I have to admit I come to this CD with more than a little bias. For more than forty years, I've been a fan of Leonard Cohen the poet, the man, the musician, the artist. In 1964, while I was sitting in a high-school class not doing much of anything, a friend loaned me Cohen's book A Spice Box of Earth, published less than a decade earlier. At the time, the only singing Cohen was doing was with his little Country and Western band in Montreal. I was hooked.
When I was a young poet, my greatest living influence was Leonard Cohen. I read all of his poetry. I studied and revered it like some Holy writ. As soon as Beautiful Losers was published, I bought and read it and discovered the prose of Leonard Cohen. When his first album, The Songs of Leonard Cohen, was released, I rushed to buy a copy. As Cohen evolved as an artist, on some lower plateau I evolved.
I remember, somewhere around 1970, an influential publication [I think it was Rolling Stone but can't remember for sure] had on its cover an illustration of all the great music stars of the day, stacked like a pyramid. The illustration was titled "The Rock Pile." At the time, Cohen was still pretty much considered a folk artist, but there he was, Leonard Cohen, a Canadian poet, right at the top of the rock pile. Ask me if I was impressed.
The people I spend the most time with are writers, musicians, painters, actors and other artists. In this community, Leonard Cohen is more than simply an icon, more than a towering idol. Cohen is the ideal toward which we each aspire. It's not that any of us wants to actually become Cohen, but we want to achieve the depth and beauty and power in our own work we find in Cohen's.
This CD, like the motion picture from which these soundtrack recordings were drawn, is a loving tribute to the man and to his words and music. Listening to the performances, you can feel the love, the deep and enduring respect these artists have for Leonard Cohen. There is a tangible beauty here that goes beyond simply the performances and should touch any listener, even one unfamiliar with the works of this Canadian poet.
Originally conceived by the Canadian Consulate in New York as a live outdoor concert in Brooklyn titled Came So Far For Beauty: An Evening Of Leonard Cohen Songs Under The Stars, the concept soon grew. Performances were mounted in Brighton, England and Sydney, Australia and ultimately film of these concerts became Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man. In the end, concert producer Hal Willner and film director Lian Linson have created an unique and lasting tribute to the artistry of Leonard Cohen.
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