leonard cohen kicks my ass in bratislava
Offline ok, not literally. he musically humbled my soul in the capital city of slovakia this past friday. seriously, what are the chances the legendary montreal-born poet turned novelist turned folk troubadour turned electronic r&b social commentator turned zen monk would come to this country? still, it was definitely fitting, as both his music and lyrics have a central european nouence (he once called his music the "european blues"
. i guess it at least partially springs from his deep awareness of his ashkenazic jewish heritage. though the holocaust rarely overtly appears in his songs, you can often sense it right on the edge of many of his lyrics, and i've always appreciated the ballsy wit of naming one of his poetry collections flowers for hitler.
anyway, let's get to the show. if anyone has listened to the recently released live in london cd set or watched the dvd, the show pretty much followed that program. unfortunately, there was less of his witty chatter, but i suppose that's because he understood that a good portion of his audience had at best only a rudimentary grasp of english. he omitted a few songs from the documented london show ("democracy" was one of them, much to my disappointment), but substituted others not heard there ("the partisan"--love that song, "lover, lover, lover," "famous blue raincoat," and a fantastic performance of "waiting for the miracle". his voice was in absolute top form: the old familiar gravelly deep baritone/bass. more importantly, he was in top form. cohen is around 74 now and like most musicians has led a life that was not always conducive to good health. yet he litterly skipped on and off the stage, frequently crouching down as he sang. his stage presence was utterly enamoring: he was simultaneously confident, self-abnegating, humble, and above all gentlemanly, removing his fedora each time the audience applauded.
but to me, as a musician, the best part was the band. oh my god, they were tight, and that's a hell of an accomplishment considering it was made up of 9 people, excluding cohen. everytime that band started up it was like dropping a quarter in a juke box. i watched them like a hawk during the 3 hours they played and i counted 1 mistake, and it was a mistake so miniscule i think only a musician would notice. at the end of "who by fire," the veteran spanish string virtuoso javier mas went high up the neck of his archeloud to hit the final harmonic and it was just the tiniest bit flat. i saw him give the same wry apologetic smile to cohen that my lead guitarist has given me many times. then again, senor mas is at least cohen's age, so it's remarkable his hands are still nimble at all.
also in the band were three remarkable back-up singers. one of them hardly needs my aplomb, and that's the great sharon robinson. she's been collaborating with cohen since 1979 as a vocalist, producer, and songwriter. the other two were the seductively angelic webb sisters from kent, england. their harmonies are flawless and they are two very beautiful young ladies. there's even a light sister and a dark sister, just like some kind of celtic myth. jeeeeesus christ... they did a rendition of cohen's "if it be your will" on harp and acoustic guitar that had me falling in love within the first 15 seconds.
if this show comes your way, GO. as i said, cohen seems very fit but he's definitely getting older. god knows if you'll ever have the chance again. ticket prices, unfortunately, are steep. mine was 120 euros, but i had a good seat in the bottom section and i DEFINITELY got my money's worth. even considering i had to take a 6-hour night train back home, i would do it all again in a heartbeat.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
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seriously, so many canucks on this board and none of you are at least gonna make a token contribution to my adulation of leonard cohen????
if that's the case, i hope to god a monologue on anne murray wouldn't get any feedback either...
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
As long as the monologue was positive, you wouldn't have a problem.
Leonard Cohen presents an interesting difficulty to Canadians. There's a whole generation of guys whose girlfriends at one point say they slept with him, or knew someone who slept with him, so the only other guy in Montreal who was getting any, apparently, was my dad (who's 79 now).
You'd have to visit Canada. There are so many talented people here, that Leonard Cohen is cool and all, but he's basically e.e. cummings with some music. We're drowning in talent.
What's funny is that both of those guys are tiny, now. I mean really tiny and frail. They both used to be such symbols of virility, and they're little stick men.
Canadians are pretty hard on their talent, because for whatever reason, there's a lot of it in Canada. It's probably the arts grants. You can actually scrape by being a musician in Canada with all the awards and grants you can push for.
Saint Will: no gyration without funkstification.
fabulae! nil satis firmi video quam ob rem accipere hunc mi expediat metum. - Terence
hey, i'm pretty hard on talent myself. almost all of the "musical gods" that americans and europeans revere most i consider mostly hype. just a few examples which frequently piss people off in conversations: u2, eric clapton (literally, i shudder), the beatles, pink floyd, deep purple, the eagles, john denver, creedence clearwater revival, jimi hendrix, the who, the stones (i like them though, because they were the background music for so many good lays in my life), led zeppelin, the grateful dead, etc., etc. don't get me wrong, i don't necessarily despise all those artists (some i do); i just think they're above average at best.
also, many people who are hyped as great songwriters i listen to for every reason but their lyrics. tom waits, for example, has coined some great lines, but mostly i like him for his musical experimentation. same with bob dylan. i'm a dylan fan, but i'm comfortable admitting his songwriting technique has usually been to cull various lines from old folk songs and stitch them together in ways that are at times interesting and, more often, completely random.
there are only two songwriters whom i would call literary, in the sense that their lyrics are consistently well structured, convey a message without beating me over the head (that message need not be profound), and are just stylistically really solid, like reading graham greene or henry james. those songwriters are leonard cohen and warren zevon. they just deliver a good product, pure and simple. and of those two, i would say cohen is superior because he's more consistent.
but of course, canada can also lay claim to gordon lightfoot, so just with those two you really are in a land of giants.
yeah, i definitely noticed cohen's size, but i have to say, the man was certainly spry.
oh, and just to be clear, i came to cohen in spite of all the hype. it took me several years of occasionally trying him on for size before he clicked with me. but when he finally did click, it was definitely like a deadbolt.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
I dunno. I like Nick Cave for a lot of the same reasons. He's often absurd, but no more so than Zevon. I typically like Warren Zevon's music better ("Mr. Bad Example" is one of my favorite albums of all time), but Nick Cave can weave some pretty damned good songs with strong lyrics.
