A Triumphant Return

Leonard Cohen is a songwriting giant in the music industry. Heck, he’s an artistic everyman, having released not only musical recordings but also books of poetry and prose. He’s accomplished much in his long life (he’s currently 76 years old), yet his story over the last decade has been one of his most fascinating.

In 2001 he emerged from five years of seclusion (having spent the time in a Zen monastery in California) nearly broke. His longtime business manager had embezzled most of his lifetime savings, so Cohen was trying to do whatever he could to maintain some sort of livelihood. However, he was also 75 at the time he was asked to do an international concert tour, and this heavily weighed on him not only from a health standpoint but also from an emotional standpoint. Cohen was not sure how his audience would respond to him after having been gone for so long.

Live in London would represent a triumphant return for him. Despite his age and having essentially disappeared for so long (unless his record label was re-releasing his songs in hits packages or issuing previously recorded concerts, you practically only heard him through covers that other artists were doing). This performance was a critical success for Cohen (Live in London received an overall Metascore of 91) as well as a commercial success. The package is a collection of some of his best songs from his lengthy catalog.

I have never been a big fan of Leonard Cohen—at least not his own recordings. I bought the soundtrack to the movie The Wonder Boys years ago, and one of his tunes (“Waiting for the Miracle”) was on this, which I hated. However, I have enjoyed some of the covers other artists have performed of his songs. One of the most gut-wrenching was a cover of “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley, which absolutely floored me.

All of this said, Live in London was a pleasing introduction for me to his music. Live sets can be a hit-or-miss affair, but this one delivers. Sure, Cohen’s voice is not as strong as it used to be (he’s 76, so one must throw him a bone), but the writings on the wall and the supporting singers and musicians really bring this set together. Cohen’s voice, despite being a little craggily at times, is strong enough to give his songs a certain depth that some artists just cannot achieve in a live setting. His audience banter is witty but not overbearing, which is refreshing. In many ways I find his live performances of his songs to be better than the original studio recordings.

Some of my personal favorite songs on the set (there are 25 over this 2-disc set) are “The Future”, “Bird on the Wire”, “Who by Fire”,“Hallelujah”, and “Democracy”. I found this set to be deserving of the evaluations it received. Cohen’s performance, along with that of his band’s, is very strong and brings to life many of his best songs.