release date: Aug. 7, 2012
format: digital (12 x File, FLAC)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,84]
producer: Karl Bjerre Skibsted
label: Rough Trade - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 1. "Cut the World" - 3. "Cripple and the Starfish" - 4. "You Are My Sister" - 6. "Epilepsy Is Dancing" - 8. "Kiss My Name" - 10. "Rapture" - 12. "Twilight"
Live album by Antony and the Johnsons recorded live with the Danish National Chamber Orchestra in recordings made Sep. 2011. The album consists of twelve tracks all but two stemming from the four studio albums and an ep by Antony and the Johnsons.
Three tracks (tracks #3, #10, #12) comes from the debut album Antony and the Johnsons (2000), one song (track #4) is taken from the second album I Am a Bird Now (2005), four tracks (tracks #6, #7, #8, #11) stem from the third album The Crying Light (2009), one song (track #5) is from the fourth album Swanlights (2010), and one track is the title song from the ep I Fell in Love With a Dead Boy (2011) (track #9); and then two tracks are new. Track #1 "Cut the World" is a song made for the play "The Life and Death of Marina Abramović" directed by Robert Wilson (2011), and track #2 ("Future Feminism") is a speech by Antony performed during one of the concerts. And then you could argue that all tracks here are new as they are all in new arrangements made by Antony, Nico Muhly, Rob Moose and Maxim Moston.
The album and the song selection is fine, there's nothing bad about it, it just doesn't entirely sum up the strong energy and the best performances by Antony but there's still something special about the arrangements made for a chamber orchestra, and imho, it doesn't necessarily, in every instance, bring out the best versions of the material. They do, however, present alternate dimensions to his work, and for many reasons, Antony's music is perfect for orchestral arrangements, and The Danish National Orchestra seems made for this kind of music. Antony... well, he naturally sings and performs so elegantly that it alone heightens the whole experience. I for one, now prefer both studio and live versions.
