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Rating:
A covers album is a classic for (almost) all already established artists. A wildly unconventional soprano like Diamanda Galas might seem to have more roots in the experiments of Karlheinz Stockhausen or jazz pianist Cecil Taylor rather than in unrefined performers like Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Howlin' Wolf, who probably ignored the atonal system or electronic music. But Galas manages to win over the listener even when tackling genres like blues and gospel, by reinterpreting them in an absolutely personal way—an experiment she would repeat multiple times in her career.
At first glance, there are some reminiscences from past works: compared to the version of Plague Mass, Let My People Go is not very different, but Were You There When They Crucified My Lord? is indeed another piece.
The songs are almost all recorded live, capturing all the improvisations and the interpreter’s heartbeats, a talented pianist. Accompanied only by a piano, as gloomy as her voice on this record, Galas embarks on relentless tour de force, moving from Willie Dixon’s My Love Will Never Die and Insane Asylum to Hawkins’ classic I Put A Spell On You, through traditional chants like See That My Grave Is Kept Clean.
Perhaps even Lydia Lunch or Billie Holiday would admit, Gloomy Sunday, in Galas' mouth is a masterpiece, the perfection between the jazz of the new continent and Mediterranean tradition.
The tracks, however, seem more focused on themselves than anything else, and the listening experience suffers, often losing the atmosphere in several passages. For example, a third version of Let My People Go—in this album—is quite debatable, especially because it offers nothing new compared to its predecessors.
Nevertheless, The Singer, along with You Must Be Certain Of The Devil, is certainly one of her most accessible records, but the attempt to close the wound—apparently healed—with Plague Mass proves futile: what Galas sings, even if written 10 or 50 years ago, continues to be an exorcism of pain in its most concrete and human form.
What certainly distinguishes her from all the avant-garde artists of the twentieth century (like Meredith Monk or Joan Labarbara) is the psychological introspection she applies to each of her works, profound and inescapable.
There's just one last favor I'll ask of you
You can see that my grave is kept clean.
The organ and filtered voice, on the ninth track, take the album into the night, into a shapeless darkness without stars, finding a way out only on Judgment Day:
Judgement Day
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
06 Insane Asylum (04:53)
INSANE ASYLUM
I went out to the insane asylum
And I found my baby out there.
I said, “please, come back to me, darling,
What in the world are you doing here?”
Then my old man raised up his head,
Tears were streaming down from his eyes,
And these are the things that my old man said:
“When your love has ceased to be
There's no other place for me.
If you don't hold me in your arms
I'd rather be here from now on.
Some people have it half way there,
Without your love I ain't nowhere.”
“I can't eat and I can't sleep,
I can't even live in peace.
Please take me, baby, for your slave,
And save me from that earthly grave.
Some people have it half way there,
Without your love I ain't nowhere.”
Then sorrow struck my heart,
Tears began to stream down from my eyes.
The only man that I ever loved in all my life
Out here, in a place and a condition like this.
And I began thinkin' about what my mama told me when I was a little girl.
She told me when I couldn't help myself
To get down on my knees and pray.
And I fell down on my knees
And these are the words that I said:
“Save me, save me, save me, babe,
Save me, save me, save me, dear.
Oh, I don't know just how I made it,
But I'm so glad our love is here.”
07 I Put a Spell on You (04:29)
Devil, Devil, Devil (x)
I put a spell on you
Because you're mine
You gonna stop the things you do
I ain't lyin'
I can't stand it (x),
I can't stand the way you run around
I put a spell on you
because you're mine
I love you, I love you (x)
Like a snake in the grass I keep waitnig
Like a vulture in the sky I keep waiting,
Like a shark in the water I keep waiting
I don't care if you don't want me
because I'm yours, anyhow, anyway, anyplace
I put a spell on you
Because you're mine
Devil, Devil, Devil (x)
08 Let My People Go (04:59)
The devil has designed my death
And is waiting to be sure
Plenty of his black sheep died
Before he finds a cure
Oh Lord Jesus
Do you think I served my time?
The eight legs of the devil now
Are crawling up my spine
The firm hand
Of the devil now
Is rocking me to sleep
I force my blind eyes open Lord
But I'm sinking in the day (?)
Oh Lord Jesus
Do you think I served my time?
The eight legs of the devil now
Are crawling up my spine
I go to sleep each evening now
Dreaming of the grave
I see the friends I used to know
Crawling up my leg
Oh Lord Jesus
Do you think I served my time?
The eight legs of the devil now
Are crawling up my spine
Oh Lord Jesus
Do you think I served my time?
The eight legs of the devil now
Are crawling up my spine
Oh Lord Jesus
Here's the news from the new from the fires below
The eight legs of the devil will not
Let my people go
09 See That My Grave Is Kept Clean (03:09)
Well, there's one kind of favor I'll ask of you
Well, there's one kind of favor I'll ask of you
There's just one kind of favor I'll ask of you
You can see that my grave is kept clean
And there's two white horses following me
And there's two white horses following me
I got two white horses following me
Waiting on my burying ground
Did you ever hear that coffin' sound
Have you ever heard that coffin' sound
Did you ever hear that coffin' sound
Means another poor boy is under ground
Did you ever hear them church bells tone
Have you ever hear'd them church bells tone
Did you ever hear them church bells tone
Means another poor boy is dead and gone
Well, my heart stopped beating and my hands turned cold
And, my heart stopped beating and my hands turned cold
Well, my heart stopped beating and my hands turned cold
Now I believe what the bible told
There's just one last favor I'll ask of you
And there's one last favor I'll ask of you
There's just one last favor I'll ask of you
See that my grave is kept clean
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