"Leonard Cohen Live in London" > DVD & 2CD (April 2009)

[danslenoir]

Anthem video, for people still waiting for the DVD...

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/i ... in-london/

[Helene]

I became the DVD and CD from amazon germany 5 minutes ago.

[Jim Williams]

I became the DVD and CD from amazon germany 5 minutes ago.

To actually transmogrify into two optical discs made of polycarbonate plastic, each 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick must've been, to say the very least, unexpected.

[liverpoolken]

The Independent here in the UK give the album 5 stars...

Album: Leonard Cohen, Live in London (Columbia)

5 stars * * * * *
Reviewed by Andy Gill
Friday, 27 March 2009

It's wonderful to be gathered here, on just the other side of intimacy," murmurs Leonard Cohen as he takes the stage for one of last year's hugely successful UK shows.
It's a line which encapsulates the essence of Cohen's late-blooming appeal – as if the audience were gathered here with him, rather than for him – and the wry reference to the intimacy which has been his stock-in-trade for the past four decades, here humorously attenuated to fit the amusingly outsize venues he found himself playing at this late stage of his career.
But what becomes immediately apparent listening to this wonderful double-album is that Cohen is possessed of a rare and remarkable ability to make colossal venues like the Royal Albert Hall and even the O2 Dome shrink to about the size of a police-box – or, more appropriately, a suburban boudoir. Blessed with the most sensual basso profundo since Barry White, he makes the act of singing for thousands seem like pillow-talk for one's ears alone. For confirmation, just listen to the mighty roar of acclaim which greets the now-famous line from "Tower Of Song" about being "born with the gift of a golden voice": it's because every member of his audience is, in a sense, there alone with Leonard as he croons through romantic favourites like "Sisters Of Mercy", "Suzanne", "I'm Your Man", "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye" and "Ain't No Cure For Love", or shares the world-weary wit of "Everybody Knows" and "Democracy".
For so long derided as an inconsolable melancholic fit only to soundtrack the wrist-slitting despair of terminal depressives, Cohen has been reassessed over the last couple of decades as one of pop's subtlest comic talents, the mordancy of his humour sometimes too dark to recognise as droll. Here, his comedic gift is best demonstrated by the timing he brings to his onstage patter.
He opens the set with a one-two sucker-punch combination that effectively maps out the parameters of his art, the unalloyed romantic devotion of "Dance Me To The End Of Love" followed immediately by the bitter, dystopian sardonicism of "The Future". From there on, there's barely a slack moment in the 26 songs, rendered with unassuming grace by the 10-piece band.
His collaborator Sharon Robinson steps up to share "In My Secret Life" and "Boogie Street", and the faint echo of several thousand other collaborators is dimly discernible on many of the tracks, notably a "Hallelujah" which bests even John Cale's statuesque version, and reclaims the song from reality-show imposters and usurpers.
Download this: 'The Future', 'Everybody Knows', 'In My Secret Life', 'Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye', 'Tower of Song', 'Hallelujah', 'First We Take Manhattan'

[kwills]

I became the DVD and CD from amazon germany 5 minutes ago.

To actually transmogrify into two optical discs made of polycarbonate plastic, each 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick must've been, to say the very least, unexpected.

What you can do with laser treatment these days!

[Womanfromaroom]

I became the DVD and CD from amazon germany 5 minutes ago.

To actually transmogrify into two optical discs made of polycarbonate plastic, each 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick must've been, to say the very least, unexpected.

What you can do with laser treatment these days!

Let's face it, there must be something worse than to turn into a Leonard Cohen DVD / CD. At least that transformation should make you hugely popular with forum members (if you weren't before anyway)...

[Actually]

Well, my day wasn't as exciting as Helene's, I became neither DVD nor disc, but I got those this afternoon and that's already exciting enough for me.

[jerry]

The recitation of A Thousand Kisses Deep is mesmerizing.

[lisz]

husband may think i have turned into dvd or cd as i have been emitting a quiet hum of chanted words from the moment my feet hit the floor in the morning, until i climb back into bed at night, since concert night.
Got my DVD and CD yesterday!!!
For years now i have had to listen to leonard covertly. Now just wish the family would p... off and let me fill the house with sound.
lisz

[Mollydog]

My DVD and CD were in my mailbox when I arrived home from work. No prizes for guessing what I am going to be doing this evening!

[Womanfromaroom]

For years now i have had to listen to leonard covertly. Now just wish the family would p... off and let me fill the house with sound.
lisz

Lisz,
just come over to my flat (well, yes, it is in Germany! ) and stay as long if you like as long as you just bring your new CD / DVD (haven't received mine yet); and we will fill the whole town with Leonard's wonderful music...

[bumerang]

Hi, I just rang a local JB HiFi shop in Sydney, Australia: Both DVD and CDs are in the stores with plenty of stock, I'm going to get them right now !
OK, I'm back and have watched the DVD half way through.
Let's get the downers out of the way first:
There is information about the technical side of the DVD on the package, so I had to find these things out by putting it into the player:
- The Australian (and I suspect all other countries?) edition is in NTSC, region 0 (local TV system is PAL)
I'd like to hear whether this is the same for the European edition.
- If the people on your screen look a little fat and distorted, it is for the incredible fact, that the DVD is in 4:3 format,so you need to change the aspect ratio of your screen.
- The "bonus content" consists of the lyrics on slide screens. They ar not available as subtitles.

Well, all it means is, that the DVD has to sparkle on the content rather than the technical side and sparkle it does:

- The sound is superb, it comes in LPCM stereo (uncompressed) and Dolby 2.1. If you just want to hear it at home, you'll be right with just the DVD. The sound in the concerts was phantastic, but this brings out all the details crystal clear.
- The closeups of the musicians are great, well filmed and well authored. Only thing that comes short: Total views of the stage and the audience, the lightshow is also pretty much lost in that way.
- The performance of all involved is from the top draw.

But. of course, the short and long of this all is: Run, rather then walk to get it!

[Robin]

My copy of CD and DVD came this morning from HMV. I can confirm that the European dvd is also NTSC. Packaged in a slimline case, which is a little disappointing. This really should have been a double disc dvd package with extras. Still, I haven't watched a second of the dvd yet. Saving it for this evening, accompanied by a few glasses of red wine.

Listening to the second CD already. Fabulous sound. The cds are mastered by Robert Ludwig, which is a very good thing.

[jerry]

One thing that really bothers me about the dvd is why does Leonard seem to constantly introduce the same band members over and over? Why not do it all at once instead of the in middle of a good song. I'm halfway through the dvd and it seems like he's introduced Sharon Robinson 3 times already!

[hydriot]

One thing that really bothers me about the dvd is why does Leonard seem to constantly introduce the same band members over and over? Why not do it all at once instead of the in middle of a good song. I'm halfway through the dvd and it seems like he's introduced Sharon Robinson 3 times already!

The DVD is of quite an early concert. Leonard picked up on forum-members' comments on this over-kill at the time, and in later concerts was more restrained.