STACK October 2016 Issue 144

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In a limited edition DVD pack exclusive to JB Hi-Fi, you can take a jaunt
across the globe with the Netherlands' classical idol. Around The World
With André Rieu comprises more than 11 hours of live concert footage,
including shows at Vienna's Schönbrunn Castle, NewYork's Radio City
Music Hall, and dates in Dublin and South Africa – all led by the talented
hand of Rieu in a feast for the ears as well as the eyes (you've got to love
those princess dresses). The four-DVD set is available now.
REGINA
SPEKTOR
AROUND ANDRÉ'S WORLD
Around
The World
With Andre
Rieu is out
now via ABC
Classics/
Universal.
After the commercial triumph of
Slave To The Rhythm, Grace Jones's
comeback album of 1985, Island
Records quickly decided to release a
Best Of collection. Jones assigned her
then-partner, photographer and graphic
designer Jean-Paul Goude, to create
the cover image for Island Life. In what
has become an iconic portrait, Goude
compiled several separate snaps of
Jones and constructed this lithesome
and elegant – if anatomically dubious – pose, all before Photoshop
existed. "Unless you are extraordinarily supple, you cannot do this
arabesque," Goude has said. "The main point is that Grace couldn’t do it,
and that’s the basis of my entire work: creating a credible illusion." Goude
would later photograph Kim Kardashian for Paper magazine in 2014.
WHAT'S THE STORY?
We have a look back at the fascinating tales behind some
of our favourite album covers.
INTERVIEW
Remember Us To Life
by Regina Spektor is out now
via Warner.
This month: Island Life, Grace Jones (1985)
P regnancy and childbirth: they’re basically
magic. Even so, Moscow-born Regina
Spektor was “pleasantly surprised” with how
inspirational the experiences were – even if she
initially went into denial and decided the right
thing to do was re-watch all of The Wonder
Years. “I was very happy about that,” she
giggles. “But I had a lot of support. One of my
best friends in the world is a doula. She is just
an incredible person and also very, very giving
with her knowledge.”
Spektor’s enthusiasm for writing took an
osmotic form: “It’s sometimes hard to have a
direct correlation with events and inspiration,
but I think that you’re just in a very altered
state, and it requires a kind of leap, the same
way that your body just knows what to do to
make the baby,” she explains. “I was [glad] that
I wanted to make as much art as I did, and I felt
challenged by it. I didn’t know what it was going
to be like.”
Remember Us To Life , the album of new
material which resulted, is full of spellbinding
ideas crafted around piano and strings. There’s
the sinister, thumping beats of Small Bill$ with
Billy Holliday-esque whoops in the middle
of lyrical phrases, the reflective poetry of
Older And Taller (“’Enjoy your youth’ sounds
like a threat”), and the beautiful Grand Hotel
– Spektor's lyrics detail the cavorting of the
titular lodging’s subterranean demons as they
dance and kiss in a diabolical bacchanal, also
somehow making their wishes and actions
seem so human. (Even when they're "piercing
fair maidens' chests with their horns", it's
just part of the sylvan celebration.) It’s very
reminiscent of Satan’s Great Ball in the classic
Russian novel The Master and Margarita. “I
re-read that book every few years!” Spektor
exclaims with delight. “It’s one of my favourite
visit
04 OCTOBER 2016
MUSIC NEWS
continued
FACTOID: In 2010, Regina Spektor was invited by Barack Obama to perform at the National Jewish Heritage Month reception. She played Us, from her 2004 album Soviet Kitsch.
books in the universe. It’s funny – you’d think
that [connection] would be obvious to me, but
of course it makes so much sense. See, that’s
the cool thing about putting music out there.
It’s the reverberations in other people that
almost create this sonar. You don’t really fully
get your art that much, and some of it really
remains mysterious forever. But sometimes,
it’s almost like having the world be your
therapist. That’s very cool.”
Vocalist Kimmy Stoka performs My African Dream with
Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra