Can't Forget

Diehard Leonard Cohen fans may enjoy these recordings. No great songs here, but you can still hear the resonant baritone voice when it isn't being obscured by backup female vocals and overpowering organs, etc. Most of these songs have a lot of clapping at the end. No FCC's. Favorites*: 5&10
1.(4:23) "Field Commander Cohen" – way over the top, lyric-wise and orchestration-wise

2.(4:18) "I Can't Forget"--Cohen's voice and lyrics are backgrounded behind the banal tune

3. (6:33)"Light as the Breeze" – nice violin solo at beginning; marriage of the erotic and spiritual without the greatness of “Suzanne”

4. (4:15) "La Manic"-a Quebecois song (written by someone else) sung in French to the delight of his Quebecois audience

*5. (5:56) "Night Comes On"-- this is the only track that recalls Cohen's truly great songs; about the encroachment of death in the face of a parent's own death; Nice fiddle

6. (4:52) "Never Gave Nobody Trouble" – classic blues, well-done but without anything Cohen-esque except the voice

7. (6:31) "Joan of Arc"-the old martyr brought up to date as a love object (!), a lot of la-di-la filler here, nice fiddle

8. (4:35) "Got a Little Secret"-- is Cohen channeling Tom Waits here with female backups and fiddle?

9. (3:31) "Choices"-- bluegrass/country with banal lyrics about living and dying; nice fiddle

*10.(3:43) "Stages"--lead off with Cohen's monologue on the horrors of aging; funny and perceptive with musical sound bed. Reprise of “Tower of Song”