Live Songs

Live Songs is Leonard Cohen's first live album, released during the three-year silence between Songs of Love and Hate and New Skin for the Old Ceremony. It consists of recordings from concerts performed mostly in Europe in 1970 and 1972. Cohen is backed by a medium-sized, country-influenced group, which includes guitarist/fiddler Charlie Daniels and vocalist "Jennifer Warren", who would soon become famous as Jennifer Warnes, among other things a popular interpreter of Cohen's songs. The album consists mostly of reinterpretations (often with additional or significantly altered lyrics) of songs from Cohen's second album, Songs From a Room ("Nancy" is a version of "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy", and "Improvisation" is an extended instrumental guitar trio version of the vamp from "You Know Who I Am", which is also featured). Neither Songs of Leonard Cohen nor the then-recent Songs of Love and Hate (which featured a live track, "Let's Sing Another Song, Boys", culled from the same tour as the 1970 recordings here) are represented. The other tracks are a cover of the folk standard "Passing Through", and two new compositions: "Please Don't Pass Me By (A Disgrace)" (a thirteen-minute singalong recorded in 1970) and "Minute Prologue". A "bonus" track, "Queen Victoria", was recorded by Cohen alone in his Tennessee hotel room in 1972. At the beginning of a Paris, France performance of "Bird on the Wire", Cohen recites the first verse of a French translation of the song's lyric. (wiki) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ by Gautam Baksi Although never released in the U.S. (except on vinyl), Live Songs is an integral part of the early Cohen chronicles. The CD contains ten live recordings, largely from a handful of European concerts between 1970 and 1972, through which time Cohen had effectively made his transition from brooding poet to brooding poet with guitar. By 1973, Cohen's cult following had swelled to a peak and already began a slight decline. The release includes several new songs, including "Passing Through," "You Know Who I Am," and "Tonight Will Be Fine," all of which skillfully combine heavy doses of erotica, love, and depression. Live Songs also includes a handful of his most popular tracks from the 1969 release, Songs From a Room. "Bird on a Wire" and "Story of Isaac" are both played admirably live, though neither adds significantly to their studio versions. The album's unmistakable climax lies in the 13-minute epic, "Please Don't Pass Me By," a tale of his personal descent into hell baring such pain and suffering that Cohen rarely sang the song again. The less moving, but still powerful "Queen Victoria" finishes off the CD and went on to become a fan favorite. Live Songs is certainly not an introductory CD, but for those who've formed a friendship with the words and wisdom of Leonard Cohen, this album finds him raw and naked in one of his finest hours.