Heck Of A Guy

Leonard Cohen Reviews Reviewed

That most of the reviews of Leonard Cohen’s concerts during the current World Tour have been composed of  similar background facts, observations about the performance, and subjective responses on the part of the audience and reviewer as well as being enthusiastically positive has been a recurrent joke in past Heck Of A Guy posts.

Now, for something completely different – a  review of a Leonard Cohen concert that is not only significantly negative but significantly negative in a uniquely unexpected way, leading one to wonder, if,  to paraphrase the first line of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina,

Positive concert reviews are all alike;
every negative concert review is negative in its own way.

City Not Big Enough For Cohen And NYC – Live and Recorded

The review of Cohen’s Radio City Music Hall concert, Leonard Cohen by the numbers last night at radio City Music Hall at the NYC – Live and Recorded1 blog follows:

Earlier this year I went to see Van Morrison perform “Astral Weeks” twice, once at MSG and once and for days later at the Beacon. The MSG set was excellent, glad to have seen it. The Beacon Theater was electrifying -mid way through the second set Morrison took off and everybody knew it, the band, us, him: he had reached that place even the greats don’t always get to (Funnily enough I saw Maroon 5 do the same thing a coupla years ago so it can happen to any one).

But it is tough to do when you have bleed all improvisation from your set. Even if you’re one of the master as Leonard Cohen certainly is.

This is New York, Cohen. Don’t tell the same jokes that are all over “Live In London”. Don’t throw “New York” in the middle of “Hallelujiah” (and don’t kill the rhymes -you wrote em, sing em). Don’t wait for the applause when you sing “First We’ll Take Manhattan”…. in a word, don’t go on automatic, we’re NYC, we know when you’re faking it.

Having said that, if you’re gonna see a guy not bringing his “A” game, this is the guy to see. The material is for the most part sheer brilliance and while it’s true he has always had a tenor voice this cracked tenor voice is not the same as the recorded voice and in many ways it suits the songs much better; the band is great; the back up singers brilliant and he is as charming as an aging roue can possibly be.

The three hour set is long, the songs are all too long, and the intermission interminable.

But with all those caveats Leonard Cohen is (Canada’s) national treasure and if you get the chance….

Plus I dissed the “Live In London” awhile ago and i take it back entirely. It’s a very, very good live album and I recommend it.

We’ve Got A Bleeder – Give Me 2 Units Of Improvisation Stat

A couple of years ago in this blog, I described the Defending Dennis Rodman Syndrome, circumstances in which one is compelled to point out a beneficial contribution made by someone or some organization otherwise appropriately characterized in a predominantly negative manner.  Rodman’s contributions to the championship Bulls basketball team, efforts dismissed by many because of his unsavory habits is the prototype.  The worthwhile  products made by Microsoft and the presidential accomplishments made by a Chief Executive with sleazy personal morals  are other examples of unfairly dismissed contributions I’ve found myself ambivalently defending.

I hate it when that happens.

The line lamenting the lack of spontaneity, “But it is tough to do when you have bleed all improvisation from your set,” that, in turn, precludes “reach[ing] that place even the greats don’t always get to” as Van Morrison and Maroon 5 apparently did, is, hyperbole, awkward syntax, and improper grammar aside, a potentially valid point of view.

Cohen himself was formerly given to mercurial changes in the concert format (check out, for example, the descriptions at 1970 Leonard Cohen In Hootenanny Mode), and many who were in those audiences report those concerts as having been mountaintop experiences.

And, as I’ve noted here,² the concerts on this tour have followed, in comparison, a rather tight albeit not  absolutely immutable script of songs and chatter. (More about this later.)  In that sense, Cohen’s recent concerts, I would agree, are more planned than improvised.

The conclusion that improvisation is essential to transcendent musical performances, however, seems suspect. My colleagues who are enchanted by symphonies, chamber music, opera, and other classical modes  assure me that descriptions of the legendary concerts rarely laud improvisation as a fundamental element of the performances. While  I’m willing to buy into the notion that, say, most jazz groups and certain pop bands (the Grateful Dead comes to mind) make improvisation a central part of their great performances, I’m less convinced it’s true in general.

Still, the observation that Cohen’s concerts are now less spontaneous is accurate enough. For what it’s worth, my own belief is that the lack of improvisation is partly the reflection of Cohen becoming less temperamental in the forty-some years since he became a professional singer and partly one of his few concessions, along with shunning most interviews and meetings with fans, to being 74 years old in the second year of a heavily scheduled word tour. This strikes me as an equitable tradeoff and, indeed, the only reasonable choice for Cohen, given his insistence on fastidiously executed, respectful shows. Given the number of critics and civilians who declare that one or another of Cohen’s 2008-2009 performances has been the best concert of their lives,³ it seems as though he’s done OK, even if he has not reached the heights of Maroon 5.

