In 1986 CDs were still the poor relation of LPs in the sense that they were released later, poorly packaged and often missing any "extras" (like lyric sheets) that might be included with the vinyl. So I was grateful that this CD was an exception. On vinyl there was an English version and a German version, and you had to choose between them. I wanted both, and the CD, happily, combines them.
It has plenty of other hallmarks of quality as well: released on Hannibal, Joe Boyd's old label, produced by Boyd himself, and featuring Thompsons Richard and Danny as well as John Harle (at that time a member of Michael Nyman's band). Interesting comment by Trevor Dann on this week's Word podcast that the real genius on those early '70s Nick Drake, Fairport Convention and Incredible String Band albums wasn't Joe Boyd but his engineer John Wood (to be fair, I think Boyd credited Wood extensively in his book
I've seen shockingly little Brecht on the stage. Well, shocking for someone who affects to be such an über-Guardian-reader that actually reading The Guardian is unnecessary for me. I saw Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny in '86 or '87, and Lucy and I saw Life of Galileo summer before last — but no songs in that.
Still, Dagmar Krause's idiosyncratic voice gives the songs plenty of drama even without their wider context. When I met Anthony Moore nearly five years ago now, I asked him what Frau Krause was up to then. As I recall, he said he thought she had a nice garden (can't remember quite where, but it was in England), and was very content looking after it.
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