MSNBC Associated Press review

Leonard Cohen's recent albums - share your views with others!
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jarkko
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MSNBC Associated Press review

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Brace yourselves. But it gets better. / Marie

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6330897/

Columbia Leonard Cohen doesn’t
try to play it cool
Aging crooner doesn't want to
be a rock star anymore

The Associated Press
Updated: 5:17 p.m. ET Oct. 25, 2004
This week offers new albums from a couple of alternative legends. Leonard Cohen is still cranking out anachronistic tunes at age 70. Meanwhile, Nick Cave still proves he can produce down and dirty rock with his latest. Famed electric keyboard player Joe Sample is bound to surprise with his first ever acoustic solo piano album. Finally, for the kids, a collection of chirpy Disney tunes.



Leonard Cohen, “Dear Heather”
Leonard Cohen is an old man now, but the Canadian-born crooner once was cool.

Just being himself gave the world a new breed of ladies man — a mix of dark suits, an I-don’t-give-a-damn smirk, and an esoteric gaze focused on something no one else could see.

Unfortunately, his albums have become spoken-word duds lost in industry blur, and the old man’s songs don’t have the poetic poignancy they once did.

The irony is that Cohen at 70 knows this better than anybody. He’s a hip anachronism that’s been around long enough to see the fads come and go, and his new album “Dear Heather” isn’t another attempt to redefine cool.

Instead it reveals with the stark honesty of a love letter, the reflections of a poet who reluctantly became a rock star long ago.

And in some ways, that honesty is the album’s charm. Cohen, who changed identities with his 1988 release “Death Of A Ladies Man,” is now an aging gentlemen longing for memories but settled in the life he made.

“Because of a few songs wherein I spoke of their mystery, women have been exceptionally kind to my old age,” Cohen speaks in “Because Of,” his voice ravaged by cigarette smoke and no longer the majestic baritone it once was.

It seems Cohen doesn’t want to be a rock star anymore. He’s grown tired of couching his visions in song.

But he’s still the wiseman with unanswerable questions. Not even he knows what he’ll be next. “From better searching of the heart,” Cohen sings, his voice rising, “we will rise to play a greater part.”
—Ryan Lenz
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lizzytysh
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Post by lizzytysh »

Yes, it does manage to pull itself out, despite its [in my view] erroneous premises. MSNBC took note and interest, at least; even though its reporter seems to me to want too hard to 'be cool' in his review.
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