Punishing Kiss

She has a soulful voice and the lounge singer vibes usually are right down my alley, but for some reason this one just didn't do much for me. It felt a little too cheesy.

Many years ago, I followed the start of Ute Lemper's career. She was considered a star who was more or less ignored in her own country. But in France she was celebrated. Ute Lemper may be a well-trained singer. But I don't like the genres she performs. Too artificially artistic. I was excited when I saw in the track list that Nick Cave was involved in the album. Well, I listened to the album to the end. You can hear how well both Ute and the accompanying singers can sing. Nevertheless, I found it altogether too clinically clean, distanced and untrustworthy. I think that's a good description: clean, distant and untrustworthy. I will not become a fan of Ute Lemper 3/5

The Good: We get a kiss!
The Bad: Not the kind of kiss we expected…
The Ugly: Realizing that the punishment isn’t limited to the kiss…

Tit for tat… that’s all that comes to mind.
As in, somewhere out there, there is a person, or persons, who actually enjoyed listening to this album. We should not judge… right?

Myself, I am conflicted as the experience did not leave me with inner-ear damage, as I did not jab myself with a pencil to make the sound go away… however, neither did I find myself in a state of euphoria…

Chalk it up to an experience which I won’t repeat… 2*

Kind of all over the place... But I like it

Well that was dramatic! (and somewhat depressing)

Despite the talent involved I had to stop listening as felt like continuously being nagged.

Ute Lemper beeindruckt mit ihrer kraftvollen Stimme und der düsteren, sinnlichen Atmosphäre des Albums. Die Songauswahl ist interessant, doch die Produktion wirkt stellenweise zu glatt, sodass einige emotionale Tiefen verloren gehen. Tolle Stimme und tolle Songs.

This album is probably OK to use as background music, but nothing really stood out and time passed by very easily. Maybe that's the best use for it, for times when you just don't really care what you listen to, since time passes and you aren't really bothering to listen. That said, I probably won't relisten to it...

This one features proficient lyrics written by other artists: 'And I glow with the greatness of my hate for you' (Nick Cave); 'If sex were an olympic sport / we'd have won the gold' (Neil Hannon); 'St. Mary's prayers, / Houdini's hands, / And a barman who always / Understands' (Tom Waits). It also features the voice of an actress who starred in Cabaret and Chicago, a voice very much suitable for those outlets but uninteresting on a bistro-inspired cover album. It's not that it's pretentious, since she does what she is good at. It's that the theatrics don't offer a reason why - why here, why now, why the passion, why the atmosphere? Her best covers are of Waits, since he favors the performative, but the rest are drab and tiresome.

I had never heard of Ute Lemper before, so I had no idea what to expect from Punishing Kiss.

The album has a distinct German Gainsbourg vibe with a touch of Bond soundtrack flair. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me. It feels raunchy but ultimately unimpressive and cabaret—definitely not something I’d revisit.

Favorite song: If I had to pick one, Passionate Fight would be my choice.
Least favourite song: every track
Album artwork: She’s undeniably stunning.

This is not an album I think I ever would have listened to without this generator. When I started the first song I worried I was in for a whole album of showtune-esque songs that I would begrudgingly have to sit through. And while I felt most songs did have a show tune aesthetic to them mostly because of Ute Lemper's voice (Ute actually did star in musicals), they are so dark and moody and strange enough for me to disregard that feeling. They also oddly feel as though they are covers of songs the artists featured on them would have already released. The song Nick Cave is featured on sounds like a Nick Cave song. The Elvis Costello song exudes Elvis Costello while being sung by Ute. The Tom Waits song sounds like Tom sung it to Ute first and then she spun it into her own. The music is very well orchestrated and while sometimes also feeling a bit showtune-esque, it comes as no surprise that the backing band was The Divine Comedy who I have not had a chance to dive into their entire discography but based on the one album I know and enjoy (Bang Goes the Knighthood) they too seem to lean heavily into a musical sound without being too annoying about it. I can't stand musicals unless they are dark and bizarre and this album feels like it could have soundtracked one of the darkest most bizarre musicals.

Going into this, I already know that I like The Divine Comedy, so hoping for good things.

Right, as stated above, I already like The Divine Comedy, and I'm a huge fan of Björk, Tori Amos, and Kate Bush. So this is exactly the kind of thing that I'm into. I can get why it isn't for everyone, but I don't care, I love it and that's all that matters to be honest. Will definitely check out more of her work.

Not my thing and the lyrics ARE god awful at times

I expected this album to resonate with me right away, given the involvement of writers like Nick Cave, Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht, Elvis Costello, Philip Glass, and Tom Waits, along with contributions from Scott Walker (mixing) and a musician like Warren Ellis. However, for some reason, it didn’t connect with me. I have no complaints about the quality; it’s well-crafted in every sense. Yet, I found myself hoping for it to end, even on my first listen, and my feelings didn’t change during the second listen.

Not really my type of music.

Interminable over-orchestrated plodding pompous schmaltz. Theatre kids were a mistake.

Very theatrical. Her voice is really great and the guests compliment it well.

This is not my thing. Too overwrought. I will not return to it.

I think pacing this album over two days was the worst thing I could do honestly

😬 not for me

sucked. not my jam at all. 1.5/5