leonardcohenforum.com

Up on dimeadozen at the moment is a dvd of the Warsaw 1985 show, which the uploader is claiming is previously uncirculated.

I'm sure Tom or Jarkko will let us know whether this is true or not.

I have the audio of course but the video looks pretty good quality from the screenshots that have been posted.

So anybody who wishes to grab a dvd of this show head over to dimeadozen straightaway.

Be there or be square.

Setlist and technical details posted below.

Ta Ken



22ND ANNIVERSARY COLLECTOR'S EDITION

Leonard Cohen
22 March 1985
Sala Kongresowa, Palac Kultury i Nauki, Warszawa, Poland

---

Lineage:

Warszawa show:
ProShot Raw Mix Betacam Master tapes > BASF T160 (327m) chrome NTSC VHS
tape(0) > stand-alone DVD-R (capture to PAL) > DVD Decrypter 3.5.4.0 > MPEG
Video Wizard DVD > VideoReDo Plus 2.2 > Tsunami-Mpeg DVD Author Pro 2.1 >
.dvdf

Video attributes: 4287kb/s | 25f/s | PAL | 720 x 576 | 4:3
Audio attributes: ac3 | 48000Hz | 256kb/s | 2 chnls


Filler material:
1) Halleluja in Moll
ZDF Doku Digital broadcast (2006-12-06) > DVD-Recorder > DVD Decrypter
3.5.4.0 > MPEG Video Wizard DVD > VideoReDo Plus 2.2 > Tsunami-Mpeg DVD
Author Pro 2.1 > .dvdf

Video attributes: 7673kb/s | 25f/s | PAL | 720 x 576 | 4:3
Audio attributes: ac3 | 48000Hz | 384kb/s | 2 chnls


2) Élixir
DIME > MPEG Video Wizard DVD > VideoReDo Plus 2.2 > Tsunami-Mpeg DVD Author
Pro 2.1 > .dvdf

Video attributes: 8779kb/s | 25f/s | PAL | 720 x 576 | 4:3
Audio attributes: ac3 | 48000Hz | 384kb/s | 2 chnls

---

DVD One:

Set One
01. BIRD ON THE WIRE
02. WHO BY FIRE
03. HEY, THAT'S NO WAY TO SAY GOODBYE
04. DANCE ME TO THE END OF LOVE
05. THERE IS A WAR
06. THE GYPSY'S WIFE
07. THE LAW
08. THE PARTISAN (Anna Marly/Hy Zaret)
09. SISTERS OF MERCY
10. NIGHT COMES ON
11. DIAMONDS IN THE MINE

Set Two
12. //AVALANCHE (solo)
13. CHELSEA HOTEL #2 (solo)
14. THE STRANGER SONG (solo)
15. STORY OF ISAAC
16. LOVER LOVER LOVER
17. FAMOUS BLUE RAINCOAT
18. SUZANNE


DVD Two:

19. //HALLELUJAH
20. PASSIN' THROUGH (Rob Blakeslee, arr. Leonard Cohen)
21. IF IT BE YOUR WILL
22. MEMORIES
23. SO LONG, MARIANNE
24. I TRIED TO LEAVE YOU
25. TENNESSEE WALTZ (Pee Wee King/Redd Stewart/Leonard Cohen)



"leonard cohen - halleluja in moll"
a Georg Stefan Troller documentary on 1985 European Tour (leg one)
(German voiceover) 30:20

1. 'Hallelujah' German TV Special shooting
2. 1985-01-07 New York rehearsals
Hallelujah > Who by Fire (instr.) > If It Be Your Will > Dance Me to the End
of Love
3. 1985-02-03 Berlin
soundcheck: Tonight Will Be Fine > If It Be Your Will
show: I Tried to Leave You
4. 1985-02-2? Paris
show: Suzanne
Dominique Isserman's studio: Hallelujah (recitation)



Festival Élixir, Guehenno, France - 13 July 1985
(French voiceover) 2:03
1. Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye


---

The band is:

Leonard Cohen - vocals, acoustic guitar
Anjani Thomas - vocals, keyboards
Mitch Watkins - guitar, backing vocals
Rob Getman - guitar, pedal steel, backing vocals
John Crowder - bass, backing vocals
Richard Crooks - drums

As far I know, it's official NBC shot only of archive quality (master shot of stage, without other angles or cameras), so it can't be used for any release.

Daniel Wyszogrodzki wrote:As I mentioned before I recorded the show as many other people did. I also took some color photographs from the audience and a friend of mine took some B&W shots from the balcony. There is also a VHS tape of the entire Warsaw show – the one and only copy I kept safe and secret for 20 years. How I got a hold of it I rather not tell. The Warsaw bootleg album that appeared a couple of years ago for the twentieth anniversary of the show comes from the audio track of that tape. It was conceived by Artur Jarocinski from Krakow – the greatest collector of the works of Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan in Poland. He got the photos off the official Polish website and the quality of the prints is very low. But it sounds all right.

(...)

Now, more then 20 years after the Warsaw concert, I am proud to be the Polish translator of the „Book of Longing”. It came out in Poland in November 2006. Thank you, Teacher.

