From Marie;
"Friends,
From my hometown newspaper, a review of Dear Heather. Unfortunately, severely mixed or maybe I should say mixed up. But 3 out of 4 stars ain't bad.
http://www.freep.com/entertainment/musi ... 041031.htm
October 31, 2004
Leonard Cohen -- "Dear Heather" (Columbia)
THREE STARS
out of four stars
Much of "Dear Heather" is a self-indulgent mess, with songs built around cheesy, airport cocktail-lounge keyboard stylings and grim, hermetically-sealed musings about the end of desire, the end of faith, the end of life, etc. With a voice now reduced to something between a raspy whisper and a sepulchral moan, the 70-year-old Cohen drifts uncomfortably close to self-parody here.
What almost balances out the wince-inducing lyrics in the inert title tune and woeful "Because of" are a handful of transcendentally beautiful songs. "Go No More a-Roving" has lyrics taken from the writings of English Romantic poet Lord Byron and shimmers and shivers with autumnal reflections. Just as good are the originals "The Letters" and "Because of You." "Nightingale," written and sung by Cohen and Anjani Thomas and one of the few tracks on "Dear Heather" that contains more instrumentation than just keyboards, barely lasts 2 1/2 minutes but packs an overwhelming emotional wallop.
By Martin Bandyke, Free Press special writer"
