It's just fantastic. Give it a peek. I think you'll like it.

Freaky bone-white ballerina pretending to be the living dead dancing with her mortal lover....

Yes, this again.  "Der Holle Rache".  We've looked at Diana Damrau's exceptional, emotive interpretation and Lucia Popp's clear-as-a-bell rendition.  But there is one woman who sang this song from Die Zauberflote so perfectly, so wonderfully, so beautifully...it was included on the Voyager spacecraft record which is now winging its way to the stars.  It's that good...that perfect.

Her name was Edda Moser and she's pretty well known among the operatic crowd for how she sang this incredible song with the impossible High F notes.  After listening to this it's easy to understand why it was included on the Voyager record.  It really is perfection. The aliens who find Voyager are in for a real treat.

Here it is.

Lucia Popp was another opera star known for her stunning Queen of the Night rendition.  She never brought the menace and angry venom Damrau did to the role, but her singing was absolutely exquisite.  That's why I wanted to provide this link so you could at least make a sound comparison between the two.

Lucia Popp sings "Der Holle Rache"

I ask you, what better time to talk about unmitigated evil than Christmas Eve...?

You know the song even if you don't know anything about opera or even HATE opera.  You've heard the signature notes even if you don't know the name of the song.  What I'm talking about is "Der Holle Rache" (The Vengeance of Hell) from Mozart's Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute).

The Queen of Night is the most evil character in all of opera, if not all fantasy.  That's a big field, I know, but name me another character who comes close?  Sauron is a chump.  Cruella Deville is a piker.  The Queen of Night is absolute evil down to her ice-cold bones.  She has no redeeming qualities and she's willing to shove her only daughter into doing murder so she can strike back at her enemy -- and if Pamina doesn't do it the Queen of Night will disown her forever.

And that's a long time.

Many divas have tried their hand at this role.  No one can match Diana Damrau.  She is the Queen of Night.  She's both beautiful and evil and she scares the living hell out of you which is what the character is supposed to do.  When she comes at you  with those eyes you can't help but soil yourself.  She not only sings the part, she plays the part to the hilt and will tear the stage apart in the process to make her position known.  Other women sing the role but they don't act it.  Or vice versa.  Damrau does both to perfection.

I've seen Damrau twist arms, throw Paminas across the stage, force them to their knees and generally browbeat them into sobbing puddles.  If you're cast as Pamina against Damrau's Queen of Night then you're plain fucked.  You don't have to act and pretend to be scared.  You will be scared. Here is the song:

The vengeance of Hell boils in my heart,
Death and despair flame around me!
If Sarastro does not through you feel the pain of death,
Then you will be my daughter nevermore.
Disowned may you be forever,
Abandoned may you be forever,
Destroyed be forever
All the bonds of nature,
If not through you Sarastro becomes pale! (as death)
Hear, Gods of Revenge, hear a mother's curse!

Poor Pamina.  Well, we don't get to choose our parents. By the way, those are High Fs Damrau is hitting in the signature notes.  I know.  Hard to believe a human voice can reach that high.  And she's so menacing and exudes such venom when she stalks Pamina across the stage.  It sends a chill up the spine.  She's ready to devour poor Pamina, it seems.

Die Zauberflote isn't a true opera. There are spoken parts in the production and a lot of idiotic Masonic ritual garbage.  But no one goes to Die Zauberflote to see that, they go to hear Mozart's music.  I think it's safe to say if you don't believe in the Queen of Night character the entire opera suffers.  Some queens you can't help but laugh at when you see them.  You'll never laugh at Damrau in this production.  She was made for it, and it for her, and it's well known throughout the operatic universe this was one of her best performances as Queen of Night.

Damrau retired this singing part in 2006.  Most opera stars sing the role for a while and then put it away forever because it's so hard on the voice.  Well, like I said, those are High Fs.  A lot of them.

Here she is. Diana Damrau as the deliciously evil Queen of Night in Die Zauberflote.

Leontyne Price was a famous African American singer.  She was best known for her role as Aida, the black slave girl in the opera of the same name.  During the 50s and 60s she endured racism and other humiliations like not being allowed to sleep in the same hotel as the white singers.  Nevertheless her voice and her talent endured and she became one of the best known and best loved singers in the entire pantheon.

Her signature role, as I said, was as the slave girl in Aida.  During this opera Aida realizes she will never return to Ethiopia and she sings of the love and the heartache she has for a land she will never see again.  It's heartbreaking.  When Ms. Price left the stage, of course her signature song was going to be "O Patria Mia".  Everyone was waiting for it.  Everyone throughout opera knew how much the song meant to her personally, and to what emotions were raging inside her because this was to be her final curtain call as Aida -- she was leaving the world of opera.  And then the time came when she had to sing the song on stage...and endure the fantastic reaction she knew was going to come.

Yeah.  It brings the house down.  Amazing.  Simply and utterly amazing.

I have included two links.  The first is the song itself sung in another venue.  The recording is a good one and I think you'll like it.  The second link is at the end of the song on stage, on her last night.  Watch as she endures.  She's about to completely crack open and begin sobbing incontrollably -- the audience is already sobbing and shouting "Brava!" -- but she can't breakdown because if she does the opera is ruined and she has to go on to sing the following song.  Watch it yourself...and try not to cry.

O Patria Mia


Leontyne Price's Farewell after singing O Patria Mia

Anna Netrebko is hot.  (Oh, she's a Russian opera singer, too, with an absolutely beautiful voice.  I guess I should have included that. Sorry.)

