Michael Draine's Twisted Vista
News from Babel
Work Resumed on the Tower/Letters Home
(ReR)
Formed in 1983, News from Babel belongs
to the family tree of the Rock In
Opposition band Henry Cow. After the
dissolution of Henry Cow in 1978,
multi-instrumentalist Fred Frith,
drummer/lyricist Chris Cutler, and
vocalist Dagmar Krause recorded three
classic albums as Art Bears. News from
Babel is the genealogical successor to
Art Bears, with Henry Cow veteran
Lindsay Cooper on reeds and keyboards
and Zeena Parkins (harp, accordion)
supplanting Frith.		Music Reviews
As primary composer, Lindsay Cooper
deftly synthesizes jazz and cabaret
influences into eighteen dark, poignant
and majestic songs. Chris Cutler's		Twisted Cinema
highly literate lyrics explore the twin
themes of Marxist politics and
personal alienation, while Dagmar
Krause invests Cutler's verse with
her commanding, Teutonic presence
and a profound sense of the tragic.
Instrumental performances are
top-notch, with a grace and suppleness
that sometimes eluded Henry Cow.
Dagmar sings only two songs on
1986's Letters Home (a title derived
from Sylvia Plath), and her Brechtian
delivery is missed on the seven
remaining tracks. Though Sally Potter
provides a strong voice on Lindsay
Cooper's Rags/The Golddiggers
and Oh Moscow!, no singer can
be expected to match Dagmar's pre-
cision and dramatic nuance. Guest vocal-
ist Robert Wyatt creates a haunting por-
trait of the forlorn on the allegorical
"Waited/Justice," echoing the Kafka		Dagmar Krause
parable, "Before the Law."
This disc provides an elegant presentation
of two classic albums in a format which
captures the high quality of both the
recording and performance.
Published in Buttrag #6
www.rerusa.com