So far, so-so.  Unfortunately, the post does not end there.

This Is New York

Addressing his subject, the writer opts for the hoary  “This is New York” gambit,

This is New York, Cohen

Well, at least he didn’t go with “This is New York, old man.” Alternatively, maybe he was just trying to be helpful, not realizing that Leonard Cohen has visited New York on previous occasions.

Those were the reasons and that was New York,
we were running for the money and the flesh.
And that was called love for the workers in song
probably still is for those of them left.
- From Chelsea Hotel #2, Leonard Cohen

Regardless, the “This is New York” paragraph continues with

Don’t tell the same jokes that are all over “Live In London”.

I’m unclear if the objection is to Cohen repeating similar jokes at all concerts or if the complaint is Big Apple-specific (i.e., Cohen can do the same jokes in other cities, but New York deserves special only-for-New York jokes). In either case, I am doubtful that this demand will meet with much success. I myself issued concrete recommendations for changes in Cohen’s concerts in New & Improved Leonard Cohen Concerts and managed only one possible adaptation. I suggested

For example, the first concert of the official US tour is, I believe, in Texas. Imagine, if you will, Mr. Cohen being  joined by Willie Nelson to open that concert with a stirring rendition of “Whiskey River”  (by the way,  does Mr. Cohen still have that buckskin coat because I know Willie has one and the two of them dressed like that would be a hit in Texas), and, at the start of the song, the unfurling of  a massive Lone Star flag  behind – are you ready? – Leonard Cohen and Willie Nelson, The Texas Troubadours.

That suggestion, somewhat modified, was obviously responsible for Cohen donning cowboy chapeau for an encore of his Dallas concert.

But, back to New York:

Don’t throw “New York” in the middle of “Hallelujiah” (and don’t kill the rhymes – you wrote em, sing em).

I don’t know which rhymes Cohen killed, but it does seem to me that the logical declaration is not “you wrote em, sing em,” but “you wrote ‘em, it’s up to you how to sing ‘em.”

On the other hand, Cohen did indeed insert “New York”⁴ in the middle of “Hallelujiah.”⁵ This brings up a question or two. Isn’t throwing “New York City” into the lyrics a – what do you call it when there are changes made in the standard rendition – oh, yeah, an improvisation? OK. given that Cohen has inserted the names or nicknames of several cities in the same place (“I didn’t come to [insert city here] to fool you.”),⁶ it’s a well-precedented improvisation and perhaps only a semi-improvisation, but it doesn’t seem quite fair to criticize a guy for not improvising and then blast him for something approximating an improvisation.

I’ll bet the entire New York crowd went berserk when Cohen dared pull this stunt in front of them. Let’s roll that video and enjoy the mayhem. (The video is set to start a few seconds before the “New York City” insertion.)

Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah (Radio City Music Hall, 5/17/2009)

I guess that must have been the out-of-towners applauding.

Onward ever, …

Don’t wait for the applause when you sing “First We’ll Take Manhattan”

Again, not having been there, I’m not sure exactly what happened. Perhaps, Cohen announced the song’s title and stood tapping his foot impatiently for the applause. Maybe he flashed an “Applaud” sign. ((And, maybe he sang “First We’ll Take Manhattan” even though, to my ears, the lyrics he wrote, “First We Take Manhattan” scan better using “we” rather than “we’ll.”)) All I have to go on is this YouTube video of Cohen’s “First We Take Manhattan.” (The video is set to start a few seconds before the pertinent portion, and, for the purposes of this discussion, can be switched off after “we take Berlin.”)

Well, damned if Cohen doesn’t pause after the words, “First we take Manhattan.” On the other hand, that the above video is from the concert in Prague, which is not listed in Wikipedia as a borough of New York, the logic of the implied negative – oh, heck, let’s just call it the way it was meant – the implied nasty criticism becomes difficult to parse (although, in compensation, the location of the concert does make it easier to understand why there is only a smattering of applause in response to “Manhattan”).

Maybe the pause for applause was especially prolonged in the New York concerts as Cohen desperately waited for the clapping that never came in the errant belief that the sophisticated New York audience would prove susceptible to the appeal to hometown vanities as though they were urban Babbitt doppelgängers. That long, silent interlude must have been humiliating for the Cohen. Let’s watch him get his comeuppance. (The video is set to start a few seconds before the pertinent portion, and, for the purposes of this discussion, can be switched off after “we take Berlin.”)