Last year, she appeared in I Puritani.  I actually saw this production.  This opera has a famous "mad scene" in which the heroine unravels in a big way. She's not spattered with blood on her wedding night because she shanked the groom, like in Lucia di Lammermoor, but she loses it all the same.   --Albeit in a more controlled fashion.  The part where she lies down on the stage with her head back is astonishing.  Not many singers would risk that.

Mad scenes of one type or another are famous in opera.  Netrebko garnered some serious attention for the way she played the scene, and deservedly so.

Part I Netrebko's Mad Scene


Part II Netrebko's Mad Scene

It's Friday so that means it's music time again. 

Anyone who reads my blog knows I like opera.  But unlike some stuffed shirts I don't believe opera necessarily has to be Wagnarian in concept to be opera.  That's why I want to give you a link to one of the first rock bands to incorporate operatic themes and classical sounds in their music.  When Electric Light Orchestra first started out they were a true orchestra.  In fact, they were more orchestra than rock band which gave them such a signature sound.  They weren't ever referred to as ELO but as Electric Light Orchestra. It was only later they moved away from those classical roots and became simply E.L.O.  As a result they were never as good and they quickly vanished.  Deservedly so.

But nevertheless this song, and the blend of rock and classical music, still endures. "Livin' Thing" has a deep orchestral arrangement that not only sweetens the song but makes it one of the most memorable hits ever.  Give it a listen.


Livin' Thing

Even if you're not an opera buff you know this opera, and the song.  It's about the clown that cries.  That's an iconic image in America if not the entire world.  Hell, I would argue anytime an image makes it to a painting on velvet sold at a flea market then it's indispensable to the human monkey milieu.

The name of the song is "Recitar" which means "to act", and that's what the clown does. He's wearing happy makeup to fool everyone, but he's really crying on the inside. 

Here's the link to one of the most important, and emotional, songs in all of opera.

These are the original lyrics:

Recitar!...mentre preso dal delirio
non so piu quel che dico e quel che faccio!
Eppur...e d'uopo...sforzati! Bah, sei tu forse un uom?
Tu se' Pagliaccio! Vesti la giubba e la faccia infarina.
La gente paga e rider vuole qua.
E se Arlecchin t'invola Colombina, ridi, Pagliaccio...
e ognum applaudira! Tramuta in lazzi lo spasmo ed il pianto;
In una smorfia il singhiozzo e'l dolor...
Ridi Pagliaccio, sul tuo amore infranto!
Ridi del duol che t'avvelena il cor!

And again in English:

Go on stage, while I'm nearly delirious?
I don't know what I'm saying or what I'm doing!
And yet, chin up! I'll try harder. Bah, you think you're a man?
You're just a clown! On with the show, man,
and put on your white-face.
The people pay you and you must make them laugh.
And if Harlequin should steal your Columbine, laugh,
you're Pagliaccio, and the world will clap for you!
Turn into banter all your pain and sorrow,
and with your clowns' face hide grief and distress...
Laugh loud, Pagliaccio, forget all of your troubles,
Laugh off the pain that so empoisons your heart.

Enjoy!

All right, I'll put up with only so much.  Let's get one thing straight right now so there'll be no further misunderstanding. To wit:

Anyone who thinks Michael Jackson's Thriller is better than Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon has got to be the most brain-dead slack-jawed maroon in the world.

'Nuff said.

I love conceptual albums.  That's why when I was knee-high to a pine cone my favorite rocker was Alice Cooper and my favorite album was Welcome To My Nightmare.  (It's still in my top ten.)

Of late I've been talking about a couple of movies directed by Rob Zombie.  It occurred to me there might be  people who are unfamiliar with his work.  First off, Alice Cooper was and still is a direct influence on Zombie's musical style.  Zombie actually loves and respects the monster/horror genre and the depth of his knowledge of the genre itself is nothing short of phenomenal.  All too often we see bands who slap on makeup and eye-shadow and expect us to take them seriously.  But they rarely know anything about the horror genre and tropes they are trying to affect, and what little they do know comes from modern slasher films or their own misguided preconceived notions.

Zombie, on the other hand, has a deep and intimate knowledge of all things horror and most things Grade-B. He loves it.  He cultivated a spectacular sound known as "heavy sound" or "slam sound" with an industrial base when he was fronting for the band White Zombie.  But when he left that band and went solo he took all the creative force with him...not unexpected since he was the sole creative force.

He's that rare breed of musician who is also a bona fide artist.  He knows how to write a hook for a song and he knows how to grip your emotions between his fists.  A rare talent indeed in this age of cookie-cutter techno shit.

So for the uninitiated I want to provide two links to a pair of Rob Zombie videos.  The first is "Dragula", an homage to the coffin-shaped dragster first seen on The Munsters.  Good hook, deep sound, just the right amount of camp.  It's damn near the perfect Rob Zombie song and if you don't know anything about him this will pretty much tell you all you need to know.  And with lyrics like

Dig through the ditches
Burn through the witches
I slam in the back of my
Dragula

you're pretty much safely ensconced in his frenetic world of horror and mayhem, with not a little whimsy added for flavor.

Dragula

The second song I want to present is "Living Dead Girl".  This is a mosh-pit fave with a memorable hook that crawls through your brain like a cadaver worm.  The video is particularly cute since it's a direct homage to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.  That's Zombie's wife, Sheri Moon Zombie, in the title role, BTW. 

Living Dead Girl

For anyone interested in an album, I recommend Hellbilly Deluxe.  The interior art is by Gene Colan and the little booklet is fashioned after the old Film Monster Magazine, thus showcasing Zombie's absolute love of old movie monsters.  Pretty cool for those who like horror rock or music annealed from the stoked fires of  a campy hell.