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Pehaps I did not state my objections to DH plainly enough. If Leonard wants to use syntheziers that is his perogative. It could be done and done well. What I object to is the cheap production values. The home studio esthetic is killing his albums for me. The Faith, is a tragedy in my opinion---A wonderful song, great words and a totally crappy mix. The whole album makes me sad because it could have been one of the great ones. Instead it's over-whelmed by all this overly-compressed plinkity-plonk-plonk production.

There is always the possibility that Sony is partly at fault as BUDGET is the bottom line with most record companies. With the recent merger of Sony and BMG and with Leonard probably not at the top of thier roster, production pennies are probably doled out with great reluctance.

linda_lakeside wrote:There is always the possibility that Sony is partly at fault as BUDGET is the bottom line with most record companies. With the recent merger of Sony and BMG and with Leonard probably not at the top of thier roster, production pennies are probably doled out with great reluctance.

not realy. it doesn't take a lot of money for Leonard to record an album, i think. a lot of musicians would be happy just to work with him, and wouldn't make much fuss about money, and private studios of good quality were never cheaper than today.

but why would he care about production?

this: i can't listen to a badly produced album sounds a lot like: 'why can't this picasso paint nice pictures?'

yes, production is something that you notice first. but it's all surface. at the end of the day - all that remains are music and lyrics. i LOVE delta blues... barely any production there, but why would there have to be any. all that counts is that nobody sings the blues like blind willie mctell.

Robbie Williams gets one million dollars for the album, and makes 1,1 of it. Leonard gets 50 000 dollars and sells 1,5 milion copies.

The numbers aren't exact, but you get the real condition - who's more commercial to Sony/BMG. That's the old story that Titanic lost big money for the Hollywood studio, despite he made 2 billion dollars in the cinemas.

Minor correction:

Tchocolatl wrote: You see I would have prefer Old Ideas as the title for Dear Heather. According to Polish Sony Site (thanks to Tom Sakic for the info) he was persuaded to change for DH.

Sony Polska site actually posted the info that The Faith is based on Un Canadien Errant already perfomed by Leonard on recent Songs in 1979.

This info about Old Ideas and changing the title comes from our Jarkko

I have been listening to DH for a couple of weeks now and it´s definitely a grower. Let me start at the top: "The Faith" is an instant classic. It has that lush "Recent Songs" feel, due no doubt to the instrumentation. "The Letters" is beautifully modulated, in terms of both the narrative and the composition. "The Nightingale" is too sweet for words, and the moody soundscapes and spoken-word deliveries of "Morning Glory" and "To A Teacher" wouldn´t seem out of place on an album by The Roots (an excellent "organic" hip hop outfit from Philadelphia).

On a more general level, I love the poignant and tender mood of the album. Case in point: "Because Of", which some critics insist on seeing as a piece of rambling by a withering old Lothario, while it´s actually one of the most soulful pieces on the album.

There are a couple of things that bug me, though... Firstly, the redundancy of "Villanelle For Our Time". The man makes his point clearly enough during the first couple of minutes, why does he insist on "rubbing it in"? With the wealth of material the man has to draw upon, one would think he´d have enough lyrics (original ones, at that!) to fill an album with no need for repetition. Secondly: the title track. There´s some nice variation to the instrumental backing towards the end, but basically, this is the sound of Leonard taking the (not "a" ) piss. Kinda reminds me of David Bowie´s post-modernist noodlings on the "Outside" album.

I´m not bothered by the general mood of submission and leave-taking that dominates the album. LC has made it to the venerable age of 70 and I´m sure he still has plenty of tricks up his sleeve. He acknowledges the passing of some dear friends but, far from becoming cynical, he continues to celebrate the joys of life. I wish I had some of that Zen of his...


Karri

Karri said;

"this is the sound of Leonard taking the...piss"

You may well be right Karri. All I know is when I first played the cd from start to finish, I immediately went back to listen to the title track again, probably because I didnt believe my ears first time. And then again, and again.
I have no artistic/literary tools of analysis to call on that will justify my enthusiasm for this track, but it works for me. From the oppening music, evoking a space somewhere between a black and white Sophia Loren soundtrack and Daffy Duck to the fade out, I just love it.
On the other hand, it took many playings before I could get into "The Letters".
Rob.

jurica wrote:this: i can't listen to a badly produced album sounds a lot like: 'why can't this picasso paint nice pictures?'

Couldn't agree more. Isn't it more fruitful to listen to what an artist has actually produced, rather than what one wishes they had produced? I think we can assume that if Cohen has used synthesisers on a given track he did so for a reason. For me the interesting question is not whether I like it or not, but what that reason might be.

Appreciate today!

Rob, I know what you mean about the track Dear Heather. I kept going back to it and it kept making me smile What you said about The Letters also struck a chord. After reading the lyric, I was really looking forward to hearing it. What a disappointment. What an awful "melody". (Leonard, if you're listening, I can give you a few better melodies for free!) I have the same problem with There For You, which I think satisfies on reading but not on listening.

I couldn't disagree more - I have quite opposite experience with the title song and Nightingale i.e.

Oops, I almost forgot... I love "Undertow" as well. It has some of the elegance of, say, "Take This Waltz". The sax sounds awfully live, as opposed to the more "plastic" sax sound heard on "Ten New Songs". If memory serves, Leonard was credited as the main musician on this song? Just wondering about the sax... Even if it is just a synth sound, the "articulation" sounds just right.



Karri

By strange coincidence I'm just listening to Undertow for the first time - I must be the only one who just rec'd the CD and thus far I'm agreeing with you Karri.

It is so strange how the opinions of others can flavour one's own 'taste' of an album. I'm listening to DH for the first time in its entirety in the proper fashion - full blast. I've heard a lot of people say they didn't like The Letters so I expected to be disappointed - I LOVED it. I wasn't crazy about the background vocals on Go-no-more a-Roving but I DID like the sax - but then I'm sax-crazy! I do like Because Of but there is something about it that reminds me of the much maligned TNS. Anyway, Villanelle is coming up - more later.

As this CD has been picked over and analyzed to death by now, I'm not going to bore everyone by going over it song by song, by likes and dislikes. I'll just say that I like it much more than I thought I would - it will take a few more listenings to get a real feel for it. Thanks to Tom Sakic for filling me in on Sharon's part in Leonard's earlier CDs. I can hear that influence in parts of Dear Heather. Those parts have a TNS feel to them. I guess my lukewarm reception to TNS was really a lukewarm feeling to Sharon's input. That said, I do like it and Leonard's voice is not as ravaged as the critics made out "soon he'll only be audible to dogs". I LOVE his warm, deep voice - it sounds like Leonard. I also like the beat/jazz influence on....forget the songs but everyone knows what I mean. Didn't Leonard say at one time that he was "the original jazzer"? His spoken-word voice is yummy!

See how even those well-meaning critics can throw you off ? I run into that with movies, too. Where's Jemima? She's got some yummy support here .