Live Songs [IMPORT] [LIVE]

Leonard Cohen

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 8, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 1973
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Live
• Label: Columbia Europe
• ASIN: B000007VW5
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #19,379 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description
By the time Leonard Cohen began his recording career in 1967, the iconoclastic Canadian troubadour was already well established as a poet and author. He quickly emerged as one of the era's most original and influential singer-songwriters, building a large and legendary body of work that continues to inspire artists and listeners alike.

Much of Cohen's reputation and mystique was established by his early work for Columbia Records, particularly the five albums he recorded between 1967 and 1974. Now, these five classic albums, unavailable on vinyl for two decades, have been lovingly restored to their original LP format.

For their new Sundazed editions, all five albums have been meticulously remastered and have been sourced from the original Columbia Records stereo masters in order to preserve the sound of the original albums. In keeping with the exacting standards for which Sundazed has become known, each album will be pressed on high-definition vinyl, with complete original cover art.

Cohen's intimate, emotion-charged live performances yielded the 1973 release Live Songs, which mixes a handful of previously recorded favorites with several new songs, including "Passing Thru," "Tonight Will Be Fine" and the harrowing, rarely-performed 13-minute epic "Please Don't Pass Me By (A Disgrace)." --This text refers to the Vinyl edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Live, vulnerable, March 29, 1999

By	M. Nichols "fan of beer, motorhead and zombie... (West Chester, OH United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a fine record. Why it has never been released domestically (save for on vinyl) is beyond me. "Queen Victoria" alone is worth the purchase price. As noted by other reviewers "Don't Pass Me By" stands out as well.

As with most Cohen this is best at "four in the morning, the end of December." Comparable in its power and its rawness to Neil Young's TIME FADES AWAY.

Only the inclusion of a few tracks superior in their studio versions keep this from a 5-star rating - they tend to distract the listener from the finer previously unrecorded material.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cohen at his sloppiest, bleakest, finest hour, January 8, 2000

By A Customer

This Columbia import has a 'made in Australia' sticker on it, and was the '13.49' version offered in the Amazon catalogue. I have to wonder about the quality of the '17.99' version, because the cheaper one sounds awful compared to my somewhat distant memory of the vinyl issue. This Australian import sounds like it was recorded in a shoebox. I had to wonder if my receiver had suddenly pooped out. But, no. Thus the meagre three stars for an otherwise utterly unsettling masterpiece. Each live version of a previously recorded song improves upon the original. The percussionless band(s) manage to be spare and full at the same time. You catch snippets of Charlie Daniels and Jennifer Warnes before they were famous. And Cohen has never sounded more psychologically naked and unhinged. Try to imagine Dostoevski's anti-hero from Notes From Underground doing punk rock, and you'll get an idea of his vocals. At times, he sounds worn out and sonorous, as in Issac & Abraham. Elsewhere, like in Tonight We'll be Fine, he tears his voice to shreds.

To better illustrate the poor technical quality of this CD, the vinyl version picked up nuances like going from the echoey sounds of the concert hall to the up front sound of the Tennessee motel room of his career defining Queen Victoria. Well, this is lost in the ubiquitous 'shoebox' quality of the CD. I do not blame Cohen; I blame whoever mixed this Australian import.

I used to listen to this a lot late at night when I was single. Sometimes half asleep, Please Don't Pass Me By would get me weeping, it is so bleak and yearning at the same time. Now, some twenty-five years later, with a wife and two kids, I have listened to this whole album save that one track: 13 plus minutes of a magnificent, shimmering, wondrous descent into personal hell. More than a song, it's an ordeal. The finest moment in an artist's long career. Love it!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars His best, and that's saying a lot., December 25, 1998

By	"jrossa" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

To say that this is Leonard Cohen's best album is to say that it stands head and shoulders above most other albums out there. It's his most unrelenting, bleak record, and it sounds like he's standing naked in front of the audience, especially in the climactic "Please Don't Pass Me By", which walks the line between self-conscious embarrassment and cry from the heart. Maybe not the Cohen album to start with, but tailor-made for when it's four in the morning at the end of December.