Have you heard Dear Heather?

echoes · Post by **echoes** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 7:49 pm

Hello together!

I just have listened to Dear Heather to times... wow!
Not just what I have thought it would be ... it is ... just great! I really like it. I thought I was prepared for anything after I read some reviews - I thought it until "Morning Glory". The title song "Dear Heather" is strange, I've never listened to anything like it

!
There are so many impressions, it's kind of hard to write them down.

Oh, I like "The fairth" very much, but it makes me somehow sad... there are all the people from Recent Songs with Leonard Cohen again - and he's not there singing the last verse with them.

Sounds like a farewell...
I feel it - I've got to relisten it...

Manuel

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 7:58 pm

I hadn't yet noticed that particular aspect, Manuel, regarding the last verse of "The Faith". I'll listen to that. Thanks.

jpx · Post by **jpx** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 8:53 pm

i've been listening to Dear Heather too and i love it. The Faith and Nightingale. it makes me want to be a writer too. it makes me want that magic.

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 9:31 pm

Damn! I believe this cd needs a disclaimer label to the effect of, "Listening to this cd may be dangerous to your productivity".

Based on yesterday's degree of distraction, I've intentionally foregone listening to it today at work, in the interest of getting something accomplished. Finally, feeling fortified in my resolve, I decided, "I can handle it now. I'm down to the simple stuff, and I've had more listening time since yesterday." I'll be damned if I didn't put it on and IMMEDIATELY lost my concentration, forgot what it was I was in the midst of, what my intentions were, and had to backtrack to just start over, taking it all from the top....and, even then, stopped to listen to the remainder of "Go No More A Roving" before proceeding.

Leonard; oh, Leonard; oh, Leonard.

echoes · Post by **echoes** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 10:08 pm

@ lizzytysh:

I know what you mean...
... it was nearly self-torturing to try to follow the three lectures I had today! I just wanted to go home...
And I don't think my fellow students have enjoyed my presence today. I Think I was talking too much about Heather!

Manuel

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 10:16 pm

~ I haven't spoken of her to anyone yet. For now, I'm in a virtual room, where someone finally turned out the light and left, closing the door behind them ~ leaving me where I've wanted to be. Alone with Leonard's voice.

If someone can't understand where I'm at with this [unfortunately, odds too great in favour of that], I'd rather not speak of her, at all. My private life in that regard has been well understood by me, understood by too few.

However, having to re-orient myself with every passing song becomes rather obstacling to my completion of today's work, by the end of today. "Because Of" is playing right now. I keep clicking out of this site, and then remembering something I want to say, and coming back

.

I'm glad to know you understand. A lecture! Good G~d! At least I don't have anyone needing my attention

! I feel for you

.

linmag · Post by **linmag** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 11:19 pm

I'm getting by on three plays a day, but it's hard

Tchocolatl · Post by **Tchocolatl** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 2:59 am

I get the CD this afternoon. Tennessee Waltz is finishing in this moment.

I don't understand. I just don't.

How could such bad critics could have been done about Dear Heather? Or I understand only by the explanation I gave in another thread. Or maybe they did not like poetry neither than folk music?

Dear Heather is just GREAT. Just great G-R-E-A-T. I am not an expert, I did not notice if he jumps out (over, under) of the tempo here and there, I say this only by the general impression I have, the way I feel after having listen to it. This is an album of pure emotion and... well peace and serenity. And yet it contains such sadness at places, maybe more sadness sometimes than in all what he had done before, because it is without any rebellion againts the suffering or anything or anybody, and all this is given like usual, with the germ of healing and/or being in peace with all suffering or being in peace even with the death. Those are my feelings. This album makes me feel good.

Manuel I feel the same regarding the signification of the last verse of The Faith, the significance of the death, the desapearrance, the silent man, but, it is a song.

This is how he is, Leonard Cohen, making it so just, emotionnaly speaking, that it is as true as truth. I do not think that he is dying or that this is a farewell. Just another amazing, touching, effective song.

