Doubling Back

As is so often the case, I must eat some of my hasty words. I enjoyed the Leonard Cohen evening so much that I went back to the cds to try and find the songs I'd particularly liked. I still can't get into those first 2 releases - all those slow, droopy songs fill me with a desire to break the cd player - but 1974's "New Skin For Old Ceremony" is rather good. There's still a few tracks where Leonard drones on alone with his guitar and depression but even these seem more lively than on previous outings. Most often, however, the arrangements are sparse but played and sung energetically and the tunes seem more obvious somehow:

mp3: Lover Lover Lover

And then there's ones where his doomy voice stays the same as it always has but the backing vocals and music actually enhance the effect:

mp3: Who By Fire

So, words eaten and feeling much better thanks you. I still couldn't come at "Dear Heather", though.

One thing I also noticed was just how much Peter Blegvad sounds like him! Because of my limited LC listening, I'd always thought that PB's naggingly familiar solo vocal style came directly from too much Bob Dylan. But it's pretty obvious now that he has dedicatedly supplicated himself at the altar of Cohen:

mp3: Strong Simple Silences

It's always been a lovely song and he does have his own style but, sigh, now I'll listen to it with a tinge of sadness that one of my part-time favourites (I go through stages of love and hate for Blegvad) will be ever more slightly diminished.