Philadelphia Inquirer review
Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2004 9:51 pm
This review was forwarded by Dick!
10/31 Philadelphia Inquirer
Leonard Cohen
Dear Heather
(Columbia **1/2)
Of all the Leonard Cohen vocal affectations over the years, his imitation of
a computer voice on the title track of Dear Heather is possibly the most
disconcerting.
The great Canadian bard offers a strange commentary on the coldness of the
digital age by delivering his usual subject matter - the overheated thoughts
of an incurable romantic - in the tone associated with automated phone
systems.
It doesn't help that the track moves like so much of this set, at a nearly
tempoless crawl, or that the automated-sounding instrumental textures are
subordinated, exposing the serrated edges of Cohen's baritone.
Though the melodies of "Undertow" and "Villanelle for Our Time" sound like
unfinished sketches, the surrounding music is both simple and deceptively
graceful, harking back to that time in the '70s when Cohen could turn almost
anything - a spiritual crisis, the face of a beautiful girl - into a
rhapsody.
- Tom Moon
10/31 Philadelphia Inquirer
Leonard Cohen
Dear Heather
(Columbia **1/2)
Of all the Leonard Cohen vocal affectations over the years, his imitation of
a computer voice on the title track of Dear Heather is possibly the most
disconcerting.
The great Canadian bard offers a strange commentary on the coldness of the
digital age by delivering his usual subject matter - the overheated thoughts
of an incurable romantic - in the tone associated with automated phone
systems.
It doesn't help that the track moves like so much of this set, at a nearly
tempoless crawl, or that the automated-sounding instrumental textures are
subordinated, exposing the serrated edges of Cohen's baritone.
Though the melodies of "Undertow" and "Villanelle for Our Time" sound like
unfinished sketches, the surrounding music is both simple and deceptively
graceful, harking back to that time in the '70s when Cohen could turn almost
anything - a spiritual crisis, the face of a beautiful girl - into a
rhapsody.
- Tom Moon