Diamanda Galas with John Paul Jones: Sporting life CD PROMO. Satan’s siren with the Led Zeppelin bassist. Check videos and audio.

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Diamanda GalAs is an American-born avant-garde performance artist, vocalist, keyboardist and composer of Greek heritage.

The Sporting Life is an album by singer Diamanda Galas and multi-instrumentalist John Paul Jones, recorded in London and released in 1994.

Diamanda Galas With John Paul Jones – The Sporting Life
Label: Mute Records Ltd. – CD STUMM 127
Format: CD, Album
Country: Europe

Track listing:

1 Skótoseme σκότωσε με 6:27
2 Do You Take This Man? 6:09
3 Dark End Of The Street

Written-By – Chips MomanDan Penn

2:43
4 You’re Mine 5:10
5 Tony 5:36
6 Devil’s Rodeo

Written-By – Pete Thomas

5:37
7 The Sporting Life 5:45
8 Baby’s Insane 4:39
9 Last Man Down 4:50
10 Hex 8:04

                                                                                                         Duration   55:04

Personnel:
Diamanda Galas – vocals, Hammond organ, piano
John Paul Jones – bass guitar, lap steel guitar
Pete Thomas – drums,

Released September 6, 1994
Recorded 1994
Genre Alternative rock, experimental rock
Length 55:04
Label Mute Records
Producer John Paul Jones


Diamanda Galas featuring John Paul Jones at Irving Plaza, 11/11/1994


Diamanda Galás with John Paul Jones. Tour. 1994.
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5.0 out of 5 stars A Powerhouse of an album,
Let me qualify my review by saying I’m a bass player and come to this album because of John Paul Jones. I admire his attitude and musicianship, and love the sound of 8 string bass.
This album is a tour-de-force of musicianship. I’ll start from the bottom and build up. Pete Thomas’ drumming is spot-on, heavy, and really rocks when you turn the volume up a bit. I hope you have good bass response! Pete Thomas comes to this album by way of his work with Elvis Costello. He hard hitting, accurate, simple, subtle, complex. Everything you would expect Bonzo bass player to want in a drummer.

From what I understand, John Paul Jones wrote many of the riffs and brought them to Diamanda Galas to have her add the vocals to. This is evident in the way the vocals sometimes overlap the changes. The bass playing is superb, and more accessible than on his first solo album Zooma. Many of the riffs remind me of Led Zeppelin riffs – the opening track remind me of When the Levee breaks. The second track reminds me of a few songs – Nobody Fault But Mine, Living Loving Maid, the outro to Black Dog.

Don’t get me wrong, this is far from recycled Zeppelin. Far from it. Let me put it to you this way. Between Page/Plant and this album and Zooma you get a real sense of who did what in Zeppelin. How integral Jonesy was to their sound. In interviews people ask “”Don’t you think your recent work is a little Zeppelin influenced?”” and he replies “”Well, don’t you think Zeppelin was a little John Paul Jones influenced?””

So while Page and Plant seem to be content reliving former glory, John Paul Jones is quietly pushing a few envelopes. As innovative and bombastic as Zeppelin ever was, this album challenges my ears, and simply rocks.

By the way, it difficult to describe the sound of an 8 string bass… Think of what Pearl Jam Jeremy might sound like if covered by PJ Harvey.

Now for the top. I heard Diamanda Galas won a guitar solo of the year award for her singing. Her range is impressive and intimidating – 8 octaves. In interviews Jonesy said that she simply blew him away. That they brought the tapes over for her to track vocals to, and she did these songs in one take. Obviously with lots of overdubs, the vocals are very much layered and textured.

That said, many of you are going to be turned off by her voice. Anyone who is already a fan of Diamanda knows how shocking and powerful her music is. The imagery is dark. One song begins with the line “”I don’t like him. Let kill him”” and there lots of cursing, and otherwise dark dark imagery. The world she creates is deeper, darker, more intimidating, and truer than the worlds PJ Harvey and Garbage create. I’m actually embarrassed to make that comparison, because in fact I can think of nothing that compares. Maybe Dostoyevsky.

