Isthmus review
Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2004 9:10 am
This one comes from Joe Way, from his hometown newspaper, via Marie
Isthmus, Madison, Wisconsin
November 5, 2004
http://www.thedailypage.com/going-out/m ... drevid=575
Leonard Cohen
Dear Heather
Columbia
Hard to believe that Leonard Cohen’s 70, but time marches on even for the most talented of hipsters. These days his already deep, spooky voice has taken on a raspy quality that adds an aura of time-worn wisdom to everything he intones, and Dear Heather is nothing if not a testament to his ability to endure and grow as dozens of musical trends came and went. Can’t say I care much for the smooth, R&B-inflected saxophone work that colors his interpretation of Byron’s “Go No More A-Roving,” but with stripped-down backing tracks deftly undergirding most tunes, that one musical misstep is easy to ignore.
What’s good here? Just about everything. “Because Of” is a poetic — and deceptively simple — salute to Cohen’s female followers, and the harpsichord-anchored recitative “The Letters” echoes with the kind of authority that only comes from a lifetime of emotional experience. His brief lament for Sept. 11, “On That Day,” raises goose bumps each time he repeats its haunting refrain: “The day they wounded New York.” And his unexpectedly languorous take on “Tennessee Waltz,” which closes the disc, will bring a lump to the throats of the hardest men. Here’s one recording artist who’s traveled gracefully from youth to old age...and learned something on the way, to boot.
Reviewed by Tom Laskin
Isthmus, Madison, Wisconsin
November 5, 2004
http://www.thedailypage.com/going-out/m ... drevid=575
Leonard Cohen
Dear Heather
Columbia
Hard to believe that Leonard Cohen’s 70, but time marches on even for the most talented of hipsters. These days his already deep, spooky voice has taken on a raspy quality that adds an aura of time-worn wisdom to everything he intones, and Dear Heather is nothing if not a testament to his ability to endure and grow as dozens of musical trends came and went. Can’t say I care much for the smooth, R&B-inflected saxophone work that colors his interpretation of Byron’s “Go No More A-Roving,” but with stripped-down backing tracks deftly undergirding most tunes, that one musical misstep is easy to ignore.
What’s good here? Just about everything. “Because Of” is a poetic — and deceptively simple — salute to Cohen’s female followers, and the harpsichord-anchored recitative “The Letters” echoes with the kind of authority that only comes from a lifetime of emotional experience. His brief lament for Sept. 11, “On That Day,” raises goose bumps each time he repeats its haunting refrain: “The day they wounded New York.” And his unexpectedly languorous take on “Tennessee Waltz,” which closes the disc, will bring a lump to the throats of the hardest men. Here’s one recording artist who’s traveled gracefully from youth to old age...and learned something on the way, to boot.
Reviewed by Tom Laskin