'live songs' - 1973 album review

[Geoffrey]

just saw a small but interesting article in a magazine. i didn't buy it because i wasn't really so interested in all the other stuff, just read it while standing in the newsagents'. the lady said "this is not a library if you want to read it you have to buy it", and that also made me not want to buy it. i can't stand people like that. what damage was i doing to the mechanism of the stars? if she had been nice i might actually have forked out the money, but after that there was no chance in hell. anyway, take a look inside if you come across it, somewhere around page 72 or 74? not every day leonard's name can be seen in new magazines these days. see below for details.

everybody seems to have moved on, even i listen a lot to jennifer lopez and taylor swift, and love the energy in contemporary songs. yesterday i listened to luis fonsi's 'despacito' several times in a row and i don't even understand a word of spanish. let's see you beat that!
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'record collector' #548 -september 2023 ('1973 live debut albums' edition)

[LisaLCFan]

....everybody seems to have moved on, even i listen a lot to jennifer lopez and taylor swift, and love the energy in contemporary songs. yesterday i listened to luis fonsi's 'despacito' several times in a row and i don't even understand a word of spanish. let's see you beat that!...

Not everbody has moved on (not entirely, anyway)! I have actually listened to Leonard Cohen two days in a row now: this morning while doing some household chores, I listened to my favourite live album, "Cohen Live" (featuring songs from the 1988 and 1993 tours), and yesterday I worked out to a home-made playlist of some of Leonard's more upbeat tunes.

However, I also listen to other things -- in more recent months, I have been listening to a great variety of music, from various genres. In fact, I recently posted in another area of this forum about a contemporary "pop"(ish) singer/songwriter whom I recently learned about and whose music I enjoy -- it is quite "chill" -- named Agnes Obel, and I included this link to her song "Pass Me By":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELfqgI-X3yA

For something with a bit more upbeat energy, the other day, I was listening to Echo and the Bunnymen's "Ocean Rain" album, plus a "Greatest Hits" album of theirs -- every now and then I enjoy some 80's post-punk/new wave.

As for Luis Fonsi's 'Despacito' -- I listened to it -- definitely high-energy, fun music! It reminded me a lot of Ricky Martin, another Puerto Rican Latin-pop singer who had some major hits several years ago. I occasionally listen to music sung in Spanish -- I have a double CD that is a tribute to Leonard Cohen, comprised of a variety of singers covering his songs in Spanish, which is quite enjoyable. I also have a small CD collection of Latin hip-hop (not classical Latin language, but Latin American, sung in Spanish), from when I went through a major hip-hop phase a few years ago, and I have been contemplating digging those out and listening to them again, along with some Indian (from India) hip-hop that I also very much enjoyed!

[Geoffrey]

the agnes obel 'pass them by' song is beautiful! i often prefer the female singing voice to the male, am not sure why though. perhaps because it just seems more sincere and touches me more - not only in modern music but also in opera.

i haven't listened to echo & the bunnymen for ages. not 'cohen live' either. will have to get my act together and play this stuff again. before i saw your message i was listening to 'beds are burning' by midnight oil, not least because of the accompanying video, the feeling of movement and attempts at visual art. individual musical preferences are so subjective. what inspires one person can mean zilch to another, making it the perfect vehicle for discussion. just imagine what classical composers from previous centuries would have created had they heard ricky martin's 'livin' la vida loca'.

hip hop music is ok, but not a favourite genre. i have been learning to shuffle dance, but that is only to help keep my weight down.

you surprised me with this message, i hadn't expected this - and wondered if you are pulling my leg. i so easily am fooled by people. if all of this is true, and you really do like 'despacito', hip hop, ricky martin and echo & the bunnymen - as you seem to do - then i am growing quite fond of you

[LisaLCFan]

...you surprised me with this message, i hadn't expected this - and wondered if you are pulling my leg. i so easily am fooled by people. if all of this is true, and you really do like 'despacito', hip hop, ricky martin and echo & the bunnymen - as you seem to do - then i am growing quite fond of you

I was -- and am -- totally serious, I really do like all of the music I mentioned! I have been making a point of listening to all sorts of music, old and new, for the past few months, and I am very much enjoying the variety! I used to listen to a wide range of stuff, and I decided that it was time to get back to it! I have always been particularly partial to the Latin/Spanish stuff -- reggaeton, too -- great vibe, feel-good music, nice to have on in the background while doing stuff.

[its4inthemorning]

Re eclectic musical tastes:

Back in the early 1990s my wife asked me to purchase a few opera CDs the next time I was in NYC since at that time there was a huge record store called Sam Goody's in NYC that dealt with virtually every music genre. Also at that time the film about the musical group "The Doors" had been released, and I wanted to acquire that DVD. So, I am at Sam Goody's, and not being at all familiar with opera music, I enlisted the aid of a salesperson. He was an opera buff, and he took great pains to educate me as to which of the numerous versions of the operas my wife wanted (if I am not mistaken, I think they included "Aida" and the Pearl Fishers") were the absolute best. I was with him for 20 or 30 minutes, and I could sense his obvious joy in indoctrinating a novice to the world of opera. With his help I selected three or so opera CDs, and the salesperson left to help someone else at the checkout counter. I then quickly located "The Doors" DVD, and went to the checkout counter myself. The opera expert who had helped me with the opera selections was still at the cash register, and he proceeded to ring up my purchases--a little pile of opera CDs with "The Doors" DVD on the bottom. I will never forget the look of disgust on his face when he saw "The Doors" DVD, the look one gives when he has been betrayed. I paid for my purchases, and he put the opera CDs in one bag and "The Doors" DVD in its own bag, and he told me that it just wouldn't be right to have those beautiful operas contaminated by "your other purchase." Maybe he was right--while "The Doors" movie was a good film which I have viewed two or three times, we have listened to the operas many many times over the years.