This is one of my top 10 albums of all time. All of my friends know it because I listen to it a lot. It powerful, accurate, and like nothing else out there.

One more thing, these songs were recorded as they should be. In one take. As a musician I noticed one or two moments where things where not 110%, and wondered how they let it slip through. Then I heard that these tracks were recorded in 1 take, and rather wonder about their quality control, I marvelled at the quality of their musicianship. Everything, I mean EVERYTHING is spot on. The drums and the bass lock like nobody business. The vocals soar to truly scary heights, and dip to profoundly deep lows.

You believe music courses through their veins and their music comes from who they are, not who they want you to think they are. In an interview (yeah, I read a lot) Jonesy said this album failed commercially – Diamanda Galas fans were turned off by her playing with this rock and roll icon, and Zeppelin fans were turned off by the avant garde singing. Jonesy next effort – his first solo effort – has no vocals, which makes it even less accessible.

Rest assured, the are not doing this to make money, they are not doing this to further their careers. They are doing this to make music. A rare thing in today world. Something we, as a society, need to nurture, and encourage. If you’re looking for the cure to the MTV world of everything-sounds-the-same, this is a good place to start looking. If you have the courage.

For albums in a similar vein I would point to PJ Harvey Rid of Me and Radiohead OK Computer, Diamanda Galas and Led Zeppelin albums are also obvious choices.
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5.0 out of 5 stars In the realm of the homicidal,
Diamanda sings an awful lot about murdering people on this album. Men, actually; in “”Do you take this man,”” she seems to be murdering her husband, while justifying the action to him. “”Baby Insane”” adopts a bit more distance but still suggests that one should hide the knives. On the title track, she appears to adopt the voices of three murderous hillbillies or such discussing what they should do with a male victim they’re playing with — it an odd mix of Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, and Russ Meyer, or at least that where I go with it — FASTER, PUSSYCAT, EVISCERATE, EVISCERATE or such. I think part of why I am amused by it is that it gives me a nice political balancing point for all those Nick Cave/ Birthday Party songs I’ve heard about men murdering women; it is nice to know, in an odd way, that there are women out there (okay, well, one woman, really) who are equally as scary in their own sexuality, and willing to turn the tables. In fact, it troubles me a bit, because as Ms. D shrieks and gibbers and brandishes her weapon, I’m forced to admit that it all kinda turns me on. Yes: Diamanda sings about cutting up men with her knife — the knife is a recurrent motif on this disc — and it makes me wanna send her fan mail, thinkin’ maybe I might get to meet her someday. This scares me about myself, but it makes the album a pretty interesting place to spend time. She seems to have a pretty good sense of humour about it all, too — dig the cover pics. I think she and Nick should do an album together, where they sing about how they’re gonna murder each other. Or everyone else. Or something. A homicidal battle of the sexes. Wouldn’t that be fun?
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5.0 out of 5 stars Never Gets Old,
First of all, these two hooking up is any music fan dream. The voice of God/Satan and Jones, the thundering back bone of one of the greatest rhythm sections known to man, team up. That alone gives one hope. Then you listen to the record and it is better than you imagined.
Yeah, Diamanda wails like no other can all over this record. She is nuts, inspired, brilliant, dark, difficult and perverse. Her talent is unnatural and displayed almost too well here. The real hero here though, is Mr. Jones. Long the forgotten member of Led Zeppelin, his performance on the Sporting Life renews my fantasy of getting a hold of the Zeppelin master tapes and taking Page and Plant out. You sort of become shocked at how strong, distinctive and powerful his playing is. Not that you were totally unprepared, but again, his performance is more than you thought it would be. For the first time, after countless hours of hearing Led Zepplin, you become acutely aware of what a truly skilled player he is.

I remember reading an interview he did when Independent Worm Saloon (A Butthole Surfers record, which he produced) came out. He was talking about the opening riff to Black Dog and how he had originally written it in a 13/12 signature. Page couldn’t play it, so they changed it to standard 4/4. Not that this album sports odd time, but his undeniable talent is properly showcased and out front for the first time. I mean anyone that can compete with Diamanda is a hero to begin with, never mind their history.

