SHOW ME THE PLACE (free streaming of new song)

musicmania · Post by **musicmania** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 8:49 pm

John Etherington wrote:Leonard previews a song one day, and the next day there are at least two cover versions floating around on youtube. Thank God there was no internet when "Hallelujah" first appeared!

I'll say AMEN to that

Jim Williams · Post by **Jim Williams** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 8:53 pm

http://www.myplaydirect.com/leonard-coh ... s/26569166

Pre-order 'Old Ideas' now and get an instant MP3 download of 'Show Me The Place'.

tomsakic · Post by **tomsakic** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 8:53 pm

John Etherington wrote:Leonard previews a song one day, and the next day there are at least two cover versions floating around on youtube. Thank God there was no internet when "Hallelujah" first appeared!

Yes. But there was GERMAN television and lip-syncing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccGz-li_rgM

(Seriously, it wouldn't happen as Hallelujah would remain unknown song if there was no that damn Jeff Buckley cover version of John Cale cover version.)

Hartmut · Post by **Hartmut** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 8:58 pm

Citizen_Kane wrote:I included the chords as a png-image

Great! Thanks.

Hartmut

Citizen_Kane · Post by **Citizen_Kane** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 9:11 pm

Hartmut wrote:
Citizen_Kane wrote:I included the chords as a png-image
Great! Thanks.

Hartmut

My pleasure! I had fun writing out the chords and listening to the song some more times, but even more fun is sharing it with kind forum members like yourself

JudasPriest · Post by **JudasPriest** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 11:45 pm

Worrying to think those sound glitches could be permanent and will appear on the finished product.

jerry · Post by **jerry** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 11:52 pm

JudasPriest wrote:Worrying to think those sound glitches could be permanent and will appear on the finished product.

I think you're right. If you're listening on computer speakers you might not notice the glitches but on a good system with decent speakers the glitches jump out at you.

tomsakic · Post by **tomsakic** » Thu Nov 24, 2011 1:04 am

About mix: the sound from online SoundCloud streaming is much better than mp3 version... MP3 always has a conversion.

jerry · Post by **jerry** » Thu Nov 24, 2011 1:09 am

tomsakic wrote:About mix: the sound from online SoundCloud streaming is much better than mp3 version... MP3 always has a conversion.

I hear it on SoundCloud also. I was just carefully listening to Show Me The Place again and at the very start of the song when Leonard's vocals start I can hear a clicking or mechanical sound like something was switched on. To some it may be not be important but it really jumps out at me and I normally never hear glitches in recordings that others point out to me. So for me to easily hear it it has to be noticable.

Baldwyn · Post by **Baldwyn** » Thu Nov 24, 2011 1:38 am

Steve Wilcox wrote:There are at least three posts in this thread about the quality of the vocal audio on "Show Me The Place". This makes the third album in a row on which the vocal track has problems.

It began with "Ten New Songs". On that album Leonard's vocal track was quiet enough with regards to background noise but it suffers a kind of distortion largely on the letter 'F' (Alexandra Leaning = ‘go Firmly to the window, drink it in . . . your First commitment). It’s an annoying burst of energy (wideband frequencies) where the word begins with the letter F. I have never noticed this on a recording, of any artist, ever before.

Next - "Dear Heather". The vocal tracks on this album are just plain noisy. Vocal tracks use a processor called a noise-gate. The gate opens when there is singing and closes when there is no singing, to make for a quieter mix when there is no vocal. But when there is a lot of extraneous noise on the track, you can hear the gate open and close. The quieter the other music, the more obvious the opening and closing of the noise gate. It’s problematic throughout Dear Heather. Listen to “On That Day”. The piano and bass start the song and the mix has zero noise. Then ridiculous background noise comes in with the vocal and continues throughout the Jew’s Harp solo; then the noise gate closes and the noise goes away, only to return on the next verse. Extremely annoying.