Click to http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/warsaw85.html for more.

My copy is still on the way from Jarkko so I didn't see it. LC was trying to get it for the last two years, since we heard it surfaced in Poland. I was sure it was said it can't be circulated further so I am surprised it was uploaded. The owner of tape decided to make DVDR and send it to LC/Jarkko quite recently. Do you know who let it out? (Most of previous uploads on dimeadozen were linked here on Forum by Artur J. He also circulated the double CD two years ago, which is complete as was made from VHS tape /previous radio bootleg was cut and track order was mixed up/.)

Tom

I haven't a clue who has uploaded it.

The fact that it was up on dimeadozen was posted to me by a member of one of my Dylan groups who uses the site regularly

I have a 2MB monthly download limit with my current ISP so I can't download large music files myself.

However I know that the dvd is proving very popular.

My friend told me last night that the uploader was throttled at around 20 Kb/s trying to download the 2 discs (8GB) with him as one of 125 people desperately trying to leech it.

Ta Ken

I ddin't forget our short talk about bootlegs and Bob in Berlin:-) You can count on copy of Warsaw DVD when I get it. I guessed this one would be very hot when it leaks out;-) You'll drop me your list or something. I anyhow am planing to go back to trading as I compleetly lost the count of old 70s Leonard's tapes transferred to CDRs. Last time I traded there were only 5 or 6 shows from 1972-76; now I see it's a crowd out there. I also lost overview over DVDs - I realised that I have Bird on a Wire only on VHS tape (so Jarkko sent me DVDR, thank you:-), and that I actually don't have Reykjavik 1988 in any format, while the DVD is already 2 years in trading and ebaying... I actually have to make some kind of list od circulating material and see where my collection is. I think there were new 1993 DVDs also on diemadozen; I think I got one of them from Margaret (Frankfurt 1993?) but I actually didn't saw it as my pile of new materials is pretty high on my desktop. Mostly tributes I enjoyed NRK's Book of Longing interview from January 2007, though.

I actually don't have Reykjavik 1988 in any format

Not even cd, Tom ??

Actually have 3CD set, but it was done in early days of CD trading - when software automatically did 2 sec gaps between the tracks - so I have the complete show with gaps between songs. I need the update of that also. I think many early CDRs (late 1990s, early 2000s in trading circles) were done like this. I have another one at least with the gaps which aren't supposed to be there. I replaced some of such bootlegs with upgraded copies two years ago.

I was at this concert (beautiful years of the youth... ) and it is an experience for me not forgotten, up till today. (Unfortunately, because of illness I could not be at a concert from the LC last concert tour).
The concert of Leonard Cohen in Warsaw in 1985 was really fantastic, unique - I suppose all of performances this artist are similar.

I bought the CD from this concert, of course - perhaps as one of the first persons in Poland

I will show you a few films placed on Youtube by my friend, it comes from this unforgettable concert:

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RPd5oHUxAc
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVq9K3lGtN4
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSMVBbjYAEM

(Ohh, he was so young then... The same as I )

Hi,

I haven't seen this video of Story of Isaac mentioned on the Forum and I have just seen it for the first time. Excellent version with some great guitar work :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y36zbbu ... 7Sk06fdIqM

Interestingly, in this topic on the Warsaw dvd there is full set list available. This mentions Story of Isaac. However, in the set list mentioned on the Forum tour guide 1967 - only 22 songs are mentioned and Story of Isaac is omitted.

All the best,
merton

Hi Merton,

Thanks for posting the link to the performance of "Song of Isaac." Am tempted to say that the song/performance
is sanctified.

Of Leonard Cohen songs, "Song of Isaac," contains probably one of the most direct messages to listeners.
It's this:

"You who build these altars now
to sacrifice our children,
you must not do it anymore."

In lesser hands (inclusive of nearly all other songwriters), this kind of directive, where given, often
comes wrapped in agenda driven songs, the kind that often reek of preachiness, self-righteousness,
social/political correctness. Not so here. The song, I'm certain, came out of artistic impulse and angst,
with the directive organically having arisen therein.

Hi Steven,

Thanks for your reply."Song of Isaac" is one of my favourites. It's filled with haunting imagery and story, the power and danger of our beliefs and possible delusions
"I've had a vision
and you know I'm strong and holy,
I must do what I've been told."
Discernment.

And those opening lines :
The door it opened slowly,
my father he came in,
I was nine years old.
And he stood so tall above me,

So much more. An amazing song. I agree with your thoughts.
Many thanks.

All the best,
merton

P.S. You moved on from a radio station some time back. Have you settled into something enjoyable?

Hi Merton,

Yes, it's an amazing song. Hadn't appreciated it as fully as now, having watched the linked performance.
The song has opened up more for me, and likely I've opened up more for it. Hope others have had
a similar experience. The first-person narrative potentitates the song, as does familiarity with the
biblical story that it derives from.

Thanks for asking if I've settled into something enjoyable. Haven't been back on-air. The work I'm
currently involved with is somewhat enjoyable, though I can't say that I've much passion for it.