Punishing Kiss

I can completely understand why someone might hate this. I like this. It’s essentially another Divine Comedy album and I liked the other two. You can clearly tell who wrote each of these songs even without having the credited clearly. The Elvis Costello songs could have been done by him and the Nick Cave song has his fingerprints all over it. Little Water Song also has vocals that feel like Bjork could have done them well. This sort of schmaltzy cabaret is entertaining with some really funny lyrics. Favorites were Little Water Song, Tango Ballad, and Split.

Interesting (as one would expect from Neil) without being instantly loveable. I definitely feel like a better person for having listened to it, so I will be able to nod along should it ever come up in conversation in future.

Wouldn't make it onto my 1001 list though.

As if this was made to please the 1001 albums crowd (at least the ones who like the some of the obscure artists)

Did not really care for any tracks until "Streets of Berlin" then I saw who wrote it and was like "oh that's why haha." Couldn't really figure out if I liked her vocals or not. I think they just might not have been my thing.

This album was an interesting prospect as i love The Divine Comedy, but this album has either slipped my mind or i missed it entirely.

Ute’s voice brings an almost theatrical feeling to a lot of the songs, which makes me sad the we are never getting Neil Hannon’s Father Ted musical.

Punishing Kiss is the highlight for me, skipping along and was surprised to see this was an Elvis Costello song. You Were Meant for Me, runs it close with its stomping broodiness.

These two aside the album works best for me when Ute and Hannon are duetting, but this could just be my obvious Divine Comedy bias.

Overall an interesting listen, but not one i would be rushing back to as a whole, more likely to just listen to the select tracks.

As someone who believes Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy can do no wrong, I was looking forward to hearing this. Ute's voice completely threw me on the first song though. It was a bit Bjork-adjacent and while that should be right up my alley, I really wasn't sure about it.

The moment track 2, The Case Continues, started however, I was fully on board - that song was genuinely great, all stabbing strings and Bond-y. Later discovering it was one of the ones written by Neil Hannon made a whole of of sense*.

By track 4, Tango Ballad, Neil the vocalist arrived. Oh, how I love Neil's voice and the really weird way he delivers lyrics - both loungey and jumping around all over the place at the same time. Their voices mix really well on some Bertolt Brecht lyrics. On the second track to feature Neil vocals (Split), true to form, I loved it then checked Wikipedia and found out it was another track he wrote. I'm nothing, if not consistent in what I like (speaking of which, I also loved You Were Meant For Me, the final Neil penned song).

I think this album taught me that I like Elvis Costello songs if they're sung by Elvis Costello, but I'm not so bothered if anyone else is taking a run at them. Don't get me wrong, I really did grow to like Ute Lemper's voice over this album, but it did veer into Bonnie Tyler territory in places and I don't think that meshes well with the Elvis Costello tracks. Her delivery of the Tom Waits songs I enjoyed more (and I loved the instrumental of Punishing Kiss).

Rating this is difficult. I really, really loved parts and then was completely indifferent to other parts. I think this would get a 3.5 from me, and I genuinely agonised over moving the rating down or up right until the last second, but I don't think it's a 4, so:

3/5

(*After falling a bit in love with The Case Continues, I discovered a live version sung by Neil from an Oui FM Session from 2001 on YouTube, and I might love that even more)

This was just so bland, why is it here? I had to keep fighting the urge to hit skip on every song.
It's like they took James Bond music and tried to make it as beige as possible. 1*

I didn't hate this! Was it the most consistent record, no, but each song offered a different scene that kept the whole experience pretty engaging. Loved the French moods in Purple Avenue and You Were Meant For Me.

Standouts: The Case Continues • Passionate Fight • Punishing Kiss • Purple Avenue • You Were Meant For Me

not a fan of cabaret

Is this gonna punish me?? I've heard how boring it is by a lot of the reviewers here.

Actually, this sounds more like a musical. It cycles between relaxing and unnecessarily operatic. That last song though just solidifies this album as a bit too “much” 😭 (2.5-3).

nothing that i would choose to listen to for myself but i kinda enjoyed nevertheless.
also never heard of her here in germany

this sounds like a multimillion dollar Hollywood production trying an art house film. or like an AI generated Bond soundtrack

And yet another record that made the list largely because some sophisti-pop musician from the UK was involved. In general, I do appreciate that the editors wanted to include a few odd ones out - perhaps as a bet on “this will be a future classic.” Since the initial list must have been compiled around 2005, not much water had yet run down the Thames between the editing and the release of Ute Lemper’s Divine Comedy-arranged album, so the editors had to do a bit of guessing as to which records from that period would still feel relevant twenty years later. Punishing Kiss is - unfortunately - not one of them.

oh wow the dipshit creator of this list couldn't resist stuffing Elvis Crapstello and the Divine comedy into yet. another. album.

Favorite track(s): bootleg Bjork and a Tally Hall reject cause immense aura damage to even some of the greatest songwriters

To call it "uneven" would be kind. It starts off pretty great - unique and invoking an emotional response. Then it gets a little weirdly euro-pop. But then it comes back! but then it gets boring again. Then it recovers a bit and - guess what comes next? 57 minutes of it is too long. I cannot believe this project doesn't have half stars, but even if it did, I think 3 starsis probably about right.

Dette høres ut som teatergruppa har laget en musikal-versjon av James Bond. Jeg river meg ikke i håret av å høre på det, men det er virkelig ikke noe for meg. Fin vokal

Just looking at the names of the songwriters on the album cover and you get a sense of what you're in for. None of them are "less is more" kind of people

Ute Lemper has a wonderful voice and The Divine Comedy is an all right band.

But the whole thing seems overwrought and a bit self-indulgent.

When Joni Mitchell did "Both Sides Now" - a similar "Diva sings with a big backing" collection of songs - she knew how to hold back enough to keep it tasteful.

This doesn't hold back at all and the result is overwhelming. And not entirely in a good way.

Hell yeah Weimar cabaret

I was glad when it was over.