leonardcohenforum.com

Yes, I understood the question to be about taste in music, not just folk, or rock, or whatever. I think good music is good music. I certainly don't compare genres, though unfortunately I must admit my taste is not equally developed across the board.

when im not listening to lc:
neil young
roger waters
coldplay
waterboys (scott)
radiohead+
new norwegian music

paul

Smog
velvet underground
guided by voices
pj harvey
patti smith
this week anyway.

Hi fellow travellers ~

"If music be the food of love, play on".
I have very eclectic but selective tastes in 'music'. In the category of singer-songwriters I prefer the true poets with a mystic touch. e.g:

Don MacLean ~ "Chain Lightning","Believers", "In Jerusalem"

Johnny Cash ~ "The Man In Black" , "The Highwayman" & the other 3
"Highwaymen"

George Harrison~ "Cloud Nine"album (love his unique guitar sound too)

Freddy Mercury~ in "Queen"& solo: "Mr Mercury"album

Mark Knopfler ~ "Dire Straits", "Love Over Gold, Live concert" the best!

Moody Blues~ "The Voice", "For My Lady", "I Know You're Out There Somewhere", "Blue World", "Nights in White Satin"(with the poem at the end!)...just to name a few.

Magna Carta~ "Lord of the Ages"

Dave Clark's "Time" the musical, (1985) album only vinyl,if you can find it.
If you've never heard of it it's worth checking out (there is a website).
Among the artists: Freddy Mercury, Leo Sayer, Cliff Richard, Dione Warwick, Julian Lennon & Lord Laurence Olivier as narrator.

Les Crane's "Desiderata"~ Haven't been able to find it. Came out 1972 on
Warner Brothers music label. The theme from the album,the poem, was a
hit on Australian radio for a while. (As was the theme from "Time"in 1986)


** (If anyone knows where I could find a record, tape or CD!! of it ,I would greatly appreciate it).

Jim Croce~ "Time in a Bottle", "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song".

Charles Aznavour~ "She",among many others (some sung by Edith Piaf)

The musical "Hair"~ The original recording (the movie version sucked & ruined every song!)

Bryan Adams~ "So Far So Good" album; "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman".

Fleetwood Mac w/ Stevie Nicks

Annie Lennox/ Eurythmics~ "Must Be Talking to an Angel", "Sweet Dreams (are Made of This)" ; album "Just Be Yourself Tonight" (? title)

Dory Previn~ "Anima/Animus (Jesus Was A Androgyne)", "Morning Star"
If you love L Cohen you will definitely appreciate Dory!

Now, favourite singers with exceptional voices ~

Nat King Cole ~ "Nature Boy", "Stardust", "Unforgettable" (by himself!),
"When I Fall In Love"

Jane Olivor~ "The Greatest Love of All". This Canadian songbird recorded
that lovely song long before Witless Houston ruined it with
her souless, grating rendition! If you've ever heard Jane's
original you know exactly what I mean; if you haven't & still
like the song, give yourself a treat & hear how it should be
sung by someone who seems to understand the lyric.
Yes, her name is spelled OLIVOR. Fabulous covers of other
songs incl:"Vincent", "Some Enchanted Evening","Come
Softly To Me", plus some unique originals,"L'Important
C'Est La Rose", "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows".


Ella Fitzgerald~ Especially doing Cole Porter

Elvis ( of course) ballads & gospel

Roy Orbison~ Gorgeous voice w/ great range

Shirley Bassey~ almost anything

Randy Crawford~ "Windsong"; "Fly Away", (Nicole Kidman tried to do that
one in that useless psuedo wanna-be musical,good
actress,embarrassingly bad choice).

Demis Roussos~ Unusual voice, great songs often by Vangelis

Jennifer Rush~ "The Power of Love", yep, another one who recorded and
had a hit with this before Celine (who does do a beautiful
treatment of it) but Jennifer has more power in her voice
and gives you goosebumps.

That'll do for a small sample of 2 categories of my musical interests.

These are as nothing when compared with the maestro himself, L Cohen
aka Jikan.
Bye for now,

Makera

Hi Makera ~

I agree on Dory. I have an album by Olivor. I'll check to see if that one's on it. You sure make Jennifer Rush sound great!

~ Lizzytysh

Hi Lizzytysh~

I'm so thrilled to find someone else who has even heard of Dory Previn!
(I think I spotted another on this forum). I miss her and was never able to find her cd's in the stores. Now I'm finally on line I can start to replace
all the records I lost (vanished -- along with the storage company they
were supposed to be kept in) in Australia. The worst part was most of my
most treasured music was on musical 'letters' taped by a beloved friend
from his incredible collection for me.

