Various Artists / Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen
Album: Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen   Collection:General
Artist:Various Artists   Added:Oct 2022
Label:Blue Note Records  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2022-10-12 Pull Date: 2022-12-14
Week Ending: Dec 11 Dec 4 Nov 27 Nov 20 Nov 6 Oct 30 Oct 23 Oct 16
Airplays: 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 3

Recent Airplay
1. Jun 08, 2023: down in the basement
Famous Blue Raincoat
4. Dec 09, 2022: Hanging In The Boneyard
Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye
2. Feb 16, 2023: Down in the Basement
You Want It Darker
5. Dec 08, 2022: Traditions
Hallelujah
3. Dec 15, 2022: Traditions
Steer Your Way
6. Dec 03, 2022: Music Casserole
Suzanne

Album Review
Margy Kahn
Reviewed 2022-10-12
Vocal superstars take on the late Leonard Cohen’s iconic songs along with virtuoso jazz accompaniment; a perfect album for the season of Halloween, All Souls, and All Saints; artists got to choose which of the canon to cover so there is a lot of heart and soul in these renditions. If you like them and don’t know Leonard Cohen, check out his albums in the KZSU library

FCC on Track 2 (“piss”); all other tracks are worth playing; favorite tracks *4, 9, 12

1–Steer Your Way (4:50)—Norah Jones sings a soft, intimate incantation with instrumentals to match

FCC! 2–Here It is (5:14)—Peter Gabriel eerily channels Cohen’s bass register; with heavy instrumental jazz overtones; “piss” appears about a quarter of the way in

3—Suzanne (4:35)—Gregory Porter leans on the lyrics, giving this storied song more heft than Judy Collin’s hit cover from the 1970’s

*4—Halleluja (6:21) —Sarah McLachlan uses her amazing voice to make this mega hit new

5—Avalanche (5:21) —Immanuel Wilkins uses heavy duty horn playing and riffs to cover this intense song; interesting but hard to know how it relates to Cohen’s words or even the original tune

6—Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye (4:21) — Luciana Souza’s rich voice adds depth to this elegy to lost love; the piano and horn add texture

7—Coming Back to You (3:42) —James Taylor channels Cohen’s bass; heartfelt, slow, cleanly articulated

8—You Want It Darker (5:05) — Iggy Pop takes this title song from Cohen’s last CD and gives it creaky voice and some other spooky vocal effects; but not Cohen’s weight; instrumentals add to the atmosphere

*9—If It Be Your Will (5:27) —Mavis Staples sings this as a tender ballad; lovely instrumental touches too.

10—Seems So Long Ago, Nancy (5:10) —David Gray’s voice with horns and drums and plucked strings under and over this tragic tale

11—Famous Blue Raincoat (5:59)—Nathaniel Rateliff gives a kind of minimalist interpretation of this elegaic song—the horns add the emotion

*12—Bird on a Wire (3:47) —Bill Frisell gives a beautiful instrumental rendition of this classic song

Track Listing
 ArtistTrack Name
1. Jones, Norah Steer Your Way
2. Gabriel, Peter Here It Is
3. Porter, Gregory Suzanne
4. McLachlan, Sarah Hallelujah
5. Wilkins, Immanuel Avalanche
6. Souza, Luciana Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye
7. Taylor, James Coming Back to You
8. Pop, Iggy You Want It Darker
9. Staples, Mavis If It Be Your Will
10. Gray, David Seems So Long Ago, Nancy
11. Rateliff, Nathaniel Famous Blue Raincoat
12. Frisell, Bill Bird on The Wire