Anyone who thinks that rock stars should have a retirement age is obviously not a big ... more
Leonard Cohen fan. Aged 70, Cohen has rolled outDear Heather, which stands, alongsideTen New SongsandI'm Your Manas proof positive that there is life after youth for...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Anyone who thinks that rock stars should have a retirement age is obviously not a big ... more
Leonard Cohen fan. Aged 70, Cohen has rolled out Dear Heather, which stands, alongside Ten New Songs and I'm Your Man as proof positive that there is life after yout...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Released in his 70th year, 'Dear Heather' is another collection of dark and brooding ... more
musical poems from the legendary American singer-songwriter, Leonard Cohen. Supported by soft keyboard textures, brass and gentle female backing vocals, Cohen meditate...
Anyone who thinks that rock stars should have a retirement age is obviously not a big ... more
Leonard Cohen fan. Aged 70, Cohen has rolled outDear Heather, which stands, alongsideTen New SongsandI'm Your Manas proof positive that there is life after youth for...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Anyone who thinks that rock stars should have a retirement age is obviously not a big ... more
Leonard Cohen fan. Aged 70, Cohen has rolled out Dear Heather, which stands, alongside Ten New Songs and I'm Your Man as proof positive that there is life after yout...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
OPINION
I first heard of LeonardCohen at a friends house as a record, the song was "Suzanne" and I loved it. I remembered the name and to my delight I found his CD in the Woolworths price crunch a while back now. His songs are so calming but have lyrics that explore ideas of religion, isolation, sexuality and complex interpersonal relationships, so as calm as they seem their underlying provocations are deeply moving.
ARTIST
LeonardCohen is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. His earliest songs are rooted in European folk music, his 1970's music encompasses pop, chaberet and world music and since the 1980's his high baritone voice took on more low registers, often accompanied by electronic synthesizers and female backing singers. His writing has influenced lots of singer-songwriters and more than ...
Advantages: Great songs, production, lyrics Disadvantages: If you don't like Leonard's voice this won't convert you
We've seen so many times that artists and songwriters who have great success throughout the 60's and the 70's often have a horrendous 80's as they try to keep up with the times. The songwriting becomes bland and the need for synthesisers means that the songs become so electronically ladened that the production becomes the focus over the songs themselves. It fills me with great pleasure to say that in the case of LeonardCohen and 'I'm Your Man' this is most certainly not the case. It could be argued that prior to this Len was having a creative crisis. The mid 70's and early 80's were just about fair to him but albums were patchy compared to his 60's output and by his own high standards. Just when we thought Len's time was up, he brought us this curious powerhouse.
The scene is set with the opening track 'First We Take Manhattan ...
Advantages: soulful, excellent lyrics, has all the old favourites, two disc album Disadvantages: the voice sometimes gets too droney
So what has this album got to offer?
-Its a double disc album
-It has all the best songs, such as, Suzanne, Sisters of Mercy and Hallelujah
-There is a total of 31 songs on the album
The whole two discs play for approximately two hours and 36 minutes which is a good length for an album. All Cohen fans will love every minute of this album.
There are some amazing tunes on this album which are, for me, my all time favourite tunes, but Cohen's music is definately not everyone's cup of tea. I know many people who cant stand to listen to LeonardCohen, claiming its simply bad music, its depressing music, and even that he can not sing. He is definately a love or hate artist.
Inside the sleeve of the album, there is a list of the the songs on the album, detailing the lyricist, when it was recorded and from which of his dozen or so ...
Product Information for "Dear Heather - Leonard Cohen" »
Product details
Title
Dear Heather
Performer
Leonard Cohen
Genre
Rock & Pop
Sub Genre
Singer/Songwriter
Release Date
25/10/2004
Recomended Retail Price
15.99 GBP
Original Release Year
2004
Label / Distributor
Columbia / Sony Music/Arvato Services
Engineer
Leanne Ungar; Sharon Robinson; Anja
Producer
Leanne Ungar; Sharon Robinson; Anja
Pieces in Set
1
Studio / Live
Mixed
Stereo
Stereo
Format
Performer
EAN
5099751476825
Catalogue Number
5147682
Additional notes
Album Notes
Personnel include: Leonard Cohen (vocals, guitar, piano, Jew's harp); Sharon Robinson (vocals, various instruments); Mitch Watkins (vocals, guitar, electric guitar); Ron Getman (vocals, steel guitar); Anjani Thomas (vocals, piano); John Crowder (vocals, bass guitar); John Bilezikjian (oud); Raffi Hakopian (violin); Paul Ostermayer (flute); Garth Hudson (accordion); Bob Sheppard (tenor saxophone); Sarah Kramer (trumpet); Bill Ginn (piano); Roscoe Beck (bass instrument); Stan Sargent (bass guitar); Richard Crooks, Johnny Friday (drums). Producers: Leanne Ungar; Sharon Robinson; Anjani Thomas; Ed Sanders; Henry Lewy. While there are some familiar elements present, much of DEAR HEATHER is a stark contrast to virtually all of Leonard Cohen's previous recorded work. Where the Canadian troubadour's previous albums all sounded like carefully constructed towers of song, built piece by painstaking piece (and Cohen has confirmed this as his working process), DEAR HEATHER seems to be an entirely more spontaneous offering. One might speculate that longtime Buddhist Cohen has taken the precepts of Zen to heart in presenting a batch of compositions unmarred by the effects of obvious labor. Lyrically and melodically, these songs are more sparse and pared-down than anything else in Cohen's catalog. Some are whittled down to only a simple recitation repeated numerous times over a skeletal chord progression. By simplifying his approach to such an extreme degree, it seems as though Cohen is trying to get as close as possible to the heart of his work, without the literary trappings of his past accomplishments. Nevertheless, one link with his previous work is the bonus live cut tacked on to the end of the disc. In the tradition of past quirky Cohen covers like Irving Berlin's "Always" and Richard Blakeslee's "Passing Thru," the gravel-voiced singer tackles the country classic "Tennessee Waltz" with trademark aplomb that also reminds the listener of Cohen's ever-present sense of humor.
Album Reviews
Rolling Stone (p.107) - 3 1/2 stars out of 5 - "[T]he jumbled feel works in DEAR HEATHER's favor."
Entertainment Weekly (p.69) - "Cohen still projects like crazy - he's godlike on the spoken-word tracks..." - Grade: B-
Mojo (p.96) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Vocally, it's certainly one of his most hushed and muted albums....Musically, it's melodic and memorable. Beguiling."
Uncut (p.114) - 5 stars out of 5 - "DEAR HEATHER is Cohen's highest tide yet, his most exquisite marriage of song and poetry and ambiguous grace. Magic is right here."
Uncut (p.75) - Ranked #17 in Uncut's "Best New Albums of 2004" - "[H]is muse remains vigorously undimmed..."
Titles on disc 1
1.
Go No More A Roving
2.
Because Of
3.
Letters
4.
Undertow
5.
Morning Glory
6.
On That Day
7.
Villanelle For Our Time
8.
There For You
9.
Dear Heather
10.
Nightingale
11.
To A Teacher
12.
Faith
13.
Tennessee Waltz (live)
Ciao
Listed on Ciao since
18/04/2005
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