He was one of my 'Sisters of Mercy' at the time. He was the one who
gave me LC's "Various Positions" album on tape, early '86. Plus the Chris
de Burgh, Jim Croce ones I've mentioned. He was there for me when I
had a 'dark night of the soul' event in my life. (I was/am happily married,
he was happily gay). Unfortunately, he passed away in '98 from AIDS;and
even though we had not been in contact for some years, I cannot hear one
of the dozens of unique & rare songs he sent me without thinking of him
with love. I KNOW he's my guadian angel, I often feel his presence.

Like one of the songs he taped to me :"Love comes from the most unexpected places" -- I can't remember if that was also the title, but it
was sung by Kim Carnes. It is difficult to find & replace music when the
mixes he'd given me had no list of titles. Thankfully he'd tell me the artists, mostly. Two were still a mystery until I found "Old Friend" was
a Chris de Burgh song on a website. The other was... **(Eureka! I found it, this is the edit) "Closer to Believing" by Emerson, Lake & Palmer; with the lines I still remembered: "May your God lift up your heart".... Remember who on earth you are"...

As you can imagine, there is nothing more uplifting and heart-filling than
someone you least expect coming to your aid in person & in deed.
He was a real Troubadour, in the original sense. The greatest romance
of heart & soul. I sent him 'payback' tape mixes from my meagre library
aswell.

The point to my little ramble is that music, as the powerful mover of the
soul, has incredible impact when used for & by love. The promises he made by the songs he sent ( like: 'You've Got a Friend', 'Aint No Mountain
High Enough','I Was Born To Love You') committed his soul to fulfill it.
That's why I often feel his presence.

If that kind of promise is made in sacred music, as it was by the singer/
psalmists of King David's time, it becomes an indelible part of their souls
for "all generations". (refer Psalm 89, compare with songs on "Various
Positions"). Maybe the authors are one ... and the same.-- recommend
RSV translation for accuracy.




Hope you get to hear Jane Olivor's "Greatest Love of All", (I think she leaves Streisand for dead too). I don't know anything about Jennifer
Rush except that she was a hit in Australia w/ "The Power of Love" in
the 80s. ** Just found out from the web that she co-wrote it, now it makes sense.

Bye for now,

Makera xxx

Makera, I always regretted not getting to know Dory Previn's work better. I had a tape once (long since vanished) of a concert of hers. There was a song on it about how the moon felt, having mankind stomping about on her and ripping off bits to take home. I like songs that make you think.

Step: good to see someone say Guided by Voices. Cohen and Pollard are my two personal songwriting giants.

i have little time/patience for anyone but lc and nick cave. interesting to see how many nick cave fans r on this forum. also like old blues{billie holliday, nina simone} old punk dk, crass& new punk anti-flag if anyone here has heard of "bastard out of carolina{the band,not the movie}, i would dearly love 2 know what happened to them.

Hello,
I just discovered Leonard Cohen a few weeks ago and loved the music and words.
I thought I should point you in the direction of another artist/musician that I love called Jill Farrar aka mook.
Lyrics are very important to me and she writes about relationships & madness in a very real and honest way check it out if you have time.

http://www.jillfarrar.co.uk

Shwmae Happytroll

Welcome to the board. I hope you are here for a long time and enjoy your stay

JTS

Lightning, Kush, and anyone else who loves Brel ~

You may already be aware [but just in case you're not] ~ Have you heard that five "new" songs of Brel are being released by his widow? There is apparently some controversy swirling about their release, as he had apparently requested they remain unreleased. With his being noted a perfectionist, both he and two of those on the recordings with him, felt there was more work to be done on them. However, the final comment in the segment on this was regarding Brel's rather sardonic sense of humour, and that he would find their release humourous. I know you two will be hunting them down, if you haven't heard them already .

~ Lizzytysh

Richard Thompson
Peter Gabriel
Nick Drake
The Clash
Steeleye Span/Maddy Prior
The Specials
Johnny Cash
Pete Townsend (solo)
Leo Kottke
Robert Johnson
Lou Reed
Bob Dylan
Lucinda Williams
J.S. Bach
John Dowland
L.v Beethoven, esp. Piano Sonatas
Louis Armstrong
Nehemia James
The Kingston Trio
The Beatles
Stan Rogers
Blink 182

and others.

Just browsing this evening and was a bit spooked to see Dory Previn mentioned - just yesterday I came home to find my other half ironing and listening to said Dory Previn. It was our old vinyl LP of Mythical Kings and Iguanas. Haven't listened to her in many years and I can't think why cos she really is excellent both in singing and writing terms. Anyone know what she does now? Is she still performing?

Hi Rock Rose ~

That is uncanny ! I have no idea, what/if she's doing now, but I'll bet a quick Internet search would resolve it. If I weren't working, I'd do the process for you, as I'm curious, too. Another favourite of mine, Laura Nyro, is no longer living. I love Dory's song about dancing for her father.

~ Lizzytysh