4

[Bill's Bar]

So much music. So little time. And anything goes. Covid lockdown led me to find new music and it's broadened my tastes considerably. I'm not a huge opera fan...but.......the Phelim McDermott Met Opera production of Akhnaten by Philip Glass is mesmerising and one of the best live music experiences I've ever had.

[Zimmer]

he told me that it just wouldn't be right to have those beautiful operas contaminated by "your other purchase." Maybe he was right--

He wasn't right, unless he meant, you shouldn't be listening to Val Kilmer singing.

[Geoffrey]

apologies for absence. been staring up at the ceiling for some days. business as usual soon. meanwhile, hope these scans are legible. stay healthy

[AlanM]

Thank you, Geoffrey.
I enjoyed reading that.

Best wishes,

Alan

[Geoffrey]

AlanM wrote:
>Thank you, Geoffrey.
>I enjoyed reading that.
>
>Best wishes,
>Alan

so did i, alan. it opened my eyes a little, too; the part about "suzanne's infidelities" - completely new to me.

anyway, thank you for writing - and more best wishes back to you

[LisaLCFan]

...it opened my eyes a little, too; the part about "suzanne's infidelities" - completely new to me...

I imagine that the part about "suzanne's infidelities" would be completely new to Leonard, too, seeing as though the lyrics of the "Queen Victoria" song come from his poem "Queen Victoria and Me", which was published in 1964 -- a few years before Leonard even met Suzanne (Elrod)...

Thus, it may be pure speculation on the part of the reviewer that the song was partially about Suzanne's supposed infidelities: perhaps the reviewer focussed on the line "my love, she gone with other boys", and then jumped to the (possibly unjustified) conclusion that it referred to Suzanne (who was, indeed, Leonard's official partner by the time the song version was recorded). Of course, even if Suzanne was being unfaithful to Leonard at the time he recorded the song version (which, again, may be nothing more than idle gossip), well, Pot, meet Kettle.

[Geoffrey]

LisaLCFan wrote:
>I imagine that the part about "suzanne's infidelities" would be completely new to Leonard, too, seeing as though the lyrics of the "Queen Victoria" song come from his poem "Queen Victoria and Me", which was published in 1964 -- a few years before Leonard even met Suzanne (Elrod)...
>
>Thus, it may be pure speculation on the part of the reviewer that the song was partially about Suzanne's supposed infidelities: perhaps the reviewer focussed on the line "my love, she gone with other boys", and then jumped to the (possibly unjustified) conclusion that it referred to Suzanne (who was, indeed, Leonard's official partner by the time the song version was recorded). Of course, even if Suzanne was being unfaithful to Leonard at the time he recorded the song version (which, again, may be nothing more than idle gossip), well, Pot, meet Kettle.
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hei lisa. your messages never cease to be interesting, fair and knowledgeable.

the reviewer is a lady named sylvie simmons, a respected leonard cohen biographer, making it difficult to believe she would include untrue happenings of a private nature. the only explanation i can think of is that news of suzanne elrod's infidelities must have earlier been publicised, for otherwise ms simmons would unlikely have included such information. it seems i am misunderstanding something here, but that is normal for me.

suzanne is still alive, as far as i know, and i believe is the mother of leonard's two children. how legal it is to reveal intimate details of a private person's life, i have no idea. such publicity cannot be pleasant, neither for the person involved or their family.

[LisaLCFan]

Oh, I know who Silvie Simmons is. I absolutely hated her trashy book about Leonard. You might like it -- it is chock full of salacious, tabloid-style gossip about Leonard's private life, and includes a lot of very sordid and inappropriately personal details about his various failed relationships with women (most of whom are probably still alive).

I am not in a position to judge the veracity of anything written by people like Simmons, but one would have to be a little bit naive to assume that, just beacuse they wrote it, it is probably true. You can't believe everything you read!

[Geoffrey]

LisaLCFan wrote:
>Oh, I know who Silvie Simmons is. I absolutely hated her trashy book about Leonard. You might like it -- it is chock full of salacious, tabloid-style gossip about Leonard's private life, and includes a lot of very sordid and inappropriately personal details about his various failed relationships with women (most of whom are probably still alive).
>
>I am not in a position to judge the veracity of anything written by people like Simmons, but one would have to be a little bit naive to assume that, just beacuse they wrote, it is probably true. You can't believe everything you read!

lisa, it was brave of you to write so negatively about the reviewer. i have her 'i'm your man' biography, but it is a thick brick of a book, and i cannot claim to have thoroughly read all 556 pages. i did not realise that she was not a serious writer, and i am sincerely grateful to you for having the courage to give a genuine heartfelt opinion. the various news media outlets i always read with suspicion, because they are not normally neutral sources of information, but biographers do not really exist in that same competitive world - even though they need to include at least one outrageous event in order to sell their product. so i have naively tended to give them a little more credibility. it is still difficult for me to believe that anyone can write whatever they like and not have accountability.

thank you for being so frank. it is refreshing to know someone is willing to stand up and 'call a spade a spade'. leonard had celebrity status, and was therefore more susceptible to unfair gossip, but suzanne elrod does not share that same status - and that is what i find most disconcerting.

[LisaLCFan]

To be clear, I was not accusing anyone of making stuff up, I was merely suggesting that gossip, hearsay and conjecture have been known to find their way into publications — including biographies — about famous people, and that therefore I am always a bit skeptical about claims that are made. Whether or not that is the case with what Simmons has written, again, I don’t know, but what I do know is that I really did not like her book for the way it portrayed and discussed Leonard and his private life -- including the women with whom he was involved.

Simmons is a journalist. You can decide if that qualifies as a “serious writer”.


[minor edit for syntax]