Also no slouch is Pete Thomas on drums. He and Jones lock up very well, indeed. With Diamanda as the layering, The Sporting Life proves itself to be one hell of an interesting listen. Take a chance and check out this admittedly esoteric yet remarkably enjoyable record. If you’ve read this far, you’ll like it.
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5.0 out of 5 stars The Dark Side of the Heart, Like Ms. Galas said, this is an album of killer love songs. SKOTOSEME (Mi Sangre Corre al Lado de Ti), violent blend of every kind of musical tendencies: Greek folklore, trash metal, free improvisation, white noise, in a storm of a real extreme love offering. John Paul Jones and Pete Thomas are something more than a simple rock rhythm section. They create a percussive ambient. The best of all, the recording was made in one take. TONY is a song of howling pain and and Gothic blues. In DÃVIL RODEO (La Lobita Canta) the earth is shaking under the Jones-Thomas hell kitchen. THE SPORTING LIFE is the best rap ever made, the recording was again made in one take, and the process of editing the Diamanda voice(s) is an art form in itself. A true dark gem
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5.0 out of 5 stars Galas Rockin’!,
Many good reviews have been written about the qualities of this album! I would say this is definitely the most accessible recording Diamanda Galás has made, and I have listened to most of her work.

So what is so disturbing about this lady?
She has a very extreme vocal starting point. She has worked out how to make the strangest sounds with her voice, and most of these sound are not ‘nice’ to most ears. Usually these sounds are used in heavy rock and metal, where they are blending into the loud sounds of the band. This is one of the reasons why this album sounds so accessible to my ears. This is the only album where she is backed by a rock band, as far as I know.

Many of her other albums are described as cary’ in the reviews here on Amazon, and they are! This is because her musical and dramatic starting point are very extreme as well. She chose to sing about death, blood, disease, pain and such. Often the setting seems satanic, but I don’t think it has anything to do with Satanism. She just uses that ‘language’ to express something different. She did a cycle of long solo pieces about the (hypocrytical) attitude of society towards AIDS and it victims, which shows that she has a more positive message. (Masque of the Red Death Trilogy) Still, to me this is a disturbing contradiction in her music. It hard to get a ‘positive feeling’ from it. They are often long accusations, litanies and lamentations. At the same time it all very intriguing and intense, so I got hooked anyway!

As another reviewer said, there is humor too, especially on this album. It’ s a satirical kind of humor, and it may not be to your taste, but it more than you will hear on some of her other albums. It makes it one of her ‘lighter’ albums, even if it is one of her loudest ones as well.
So: 5 stars!!

