Massimo and Pierce are best known around these parts as the Ghost Boyswho formed part of Coil's live shows. They set up Black Sun Productionsas a multimedia enterprise and Operett Amorale is their latest audio venture.Divine Frequency
The album is a tribute to the German poet and dramatist BertoltBrecht. Unlike most tributes to Brecht less than half the album is fromBrecht's famous collaborations with Kurt Weill. Massimo and Pierce'sartistic goals are very much in synch with Brecht's—all of their worksare decadent and subversive. The marriage between Black Sun Productionsand Brecht on this album works exceptionally well. Operett Amoraleis littered with guest artists including Lydia Lunch, H.R. Giger,Fabrizio Pallumbo (from (r) and Larsen) and Coil. The contribution fromCoil, "A List of Wishes," is one of Jhonn Balance's final studio works.It is an adaptation of one of Brecht's poems set to Sleazy's music. Thelilting beat is both evocative of Weimarer Republik era Berlinand Coil's own distinct sound. H.R. Giger provides both the cover artand his voice to "Seeraeuber-Jenny". The cover art is Giger's Alienmolesting a woman with its various appendages, I'm not quite sure howthat ties in with Brecht but it is impressive looking nonetheless.Pallumbo's style fits like a glove on this album. Tracks like "BrothelTango" sound like Larsen if Larsen were from twenties' Berlin. Pallumboperforms on most of the tracks with Massimo and Pierce. WhilstPallumbo's influence is evident it never overpowers the songs. The onething that lets the album down is Lydia Lunch's performance on "TheBallad of Sexual Dependency." Her delivery of the words is cringeworthy but then again, I have never been able to tolerate her pseudoart rubbish. Apart from that the rest of the CD is flawless. Massimoand Pierce's vocals are excellent, especially on "Pimp Ballad". Themusic complements their voices, many of the tracks sound like a bandthat have been playing these songs comfortably with each other foryears. Some of the tracks use samples of older recordings of Brecht'sworks, "Johnny Over the Sea" uses Gisela May's voice and "Ballade vonder Hoellenlili" uses Lotte Lenya (who won a Tony Award for one of herperformances as Jenny). This is one of the best tributes to Brecht andthe music of Weimar Berlin that I've heard in a long time. Unlike thediluted nature of Bobby Darin's "Mack The Knife," Black SunProductions' Operett Amorale embraces the sheer decadence andpleasure of the time and place whilst keeping it sounding modern andrelevant to today. Massimo and Pierce would have made Brecht proud.
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