And now, it appears the problem has resurfaced on "Show Me The Place". It’s not due to it being an MP3 file nor will it be fixed further in post-processing. The problem exists on the vocal track itself. Listen to the last two lines in the song – you can hear the gate open and then close quickly after the last word. Such abrupt changes in the overall mix volume are distracting.

I believe I read that Leonard recorded the vocals for “Ten New Songs” in an out building in the backyard of his LA home. Did that trend continue on “Dear Heather” and “Old Ideas”? Were the vocals not done in a proper studio environment?

It’s too bad. The albums, all three, are – of course – song writing masterpieces. But in the end, the overall sonic presentation can make or break them. And in the case of Leonard Cohen, the vocal track is everything in the presentation. For world class albums in the digital age it’s really ridiculous, and very unfortunate. “The Future”, however, is a sonic marvel. No issues there.

This song gets better and better with each listen, but the abruptness of the noise is distracting. I don't mind noise, it's the abrupt absence and onset of noise that is annoying. "On That Day" is more successful, probably because the noise gate opens and closes less. And for some reason, the lack of production on that track seems appropriate. The initial vocal on "Show Me the Place" comes in with noise abruptly, but I think the quick fade in between phrases just makes it stick out even more! And listen carefully, you can hear birds in the background!!! It's not more organic, it's more like a cleaned up bootleg. Similar (in terms of sparse instrumentation, and more of a recitation than singing) song: "To A Teacher" is rather gorgeously put together.

I'm thankful for every recording we get, and treasure every song, I'm just enjoying the analysis.

jerry · Post by **jerry** » Thu Nov 24, 2011 1:46 am

I just don't understand why Show Me The Place sounds like a demo or bootleg recording when there was so much time to get it right?

danslenoir · Post by **danslenoir** » Thu Nov 24, 2011 1:48 am

Baldwyn wrote:This song gets better and better with each listen, but the abruptness of the noise is distracting. I don't mind noise, it's the abrupt absence and onset of noise that is annoying.

I was hoping it was just a dodgy stream so preordered the album and downloaded the mp3 but it's just as present there too.

Such a shame if this phenomenon is going to be present throughout the finished album. Hopefully if it is it will be less noticeable than on this song.

No doubt it will still be stuck in my CD drive for the next year regardless of questionable production though. Great song, and I'm on tenterhooks waiting for the rest of the record

jerry wrote:I just don't understand why Show Me The Place sounds like a demo or bootleg recording when there was so much time to get it right?

The fact that it was on the previous two records and wasn't addressed the first time and appears to have not been addressed this time suggests it isn't really a problem for Leonard and that maybe he even likes that style of production.

Or maybe his hearing has deteriorated with old age and he isn't able to pick up on those minute details that us audiophiles notice straight away

jerry · Post by **jerry** » Thu Nov 24, 2011 1:54 am

You would think that they would want the single from the album to be the best sounding and strongest track on the album. After all this is the first new LC song we have heard since 2004! I love the lyrics but frankly I don't find Show Me The Place that strong of a song.

danslenoir · Post by **danslenoir** » Thu Nov 24, 2011 2:01 am

jerry wrote:You would think that they would want the single from the album to be the best sounding and strongest track on the album. After all this is the first new LC song we have heard since 2004! I love the lyrics but frankly I don't find Show Me The Place that strong of a song.

If there's one thing I've noticed over the years, it's that singles are very rarely the best or strongest songs on an album, and that quite often they're pretty average compared with the rest of it!

Singles are put out to be played on radio and get people to buy the record. Therefore they need to be simple, short, and appeal to as many people as possible. Those aren't necessarily criteria for the strongest track on an album.

JudasPriest · Post by **JudasPriest** » Thu Nov 24, 2011 2:58 am

I think you're on the money Jerry re the start of the track although I think the most glaring aberration comes right at the end. It offends all the more because of the songs dream like character. The dream is disrupted by such unwelcome and unnatural sounding intervention.