L. Cohen – First We Take Manhattan (Radio City Music Hall, 5/16/2009)

Well, that was disappointing. The New York version seems to have the same pause and more applause than the rendition in Prague. Clearly, some folks in that crowd of Big Apple concert-goers didn’t get the word that Cohen was clumsily trying to manipulate them. Must have been those darn out-of-towners again.

Next comes the big problem:

…. in a word, don’t go on automatic, we’re NYC, we know when you’re faking it.

I am, atypically, at a loss for words. The only parts of this line I understand are the ellipsis,⁷ “in a word”⁸ and, “we’re NYC.” And, if the New Yorkers I met at the Beacon Theatre concert are representative of the city’s inhabitants, I have some doubts about the “we” part.

Watch that video of Cohen singing “Hallelujah” again. See if you can find the parts where Cohen “go[es] on automatic” or is “faking it.” I can’t.

Having said that, if you’re gonna see a guy not bringing his “A” game, this is the guy to see.

What the heck … ?  My first reaction is  that it’s kind of scary to ponder the a Leonard Cohen concert that is even better than his performances on this tour.

My second thought is that this would make interesting ad copy for concerts where a $100 ticket buys you a seat in the balcony:

Leonard Cohen
The Guy To See If You Want To See
A Guy Not Performing At His Best

Maroon 5 was that much better, eh?

Then comes the reverse:

The material is for the most part sheer brilliance and while it’s true he has always had a tenor voice this cracked tenor voice is not the same as the recorded voice and in many ways it suits the songs much better; the band is great; the back up singers brilliant and he is as charming as an aging roue can possibly be.

This explains so much.  This review isn’t about the Leonard Cohen who was born with the gift of a golden voice; it’s about the other Leonard Cohen who “has always had a tenor voice.”

The rest sounds about right although I’d quibble with the semicolon use.

The three hour set is long, the songs are all too long, and the intermission interminable.

The only times I’ve heard (or seen in print) the complaint that the concert is too long has been from folks who had babysitters waiting or had to catch the last train of the night, and then it was framed as “I had to leave before the concert finished because I had to catch the train.” I’m pretty sure this is the first time, in any context, I’ve seen the individual songs described as too long⁹ or the intermission characterized as interminable. My recall is that the Beacon Theatre intermission was about 15 minutes long. Maybe this somehow has to do with those New York minutes one hears so much about.

But with all those caveats Leonard Cohen is (Canada’s) national treasure and if you get the chance….

Hmm.  Very tricky. To this point, the review has been predominantly a harangue on Cohen’s failure to perform to New York standards. Now it shifts to “Leonard Cohen is (Canada’s) national treasure” and ends with “if you get the chance….”  Why the parenthesis around “Canada’s?”  What does that ambiguous ellipsis indicate? Is the idea that  “(Canada’s) national treasure” just can’t cut it in New York? That seems rude. Maybe it’s “If you get the chance, get out of town.”

Plus I dissed the “Live In London” awhile ago and i take it back entirely. It’s a very, very good live album and I recommend it.

Hope springs eternal.

In (Summation)…

This is Crystal Lake, Illinois, NYC – Live and Recorded.  If you’re going to write about Leonard Cohen where we can read it, bring your “A” game.

_____________________

1. For those readers who reside, as I do, somewhere other than the town so nice they named it twice (Kansas City, Kansas? Texas City, Texas?), “NYC” is apparently an acronym designating “New York City.” Usually, I wouldn’t point that out, but “New York City” seems to be an especially important element of this review. [↩]
2. Most recently at Leonard Cohen’s List Of Pharmaceuticals Joke & His Not At All Funny Depression and Leonard Cohen & His Gong – Questions Answered [↩]
3. Need evidence? Google “Leonard Cohen” “best concert of my life” along with a few obvious variations of these terms. [↩]
4. Well, it was actually “New York City” that Cohen added, but that would be easy to miss unless one were paying close attention. [↩]
5. “Hallelujiah” is apparently the version of “Hallelujah” Cohen sings in New York. [↩]
6. To be fair, Cohen could be more improvisational with this gimmick. Currently, he unimaginatively uses the name of the city in which that concert is performed. He could mix it up a bit by using the names of other urban centers. At the New York show, for example, he could have sang “I didn’t come to Saskatoon to fool ya.” [↩]
7. Which should, incidentally, be followed by a period, denoting the end of the sentence. [↩]
8. “In a word” is an idiom I’ve always disliked, primarily because, in a word, the punch line almost always has more than one word. [↩]
9. This remind one of  the 1782 incident in which the Emperor told Mozart that his opera,  “Abduction From The Seraglio” contained “too many notes,” to which Mozart replied, “I have written the exact number of notes required.” [↩]