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 4:59 pm

I have a question, rhetorical probably. However, I'm interested to know why so many reviewers give the sax such a hard time in this album. Saxophones are known for their emotionally-wailing quality. It's one of the great strengths of the instrument

. Yet, somehow, some people seem to feel that it is out of place or some kind of cop-out here. Perhaps, the blending of the lyrics with the sound creates a whole greater than the sum of its parts that is emotionally confronting, and uncomfortable for them to deal with. Saxophones in popular music in the 50s seemed more prevalent than it is today. Hearing them [at least for me] automatically evokes a kind of melancholy that returns me to more sentimental times, times when the world seemed more hopeful. Perhaps, perhaps, this is uncomfortable for those reviewers? I'm trying to understand.

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 5:48 pm

For the record, I want to say that, for all of his 'laments' regarding his age, growing old, and death itself, Leonard's voice still holds all the virility that it has ever held. With his age and experience, there are even more elements of seasons passed, and deeper appreciation of what it means to be truly virile.

All of it is there, and comes through, in Leonard's voice.

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 7:13 pm

Ha! One just never knows what the universe may be holding for another. This may seem off-topic, but you'll come to realize that it's not

.

My friend at work, Ron, just came exclaiming what wonderful things he'd gotten at the $1 sale at the store down the inner walkway. When I admonished him for not telling me about it, he defended himself that he'd made an announcement to the office about it [well, which I didn't hear because I was listening to Leonard!] ~ as I hurriedly prepared to leave, another co-worker cautioned me that, "All the good stuff is gone. There's hardly anything left at all." to which I responded on my way out, "You just never really know what another's tastes or needs may be."

When I returned, the latter co-worker was amazed to see the three bags I had slung over my shoulder, and was anxious to see what all I had gotten. Well, I won't go through all the stuff I was able to get very cheaply, but my total expense was $28.00 and change, and the items included a $35.00, flannel, pajama set for my former father-in-law for $5.00 for Christmas [my former husband is caring for him as the Alzheimer's Disease progresses, and he spends more of his time in pajamas]; $80 worth of simple, classy Christmas cards for $5.00 [5 boxes of $16/each cards for $1/each box]; and a beige, Duck's Head baseball cap with the DH logo on the front. The saleswoman cautioned me that the 'worn'-looking, tattered areas at the front edge of the bill were the way it arrived. I said, "Oh, believe me, I don't care about that at all

." That segues to my purchase at the thrift store, down the inner hallway, going the other direction, about a month ago ~ an all, genuine leather handbag [in my style of choice] by the Leather Company. The logo LC is on the outside clasp. These companies think they know what these insignias stand for; but allow me to clarify that I am the one who really knows for what they stand

. I'll be saving both for Berlin

.

Love to all,
Especially Leonard,
Lizzy

Dylan · Post by **Dylan** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 7:54 pm

I have listened to the album many times since Monday. It is like sinking down into a bead of feathers. Exquisite. It has made me smile a lot and has also made me cry.

I can't pick one song yet, that will take more listens. To me, Leonard's voice has improved with age. Rather like other singers I like, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Marianne Faithfull, I think emotion and feeling and expression and delivery are much more important than range.

The best album I have bought this year? Yes. Leonard's best. Yes.

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 8:01 pm

Well, I can't 'second' everything everyone says [and am trying to resist]. But, yes, Dylan, I agree with the germane points of your posting....the bed of feathers; exquisite; smile a lot and cry; improved with age; and "emotion and feeling and expression and delivery are much more important than range." Definitely, the best album I've bought this year; and I'm even considering the possibilites of "the best" [to date]. So like Leonard, this album stills takes you to places you've never gone before.

~ Lizzy

Byron · Post by **Byron** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 8:20 pm

I had the house to myself today.
I put 'Dear Heather' on the Hi-Fi system and set it at 'repeat all.'
I had Dear Heather to myself today.
I had Dear Heather to myself today.
I had Dear Heather to myself today.
I sat. I rested. I dozed. I dreamed. I woke. I sat.
I had Dear Heather to myself today.
I finished reading 'Tis' by Frank McCourt.
I sat. I had Dear Heather to myself today.
Days like this are very few and very far between.
They don't come much better than days like this.

Any discussion about the merits and nuances of Dear Heather can pass me by.

I don't know when I'll be able to recreate today. Perhaps never.
But I had Dear Heather to myself today.

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 9:28 pm

Beautiful, Byron.

The merits and nuances discussions will find you at a later date [trust me on this

].