| There has never been anything like the Comedian Harmonists, just asthere has never been anything like Weimar Germany. This Berlin-basedsextet, five singers and a pianist, got together in 1927 withthe idea of emulating the American vocal group the Revelers, andquickly surpassed them. Before the Nazis drove the three Jewishmembers into exile in 1934, they were the toasts of Europe,synthesizing barbershop hail-fellow-well-met with the fanaticalaccuracy of*Lieder* singing and classically schooled harmonieswith African American swing--a version of Ellington'sCreole LoveCall in which the voices imitate instruments is a star attractiononComedian Harmonists (Hannibal), their first U.S. collection.Seven decades later, these 14 tracks--which include such Americanstandards asTea for Two andNight and Day as well as Germansongs that fit right in--may seem overly decorous. But listen and you'llfind out that they were truly comedians as well as harmonists--onone tune, they gargle in tune and time. They valued beauty, butthey were never reverent about it. No wonder Goebbels couldn'tabide them.
Stephin Merritt is a funny-nasty guy with a compulsion to writesongs and a reluctance to sing them, as you'll understand when youhear his deep, inexpressive voice. Not that his inexpressivenessisn't to the point. Although Merritt almost always writes in thefirst person, he almost never writes about himself. He just likescatchy tunes and silly rhymes--"flesh" and "Ganesh," say, or"gently" and "Bentley." On69 Love Songs (Merge)he outdoes himself for three CDs--he had to betalked out of going for 100. You can buy the discs separately(start with #1--he did), but since the real pleasure of thisendlessly meaningless tour de force is reveling in its excess, Isuggest springing for the whole thing. You'll be laughing, andhumming, for weeks.Playboy, Sept. 1999
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