Perfect Lives, by Robert Ashley

Perfect Lives

by Robert Ashley

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Ian Fowler One of the most important works of art of the 20th century. Favorite track: Perfect Lives: The Park (Privacy Rules).

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	1.	Perfect Lives: The Park (Privacy Rules) 24:30
	2.	Perfect Lives: The Supermarket (Famous People) 24:58
	3.	Perfect Lives: The Bank (Victimless Crime) 25:03
	4.	Perfect Lives: The Bar (Differences) 24:53
	5.	Perfect Lives: The Living Room (The Solutions) 25:08
	6.	Perfect Lives: The Church (After the Fact) 24:48
	7.	Perfect Lives: The Backyard (T'Be Continued) 24:45

about

Robert Ashley's Perfect Lives has been called "the most influential music/theater/literary work of the 1980s." At its center is the hypnotic voice of Robert Ashley. His continuous song narrates the events of the story and describes a 1980s update of the mythology of small town America. Perfect Lives is populated with myriad characters revolving around two musicians - "R", the singer of myth and legend, and his friend, Buddy, "The World's Greatest Piano Player". They have come to a small town in the Midwest to entertain at the Perfect Lives Lounge. As Robert Ashley describes in the opera synopsis, "they fall in with two locals to commit the perfect crime, a metaphor for something philosophical: in this case, to remove a sizable about of money from The Bank for one day (and one day only) and let the whole world know that it was missing." The eloping couple, Ed and Gwyn, the old people at the home, the sheriff and his wife (Will and Ida) who finally unravel the mystery, and Isolde, who watches the celebration of the changing of the light at sundown from the doorway of her mother's house, are some of the characters who journey through the seven episodes of the opera. Derived from a colloquial idiom, Perfect Lives transforms familiar material into an elaborate metaphor for the rebirth of the human soul. It has been called a comic opera about reincarnation.

Personnel: Robert Ashley - solo voice; Jill Kroesen, David Van Tieghem - chorus; "Blue" Gene Tyranny - keyboards; David Van Tieghem - non-keyboard percussion; Peter Gordon - music producer; Paul Shorr - soundtrack producer.

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released April 19, 2022

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about

Robert Ashley New York, New York

A distinguished figure in American contemporary music, with an international reputation for his work in new forms of opera and multi-disciplinary projects. Ashley's recorded works are acknowledged classics of language in a musical setting. He pioneered opera-for-television. ... more

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