Have you heard Dear Heather?

Leonard Cohen's recent albums - share your views with others!
Post Reply
greenfeld69
Posts: 108
Joined: Sat Feb 01, 2003 8:27 pm

Have you heard Dear Heather?

Post by greenfeld69 »

Have you heard it yet then? Sounds like more of the same from 10 New Songs...I was hoping he had got the acoustic back out :(
User avatar
lizzytysh
Posts: 25503
Joined: Thu Jun 27, 2002 8:57 pm
Location: Florida, U.S.A.

Post by lizzytysh »

Hi Steve ~

All I can tell you is that, as Leanne Ungar stood at the front of the room, and with pensive concentration leaned against the stage, and we all listened to the new sounds of "Dear Heather" coming from the huge speakers, it bore no resemblance to "Ten New Songs."

~ Lizzytysh
Last edited by lizzytysh on Sun Sep 19, 2004 6:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
greenfeld69
Posts: 108
Joined: Sat Feb 01, 2003 8:27 pm

Post by greenfeld69 »

lizzytysh wrote:Hi Steve ~

All I can tell you is that, as Leanne Ungar stood at the front of the room and, with pensive concentration, leaned against the stage, and we all listened to the new sounds of "Dear Heather" coming from the huge speakers, it bore no resemblance to "Ten New Songs."

~ Lizzytysh
Yeah, sorry, sounds nothing like it. I'm a dunce.
Dan B.
Posts: 32
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2004 3:03 am

Post by Dan B. »

So does it or doesn't it sound like Ten New Songs?
"True Love Leaves No Traces"
User avatar
lizzytysh
Posts: 25503
Joined: Thu Jun 27, 2002 8:57 pm
Location: Florida, U.S.A.

Post by lizzytysh »

Hi Dan ~

I think he was being serious, but I could be wrong. Of course, I also know that he knows that I wasn't suggesting that he was a 'dunce'. The only thing I can speak to is what I heard. There are two songs where Sharon's involvement is substantial so, perhaps, those are reminiscent of "Ten New Songs." I'll reserve final judgement until I hear the album from home.
greenfeld69
Posts: 108
Joined: Sat Feb 01, 2003 8:27 pm

Post by greenfeld69 »

I was just saying that if 'it bore no resemblance to Ten New Songs' then I must be a dunce to say it's more of the same. I do think it is very similar in many ways - the production, the combination and contrast of Leonard's voice with other singers, the pace, etc.
User avatar
lizzytysh
Posts: 25503
Joined: Thu Jun 27, 2002 8:57 pm
Location: Florida, U.S.A.

Post by lizzytysh »

Hi Greenfeld ~

:wink: ". . . the combination and contrast of Leonard's voice with other singers . . ." ~ now that's a technique Leonard has used 'all' his recording career by intent :wink: . He comments on it in interviews, from time to time, as to his purpose for doing so.

Of course, using "dunce" in that manner [overstating an 'insult' to yourself] generally implies that you 'know' you're right ~ going by what I heard, that confuses me :? .

So, Dan B., looks like you'll have to wait like I will, to make your own decision. My opinion is based on the approximately 8 songs I heard in New York, and its impact on me there.

~ Lizzy
greenfeld69
Posts: 108
Joined: Sat Feb 01, 2003 8:27 pm

Post by greenfeld69 »

lizzytysh wrote:Hi Greenfeld ~

:wink: ". . . the combination and contrast of Leonard's voice with other singers . . ." ~ now that's a technique Leonard has used 'all' his recording career by intent :wink: . He comments on it in interviews, from time to time, as to his purpose for doing so.

Of course, using "dunce" in that manner [overstating an 'insult' to yourself] generally implies that you 'know' you're right ~ going by what I heard, that confuses me :? .

So, Dan B., looks like you'll have to wait like I will, to make your own decision. My opinion is based on the approximately 8 songs I heard in New York, and its impact on me there.

~ Lizzy
Lizzy, you're absolutely right, nobody can make a better judgement than each person themself...and that opinion is highly conjectural. Let's not criticise each other's thoughts on the album and taint it or give unfair impressions to those that haven't heard it, that wouldn't be fair on Leonard.