As a teacher in Complete Vocal Technique, I would like to add a word about the technical side of her singing. I can hear that Diamanda Galas knows what she is doing. The main proof of that is that she has been doing this for 20 years (or longer), and she is still going strong. Apart from her impressive range, her skill in making ‘nasty’ sounds is phenomenal. And so is her flexibility in switching from one kind of sound to another. I can hear that she has really worked out all the vocal ‘effects’ she does. They often seem to be on the limit of what is ‘healthy’ for the voice, but she doesn’t cross the border. I guess that Diamanda will need a bit of vocal rest after a concert, but that normal after such hard work as a singer. (Opera singers often get at least a days rest between performances.) I can technically more or less understand (and teach) all the sounds I hear her make, and I think she has a fantastic technique!
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5.0 out of 5 stars galas galore!
if any soul out there has the audacity to put diamanda galas in any particular music genre, i’d like to meet this person for tea. IS SHE GOSPEL? BLUES? ROCK? NEW AGE? MEDIEVAL FOLK?? what?personally, i can’t even begin to fathom what the music world has been doing for so long without ms. galas and why i hadn’t heard of her before. or maybe i had and just wasn’t paying attention. if that be the case, slap me! probability suggests we will never be able to pidgeonhole diamanda work into any particular genre but that is a positive note. here we have a singer whose intense live shows are enough to give us nightmares for weeks on end or to have our hairs standing on end doing what she does best on rockin’ bluesy album with led zep here john paul jones. instead of running around on stage covered in blood whilst blasting her angst-filled anthems, we find her in the studio terrorizing the organ and piano while cranking out some of the most psychotic love songs ever written. it is evident here in more ways than one that ms. galas album turned out exactly the way she intended. as far as her vocals on this album go, she once again displays a diverse sound which no female diva in the music industry is going to be able to match. in the beginning we hear her scourging vocals like a demon coming in strong reminding one of the young child in the exorcist. yes, this is one helluva intense opening track folks! but hold on, this she takes down percy sledge dark end of the street in a tina turner-esque style which should please fans of classic rock, blues, or even classic r&b music. very impressive. if that weren’t enough, then she goes on to display her howling blues like a dog being yanked by his legs on the track tony which should leave you breathless. even better, we here her janis joplin-esque take on the extremely bluesy baby insane which could drive any music critic literally crazy. having said all this, the sporting life is still not an easy album to take and is certainly not for everyone. if you are a brave soul and want something gutsy, then sporting life is for you. patti smith, tina turner, janis joplin, and marianne faithful fans will relish. needless to say, led zep fans will swoon with delight too. you gotta love it! right now, i’m anxious to get my hands on her next album entitled la serpenta canta. good things come to those who wait i guess. but why must i wait so diamanda?
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5.0 out of 5 stars Cercy Meets Mr Jones,
Fill in the blanks with all the other, provers of the grove Riff! This is a F*#King Awesome record, Squeamish need not tread on the taboo, um of a pissed of Woman! These two make the angels hide their halos, Buy it, rock to it, and all the quacking d emasculated, intimidated, fools Get over it! this is Brilliant Balls out Rock!
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5.0 out of 5 stars Classic,
A big advantage to having been in the world biggest band 5000 years ago is that you have a pile of money, and since you are an artist and not a star, you can work when you want, and do what you want. Image and sales have nothing to do with anything. Music does.

On Sporting Life, bassist John Paul Jones works with witch doctor vocalist Dimanda Galas. Galas is a great vocalist, but uses long shreiks, throat techniqes, and a possessed range of sound. She is not what most would call a good singer, but her technique and ability to create a mood–which is usually anger and insanity, and I say that with no sarcasm-is stunning. Besides–who gives an angry crow what American Idol fans think when addressing music as unique and risky as Sporting Life.

Ironically, the album is Galas stepping onto Jones’ turf, not the other way around. Most of her other material is solo, mad opera. Here, she works over riffs that would not be out of place on, dare I say it–Physical Grafetti or Preseance.

A curious thing has happened to Jones’ bass playing–go back to the late 1960s and he has a warm, funky sound: almost a soul type playing, following the music with fat, varied little clusters, lots of slides and beautiful imperfections–“”Lemon Song.”” or “”You’re Time Is Gonna Come”” are good if long long ago examples.

As time went on, his work has become sharp, snapping, following strict patterns. His sound is so think and percice, he is almost able to orchestrate with just his bass and a drummer. Pete Thomas of the Attractions is Jones’ right hand man on Sporing Life, and it is amazing how he can lock like a steel safe with Jones. And Jones: Man is he loud. But man is he tight. And man, is he good!

All the songs here are built on these unshakeable riffs, which Galas works on top of. The tight constructions allow her to take her singing and reciting in any direction she wants, and she really opens up, her voice moving in all kinds of bizarre directions.

Listen to how Jones uses double stops of the title track, repeating the same riff over and over; nothing is left to chance on his Sporting Life playing. Galas tracks her vocals over and over, creating an insane family of killer birds. Say what you want about the content or her voice, but the innovation is incredible. If Hitchcock were making his 1963 film today, he would not need Bernard Herman. Just give a mic to Galas for a few hours and you have your whole soundtrack.

This is not for the faint of heart, but if you can work past the initial shock of Galas’ voice–who knows, like me, you may even like it the first time- Sporting Life is an amazing peice of art. Jessica Simpson fans need not apply
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5.0 out of 5 stars Best Post Zep Album of them all,
The riffs rock, the vocals are amazing, and it makes it clear not only that John Paul Jones was as talented as the other members of Led Zep, but that the album with Diamanda Galas has a ton to offer, the sound created by blending with her unique makes it strong enough to stand up on its own.

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