Heiner Goebbels & Heiner Müller - Der Mann im Fahrstuhl (1988)

Happy Birthday, Heiner Goebbles! And thanks a lot for your great work!

This legendary staged concert was originally created for the first Frankfurt Art-Rock-Festival in 1987; between its premiere and 1990 it has been performed in Kassel - Opera, Strasbourg - Festival Musica, Zurich - Taktlos Festival, Vienna - Wiener Festwochen, Brussel - Kaaitheater, Leipzig - Jazz Festival, Berlin - Tempodrom, New York - Next Wave Festival, Frankfurt - Experimenta.

Using the texts of playwright Heiner Muller and collecting a wide range of imaginative musicians, Heiner Goebbels constructed a fascinating music-theater piece that mixes languages and musical styles. The text, read and sung by Arto Lindsay, concerns the thoughts and fears of an employee summoned to his boss' office and has something of a Brazil-like aura about it. Perhaps coincidentally, Lindsay interjects some Brazilian songs into the proceedings. But the highlight is the performance by this stellar ensemble, ranging from free to punkishly tinged jazz-rock to quasi-African. There are outstanding contributions from guitarist Fred Frith, trombonist George Lewis, and the late Don Cherry on trumpet, voice, and the African hunter's guitar known as the doussn'gouni. Goebbels brews a rich stew of overlapping languages and styles in a dense matrix that creates an appropriate feeling of angst, but never loses a sly sense of humor. If anything, some of "The Man in the Elevator" is reminiscent of Carla Bley's better known work and fans of hers as well as curious rock listeners should have no problem enjoying this one.
Brian Olewnick


Tracklist:

1 In einem alten Fahrstuhl / In An Old Elevator 2:08
2 Es geht um einen Auftrag / It Concerns A Task 2:31
3 Fünf Minuten vor der Zeit / Five Minutes Too Early 1:49
4 Drei Stufen auf einmal / Three Steps At A Time 1:58
5 No Taboleiro De Baiana 0:56
6 Ein schneller Blick auf die Uhr / Quick Glance At My Watch 1:56
7 Allein im Fahrstuhl / Alone In The Elevator 2:14
8 Wilde Spekulationen / WIld Speculations 4:32
9 Der Chef / The Boss 0:40
10 Sein Selbstmord / His Suicide 2:32
11 Fita Nos Meus Olhos 2:38
12 Ich verlasse den Fahrstuhl / I Step From The Elevator 0:24
13 Ohne Auftrag / Without Any Task 1:36
14 Mitleid in Peru / Compassion In Peru 4:58
15 Trockener Schlamm mit Fahrspuren / Caked Mud With Vehicle Tracks 1:36
16 Heimweh nach dem Fahrstuhl / Homesick For The Elevator 1:24
17 Kalter Schweiß / Cold Sweat 1:32
18 Etwas wie Heiterkeit / Something Like Serenity 1:14
19 Diese Frau ist die Frau eines Mannes / This Woman Is The Wife Of A Man 0:47
20 Auf einem grasüberwachsenen Bahndamm / On A Railway Embankment 1:36
21 Worin besteht mein Verbrechen / What Is My Crime 3:33

Charles Hayward - drums, percussion
Fred Frith - guitar, bass
Heiner Goebbels - piano, synthesizer
Ned Rothenberg - saxophone, bass clarinet
George Lewis - trombone
Ernst Stötzner - voice
Arto Lindsay - voice, guitar
Don Cherry - voice, trumpet, strings [doussn' gouni]

Written By Heiner Müller


Heiner Goebbels & Heiner Müller - Der Mann im Fahrstuhl (1988)
(320 kbps, cover art included)