I turned my neighbor/best friend and his family, on to Leonard Cohen recently when I loaned him my copy of Perla Batalla’s “Bird on a Wire” album.
They like country music most, and had admired the Jeff Buckley cover of “Hallelujah,” but had no real idea who L. Cohen was. They quickly stumbled upon Cohen’s concert video you feature here, and they haven’t been able to talk about anything else with me since! No one does Cohen’s songs as well as he does - his video version of the often-covered “Dance Me to the End of Love” is also the only one that really gets the song. I did think that Anthony’s version of “If It Be Your Will,” though, was on par with his own.
He’s having a real revival these days, but I’m glad to say I was a fan all along, and always appreciated the brilliance shining through even his most uneven moments.
Thanks for the post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uloykHSwEYo&index=1&list=PL6YZcbt5xdALXhClU_LV5YvVumTk2udDh
A ‘Cohen’ that’s never been officially released... one of his best...