I agree with your assessment of most of the giants. Highly overrated, for the most part.
I first heard Leonard Cohen through other people: Concrete Blonde covering "Everybody Knows," John Cale covering "Hallelujah," all that. The first couple of times I heard Cohen doing "Everybody Knows," I thought, "What the hell? This guy writes fantastic songs, but he sucks!"
And then one day I heard him on the radio (college station, of course), and it hit me: he was making that song his bitch. It fuckin' rocked, in the only way that matters. Since then, I've been a huge fan. I'm jealous you made it to a show, but glad you did.
"Yes, I seriously believe that consciousness is a product of a natural process. I find that the neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers who proceed from that premise are the ones who are actually making useful contributions to our understanding of the mind." - PZ Myers
ok i have never heard of this guy but i'l just comment anyway. I actually agree with you on pretty much all these bands. Deep Purple, the eagles, the who and jimi hendrix, all of them have some good songs inbetween them but yeah mostly they are just hype. Nirvana is the only hype band I listen to, but il admit musical talent isn't why i like them.
*edit*
ok i just tried to listen to him, when they say he has a unique voice they really should put these thingies " " how else am i suposed to know by unique you mean a the sound a donkey makes when it is eating. apologies to anyone who thinks he sounds good.
Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
No animal shall wear clothes.
No animal shall sleep in a bed.
No animal shall drink alcohol.
No animal shall kill any other animal.
All animals are equal.
nick cave is pretty fuckin' awesome. i went through a period in 2005 where i pretty much only listened to him. he constantly acknowledges cohen as an influence and he covered "avalanche" on his first album with the bad seeds. he was obviously influenced by him in vocal stylings.
thing is, while cohen is often criticized for being consistently depressing, cave takes that to the 100th power. i finally tapered off listening to him because i was always gloomy. musically, however, i often don't care for cave's production. the stripped down sounds of the boatman's call and no more shall we part are great, but his voice often gets lost in the mix on his harder albums, making printed lyrics a must. same thing with tom waits. both cohen and zevon, however, always come in crystal clear. and i agree with you on mr. bad example. i never understood why that cd was out of print for so long. there isn't one bit of filler on it, and zevon could be bad about putting in filler. that's why i love how most of cohen's albums are only 8-10 songs; he doesn't want to pad them with worthless drivel.
i couldn't have said it better! that's precisely what he does. the live in london album is a prime example, the highlights being "the future," "ain't no cure for love," "everybody knows," "democracy," "i'm your man," "first we take manhattan," and "closing time." i'm definitely a later cohen fan. bring on all the electronic production and female vocals! rufus wainwright's prissy little version of "hallelujah" on the shrek soundtrack is pure self-indulgent shit, and i puke whenever i hear or read that it surpasses the original. nobody can sing cohen like cohen. not even johnny cash pulled it off, and he almost always managed to steal a song.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
that's typical of songwriters. i've heard similar things about dylan, waits, cave, kristofferson, mose allison, etc., and i love all their voices. expression and emotion count more for me than training any day. i guess that's why i'm a hardcore blues fan.
still, what did you try to listen to? early cohen might appeal to you more. he had a much smoother and slightly higher voice and more acoustic, folky arrangements in those days, but sometimes he still went for grotesquery if he felt the song called for it (case in point: "diamonds in the mine," but that's a little known tune--you can definitely hear seeds of nick cave in that one). check out his first three or four albums, or his old best of collection.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
expression and emotion are important, more important than hiting the perfect notes i can agree to that. But there has to be some talent in singing witch i don't see in old cohen and i don't see the emotion in young cohen. bare in mind i only listened to one old song and one more resant one so mabe i just heard the wrong ones.
Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
No animal shall wear clothes.
No animal shall sleep in a bed.
No animal shall drink alcohol.
No animal shall kill any other animal.
All animals are equal.
Probably not. Cohen is an acquired taste, like good beer, or coffee that's been passed through the digestive tract of a mammal. Take your pick which Cohen is.
It took me some familiarity with his songs. Check out the two I mentioned: Concrete Blonde doing "Everybody Knows" was my first introduction. It's a great song, and Johnette Napolitano has a quite palatable voice.
I especially like John Cale's "Hallelujah." That's the version that's in the movie "Shrek," rather than the poor cover done by Rufus Wainwright on the soundtrack. (Don't get me wrong; I like Rufus. His version of that song just sucked.) It took me several listens of Cohen to even like his version(s), and several more before I started to prefer him.
There are other good covers of his songs; those are just my two favorite. Cohen gets covered a lot, and not just "Bird on a Wire."
"Yes, I seriously believe that consciousness is a product of a natural process. I find that the neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers who proceed from that premise are the ones who are actually making useful contributions to our understanding of the mind." - PZ Myers