11 Years ago today …
… we released our very first CD “MonaLisa & Band Live in Concert 2007”. It was a double live album Dad cut together from a family concert we held for our friends and relatives earlier that year. 13 years old at the time, we were nervous beyond belief and at the very beginning of our musical journey.
After the show we promised everyone to get some CDs ready for Christmas.
11 years ago.
At that point we had not been playing music for too long but believe us when we say that we practised the hell out of that setlist. We were determined to make our friends and family not want to leave the room when we started playing 😉
Everyone that ever picked up an instrument can probably relate to the frustration you feel in the beginning when nothing you play quite sounds as you want it to. There are physical teeth marks in Lisa’s first guitar. She would get so angry at her fingers not cooperating, that she would let out her frustration on that poor thing! 😉
Even though we could point out plenty of shortcomings on all the songs off that album, considering our age and the effort we put into it, looking back we are smiling and dare to say feel a tiny bit proud. It brings back many happy memories of playing together with Dad and Michaela, of noticing real improvement the more we practised and of feeling a sense of accomplishment after we memorised the next set of chords and lyrics for one of the songs.
It just occurred to me that this was long before we were in any sense versed in the English language too. I can remember us having a hard time memorising some of the lyrics because, despite us always translating the meaning of each song at some point, a lot of it was memorising what lyrics “sounded” like instead of what they meant. Many of you will probably already have the CD but if you want to pick one up, we thought that for today’s Advent Calendar window we would give all MLT Club members 50% off and sign all ordered copies. Please make sure you’re logged in so the system recognises you as a member 🙂
Click HERE to go there. And of course you can listen and download the songs for free on the Jukebox page.
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16 replies on “Eleven Years of MonaLisa and Band Live in Concert 2007”
Hi Mona and Lisa;
We tend to be our own worst critic…….that is, we are far harder on ourselves when we hear playback or during the time we are playing than anyone else. I’ve listened to your first CD a number of times and don’t remember anything too horrible on it. It was actually very good and especially good for 13 years old. And, are you saying Lisa actually bit her guitar?? I remember early on putting a stick or two into the snare head. Mike.
With the added purchase of the 1st Mona Lisa Twins play the Beatles CD collection complete , Love the Jukebox feature of Club site
It truly is a gem to have a copy of and I was quite impressed with your musicianship at that time and still in awe now at what you’re able to conjure and try and everything else in between… Yes… A MLT Gem worthy of Keepsake – ism… Thankyou for doing that concert for it truly was the beginning of your Follow Your Music Career Journey Road????????????????????????????????️????????????????????????????????❤️????????☮️
Precious pictures, and I’m sure, great memories!!!!
Wow! It’s a great CD. If you don’t have it now’s the time to pick it up. If you do have it get another copy – signed! Lots of Love, and Thank You!!!!
I am not ashamed to say that I always have tears of joy in my eyes when I listen to this album.
You are justifiably proud of your first concert, and you may be proud of all your achievements to this day!
❤
The performance in this album is so well done its hard to believe its your first concert. This is our long drive CD. Love evey track including the ones where we are treated to your singing in German like Aufstehn. My fave is Alone, your incredible original at 13. It is a real gem. Such wonderful singing, beautiful melody and sweet guitar playing.
Thank you. I’ve already bought the album: I loved it the first time I listened to it and I still do. 🙂
I already bought the download a while back and LOVE it! Oh and I remember getting frustrated learning songs (and STILL get frustrated!) but eventually you get there and it feels pretty darn good! Great photos of you folks too! Young future stars! And Dad and Michaela are fine musicians in their own right! Well done!
I know this album well. I got one last year for Christmas, somehow it had already been signed by all 4 of you. It was signed back when the album was released . ALL four of you signed your picture on the inside cover.
It’s a great Album. Your amount of practice shows in the show. You all did very well. Lisa’s voice on Wonderful tonight is beautiful so much so, that I cry every time I listen. And Mona on Twist and Shout, she is so pleased with her self when she gets a big cheer. All of You should be commended on your performance.
The photos themselves are a treat.
“and dare to say feel a tiny bit proud”. And so you should feel proud! The YouTube videos of this concert were some of the first of your videos I saw and immediately had me hooked on the whole MLT vision! I had no idea you weren’t fluent in English as it is in no way noticeable. In fact your diction is perfect and you were even then, more understandable than the average English person is to me.
The only mispronunciation I could detect is in ‘The House of the Rising Sun’ when Lisa sings ‘sewed my new blue jeans’, phonetically, when it should be sung as ‘sowed my new blue jeans’. Yes, English is a weird (and wonderful) language but for someone for whom it is a second language, you deserve an A+. The fact that your apparent struggle with a foreign language didn’t stop your beautiful harmonising with your father and Michaela, and your exceptional instrumentation shining through is a testament to the hard work and practice you have put in.
As they say, all we see are beautiful swans swimming majestically across the water and aren’t aware of all the hard work going on beneath the surface. You are a family of perfectionists and nothing I have seen from you to date falls short of the high standards you have set yourselves.
Thanks for sharing all those lovely family photos too. I don’t know who the photographer was but they have managed to capture that natural and genuine Wagner family charm beautifully. I can see two more posters here. The one with Lisa leaning on Mona’s shoulder (priceless) and one with the whole family together. Also, another photo captures Rudolph’s charming smile while another highlights Michaela’s natural beauty.
Thanks also for the special 50% discount offer. I already have this album but have just ordered two more. What better way to introduce family and friends to the MLT family at this time of the year!
Looking forward to tomorrow’s Advent calendar.
Thanks for all of that, Howard!
At the time, that show definitely pushed us and we’re so glad to have those memories that played a huge part in kicking off our musical journey.
The pronunciation on “House Of The Rising Sun” makes us giggle every time! For some reason it often sounds like we’re trying to put on an overly American accent but are failing poorly.
The photos were taken by our grandpa who is an excellent photographer and taught us quite a lot about picture composing. As the MC of the concert he also told a little backstory to each song between numbers while we were changing instruments, and our grandma baked the cakes and helped with the buffet in the break. So it was a true family effort in an even bigger sense ♥
Nice to hear your grandparents were also very involved. Not surprised to hear about their talents. Talent seems to be in the Wagner genes! As for overly American accent, whatever you were trying worked for me. You guys are way too hard on yourselves. Eric Burdon’s version of this song is the definitive one for the sixties. He has an awesome blues/rock voice that we previously only associated with black American singers.
It’s a pity a video of the whole concert, including your grandpa’s MC ing wasn’t available, as I’m sure the backstories would have been very interesting. I understand why they are not though as you have already explained the difficulties with video copyright issues ♥
“sounds like we’re trying to put on an overly American accent but are failing poorly.” Upon listening to your more recent videos and more repeat listenings of this concert, I’m beginning to understand what you mean. Your English pronunciation definitely seems just a little ‘affected’ when you were this young. Works well for me though and it is fascinating to track the changes in your English over the years. From here, through your ‘Californian Dreaming’ and ‘Uluru’ days, to your current recordings, it is noticeable how your English pronunciation is evolving.
For me, your Adelaide experience marks a definite change with your English speaking voices. I think it is perfect now though and hope you don’t totally lose your cute Austrian accents!