Live recordings from Cohen’s superbly acclaimed 2009-09 world tour.
The nigh-universally rapturous acclaim that attended Leonard Cohen’s 84-date world tour of 2008-09 was motivated by two things. One was an entirely laudable desire to make some offering of thanks, in the twilight of Cohen’s career, for the work of one of the most intelligent and literate songwriters of any era. The other was a straightforward acknowledgement that Cohen, sauntering assuredly through his mid-70s, appeared to be in the form of his life.
Songs From the Road, packaged as both a CD and a DVD, collects songs from shows on that tour (London’s instantly legendary O2 Arena show of November 13th, 2008, is the only one represented twice, with That Don’t Make It Junk and Famous Blue Raincoat). The DVD especially makes it clear what an astute decision this tour was, Cohen intoning his words from beneath a raffishly tilted trilby, resembling a character from an Edward Hopper painting. His songs have always been ones of experience, and on some of his earlier recordings especially he didn’t sound like he’d grown into them. But the performances here of Chelsea Hotel and Lover, Lover, Lover, delivered with an old man’s gravitas and Cohen’s luxuriantly weather-beaten voice, make it clear just how wise before their time they were.
Lees de rest van deze review op BBC CD recensies (Engels)
Bron: BBC Music