Der Perfekte Man - Max Raabe

Max Raabe and his Palast Orchester have been wowing crowds appreciative of dance band music since the late 1980s. Max appears to have aged not one jot in that time — the predictable results of good grooming habits and fine tailoring. Or he has a portrait by Basil Hallward in his attic.

Dress smartly, act smartly

A key thing to note is that Max dresses immaculately and appropriately whether performing or otherwise (as seen on The Elegant Male). We understand that such attentiveness will be applied to his art. Clothes maketh the man; and men who dress smartly act smartly. This is all well-documented.

The Palast Orchester

The Palast Orchester was formed by Max whilst attending the Berlin University of Arts in 1985. The band practised hard at perfecting the dance band sound of the 1920s and 1930s, the type of music played in dance halls and cabaret venues.

If you wish to become familiar with the work of the Palast Orchester, a good place to start is by listening to all of their recorded music and consuming every video of their performances uploaded to the internet. Here is a fine example of their highly-civilized oeuvre:

Inculcated

When you are fully inculcated with their works, you will know what to expect when you see the Palast Orchester live — as you will — the draw of immaculate musicianship and faultless vocal delivery, with drolly ironic undertones from Max, will be impossible to resist.

Max also records under his own name with Palast Orchester members providing a helping hand. His latest album is a poppy affair called Der perfekte Moment... wird heut verpennt. (Is that the The perfect moment ... will be lost today?)

Max goes pop

The title track (below) is a ukelele-driven affair with a lovely lilting vocal delivery from Max. The video features makeshift boat, a hammock, a nice suit, good shoes, dogs and a pair of whizzy socks. It would have been perfect without the cats.