Read back to my original post, the essence of it was meant to be express my disappointment in the lack of acoustic guitar as I have an unrealistic desire to hear Leonard go back to the stripped down sound of 'The Songs of...' I wasn't meaning to paint the new album as a rehash of what has gone before with Ten New Songs. Even if it is sonically similar to that album, the songs are different and, I think, if you like Ten New Songs, you will love Dear Heather!

I hope that makes some sense...I'm at work and don't have time to re-read it but peace Lizzy! I didn't come here to argue, I value this Message Board for its like-minded fans who share a love of one man and his music/poetry/whatever. We're all Cohenites together :)
User avatar
lizzytysh
Posts: 25503
Joined: Thu Jun 27, 2002 8:57 pm
Location: Florida, U.S.A.

Post by lizzytysh »

Hi Greenfeld ~

My intent wasn't/isn't to 'argue' ~ albeit I expressed my impression with, perhaps, the same intensity as I perceived yours. Since I perceived the album as being a wholly different work than "Ten New Songs," I was amazed to see your initial comparison as being "more of the same from. . . " So, without having heard it in its entirety, or through any means other than in a large room through two, large speakers [one of which I sat within five feet of], I offered my own explanation as to how that comparison might have been drawn, i.e. two songs with Sharon's heavy involvement. There was a firestorm when "Ten New. . ." was released, due to Sharon's strong presence in the resulting sound, and how that album was totally apart from all of his previous.

So, your comment definitely caught my attention, and I felt it called for/needed a different perspective for balance. If my wording seemed 'argumentative,' it wasn't intended ~ and for me to use words of the ilk of "dunce," regarding another, is simply something I don't do. I guess I may have stated my own take on it as strongly as you did yours. What I heard wasn't even "sonically similar." My proximity to the speakers; the particular selection of songs; in the moment, trying to process what I was hearing through the shock :shock: of actually hearing anything at all, at that juncture? Who knows?

I also love his acoustic work, and would love to hear more of it. However, I was thinking that there was some of that on this one. Hmmm.

~ Lizzy
greenfeld69
Posts: 108
Joined: Sat Feb 01, 2003 8:27 pm

Post by greenfeld69 »

Hey, you're right, I did respond in a rather pointed manner. For that, I apologise.

Subject closed, I think!
User avatar
lizzytysh
Posts: 25503
Joined: Thu Jun 27, 2002 8:57 pm
Location: Florida, U.S.A.

Post by lizzytysh »

Hi Greenfeld ~

I see you're here right now, so hoping you'll read this before you reply.

Because of the full lushness of the sound of "Ten New Songs," and the melodies that seemed to move seamlessly from one to the next; and because electronics are used in such widespread fashion these days, but the results still don't sound like "Ten New Songs," I took your comment to be one more of actual similarity in sound, than just as a lament of its not being an 'acoustic' album, as you'd hoped.

~ Lizzy
User avatar
lizzytysh
Posts: 25503
Joined: Thu Jun 27, 2002 8:57 pm
Location: Florida, U.S.A.

Post by lizzytysh »

Well, I didn't catch you in time :( [looking at our posting times, it's no surprize], but I'm guessing you'll read my clarification, in the spirit it's intended :D .

~ Lizzy
greenfeld69
Posts: 108
Joined: Sat Feb 01, 2003 8:27 pm

Post by greenfeld69 »

No worries, Lizzy!
User avatar
lizzytysh
Posts: 25503
Joined: Thu Jun 27, 2002 8:57 pm
Location: Florida, U.S.A.

Post by lizzytysh »

Kool. Way kool, Greenfeld :D !
Dan B.
Posts: 32
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2004 3:03 am

Post by Dan B. »

Lizzy-
I'm jealous you got to hear the album early, lucky you.
I noticed one of the comments about "if you like Ten New Songs you'll love Dear Heather," well if that's the case I'll love it. I guess Leonard didn't work with a band on this one, that's too bad. I do love his work just with the synthesizer, but Leonard with a band would be interesting at this point.
"True Love Leaves No Traces"
Post Reply

Return to “Live in London, Dear Heather, The Essential Leonard Cohen, Ten New Songs”