Selections from Hal Willner's Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill

February 28, 2013 12:58 AM

Lou Reed - September Song
Sting with Dominic Muldowney -- The Ballad of Mac the Knife
Ralph Schuckett with Richard Butler, Bob Dorough, Ellen Shipley and John Petersen - Alabama Song
Dagmar Krause -- Surabaya Johnny
John Zorn - Der Kleine des Lieben Gottes
Tom Waits - What Keeps Mankind Alive?
Todd Rundgren with Gary Windo -- Call From The Grave/Ballad In Which Macheath Begs All Men For Forgiveness
Mark Bingham, Aaron Neville, Johnny Adams - Oh Heavenly Salvation
Carla Bley with Phil Woods -- Lost In The Stars

Selections from Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill
posted by y2karl (23 comments total)

See also

Kurt Weill

Hal Willner

Oh, the Shark has Pretty Teeth, Dear
posted by y2karl at 12:59 AM on February 28, 2013

Great album. I particularly like the take on Alabama Song by Ralph Schuckett, Richard Butler etc. Rocks rather nicely. And, of course, John Zorn is suitably mad.
posted by philip-random at 1:05 AM on February 28, 2013

Picked this up out of a random vinyl bin for like 5$ or so a year and a half ago. Fucking fantastic. Now I'm wondering if quarter after one is too late to put it on..
posted by mannequito at 1:11 AM on February 28, 2013

And

Oh the days dwindle down, to a precious few...

The Three Penny Opera
posted by y2karl at 1:14 AM on February 28, 2013 [1 favorite]

I played the heck out of this album on my college radio station when it came out, most especially Waits' pitch perfect "What Keeps Mankind Alive?" Every track, however, captures something of the spirit of Weill's ouevre. Worth every minute you'll spend listening to it.
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:24 AM on February 28, 2013

Huge Kurt Weill fan.

When we were in Berlin last month, we made time to go see the Seven Deadly Sins at the Komische Opera. Made me realize that Weill/Brecht is really best performed in German though ...

Got to see a performance of a personal favorite too: Nanna's Lied

Though I do love Stan Ridgeway doing the Cannon Song as part of Lost in the Stars, a video you left out y2karl.
posted by vacapinta at 1:37 AM on February 28, 2013 [3 favorites]

I remember this album from my youth with great fondness. It was a gateway drug to great music.
posted by chavenet at 1:41 AM on February 28, 2013 [3 favorites]

Hal Willner made a few records like this in the late 80's and early 90's, IIRC, and my fave was Stay Awake, which gave Disney films the same kind of treatment.
posted by hwestiii at 4:27 AM on February 28, 2013 [1 favorite]

Thanks for referencing my FPP y2karl. I thoroughly enjoyed putting that one together, to which commentators then added some great links.
posted by adamvasco at 4:37 AM on February 28, 2013

Plate o' shrimp. I was just singing Whiskey Bar to my daughter last night.
posted by clvrmnky at 6:28 AM on February 28, 2013

This is great! I also recommend this compilation of covers from 1997 - it's excellent too.
posted by aka burlap at 6:59 AM on February 28, 2013

What? No Young Gods?
posted by Dagobert at 7:16 AM on February 28, 2013

This is great! I also recommend this compilation of covers from 1997 - it's excellent too.

There's an accompanying film that I saw at the Jewish Film Festival in Berkeley, years ago. It's pretty neat, though they kind of dropped the ball by not having anyone cover "Pirate Jenny".
posted by Nibbly Fang at 7:42 AM on February 28, 2013

That Rundgren track is an absolute barn burner. I love this record.
posted by mintcake! at 10:00 AM on February 28, 2013

"There's an accompanying film that I saw at the Jewish Film Festival in Berkeley, years ago."

It showed on PBS's "Great Performances" as well. I have the video of it somewhere, but much of it is available on YouTube... all of the audio and most of the performances:
"Mack the Knife" - Nick Cave
"Ballad of the Soldier's Wife" - PJ Harvey
"Alabama Song" - David Johansen
"Youkali Tango" - Teresa Stratas
"Lost in the Stars" - Elvis Costello
"Pirate Jenny" Lotte Lenya
"Don't be Afraid" - Mary Margaret O'Hara
"Speak Low" - Charlie Haden
"Oh Heavenly Salvation" - The Persuasions
"September Song" - Lou Reed
"Mack the Knife" - Bertholt Brecht
"What Keeps Mankind Alive?" - William S. Burroughs
posted by markkraft at 10:01 AM on February 28, 2013 [4 favorites]

Every track on this album is my favorite track.
posted by charlesminus at 10:14 AM on February 28, 2013 [1 favorite]

Every track on this album is my favorite track.

This, exactly.
posted by Pudhoho at 12:16 PM on February 28, 2013

I also recommend this compilation of covers from 1997 - it's excellent too.

Which was also a Hal Willner production and a bit of a do-over of Lost in the Stars.

But, I preferred the first ( what, no Tom Waits singing What Keeps Mankind Alive ?  What a loss...) and, although the performances on the second were live, passed on linking it, trusting that someone else -- thank you, markkraft! - would.
posted by y2karl at 2:15 PM on February 28, 2013

Hal Willner made a few records like this in the late 80's and early 90's, IIRC, and my fave was Stay Awake, which gave Disney films the same kind of treatment.

I have the one dedicated to the music of Thelonious Monk which has a wonderful New Orleans style bomp-de-bomp bomp solo piano take on Blue Monk by Dr. John, which is such a delight. (If there's a version on the YouTube, someone feel free to link it!)

But, until this post, I missed that he made one dedicated to the music of Harold Arlen and that I will have to check out.
posted by y2karl at 2:22 PM on February 28, 2013

I love Marianne Faithful's take on the songs. I've got a compilation of Australian artists doing them too.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 2:46 PM on February 28, 2013

Yeah, couldn't find the Marianne Faithful / Chris Spedding version from Lost in the Stars, but here's another version by her. (Some nice photos in that vid, btw)

I've got this on cassette. Fun fact: the sleeve design is by M&Co, the design studio founded by the brilliant Tibor Kalman, RIP. (Alumni include Stefan Sagmeister, Stephen Doyle and Alexander Isley.)
posted by Bron at 6:12 PM on February 28, 2013

Every track on this album is my favorite track.

This, exactly.

It's true. Even Sting's pretty easy to take.
posted by philip-random at 8:25 PM on February 28, 2013

I also love the version of "The Pimp's Ballad" performed by Cyndi Lauper and Alan Cumming from 2006. Several of the English versions in that Threepenny were kind of lacking, but that one worked wonderfully.
posted by markkraft at 5:33 AM on March 2, 2013