June 13, 2002
Dead & Gone #2: Totenlieder - Songs of Death
CD, Trikont 1997
Track list: Beasts of Bourbon: Rest in Peace - Lydia Lunch: Gloomy Sunday - Lydia Mendoza: La Boda Negra - Edith and Karl Dworak (Die Pepi Wichart Schrammeln): Stellt's meine Ross in Stall - Miranda Sex Garden: Gush Forth My Tears - Confraternite delle voci castelsardo: Miserere Funebre - Nico: My Only Child - Lou Reed: Goodby Mass - Trio Exvoco: Totenklage - Serbischer Leichenschmaus - Steirische Grabsängerinnen: Traget mich zu meinem Grabe - Bulawayo Church Choir: Funeral Song - Billie Holiday: Strange Fruit - Cassandra Wilson: Death Letter - Geto Boys: I Just Wanna Die - Jasper Smith: Died for Love - Kid Smith & the Virginia Dandies: Whisper Softly, Mother's Dying - Girls of the Golden West: By the Grave of Nobody's Darling - Albanische Totenklage - Diamanda Galas: Cris D'Avengle - Blind Man's Cry - Serbische Totenklage - Gary Floyd: From the Darkness to the Light
Like the first Dead & Gone compilation, this second is also quite a haunting experience. This time it's songs of death, a more diverse topic than the funeral marches. It also means more pop and rock music: there's Lydia Lunch, Miranda Sex Garden, Nico, Lou Reed, Geto Boys, Diamanda Galas and Billie Holiday, for example. Of course, there's probably more Serbian weeping music you will ever need. The result is a very curious bunch of songs, with perhaps a bit more sense of humour included than in the first compilation. ***
Six Months Later:
Definitely more accessible than the first album (that is, less strange folk music from Eastern Europe). More a curiosity than something you'd listen often, but I'm still happy to have it. ***