Product Details
ASIN : B000001EZK
Track Listings for
Disc-1
1. Everybody Knows - Don Henley
2. Coming Back to You - Trisha Yearwood
3. Sisters of Mercy - The Chieftains, Sting
4. Hallelujah - Bono
5. Famous Blue Raincoat - Tori Amos
6. Ain't No Cure for Love - Aaron Neville
7. I'm Your Man - Elton John
8. Bird on a Wire - Willie Nelson
9. Suzanne - Peter Gabriel
10. Light as the Breeze - Billy Joel
11. If It Be Your Will - Jann Arden
12. Story of Isaac - Suzanne Vega
13. Coming Back to You - Martin L. Gore
Customers who bought this goods also bought.
Editorial Reviews
From Amazon.com
If ever an artist deserved the tribute-album treatment, it's Leonard Cohen, an intermittently fascinating songwriter but perhaps the worst singer to ever release more than one major-label album. Cohen has never written a song which couldn't be improved by someone else singing it, and it's no coincidence that he's been the subject of three tribute albums. The latest is Tower of Song, which turns Cohen's work over to such middle-brow pop stars as Don Henley, Billy Joel, and Suzanne Vega. The results from this new project are mixed. Melodramatic, angst-ridden vocals by Tori Amos ("Famous Blue Raincoat") and Peter Gabriel ("Suzanne") emphasize Cohen's narcissism and purple poetry. On the other hand, Elton John delivers a delightfully campy, irreverent reading of "I'm Your Man," and Sting joins the Chieftains for a nicely understated, Celtic-folk arrangement of "Sisters of Mercy." --Geoffrey Himes
Customer Reviews
Good and Bad (2007-07-03)  First the bad - Bono butchers "Hallelujah". There is no other way to describe it (his ego seems to have got the better of him - surprise, surprise). It and "Joan of Arc" are my two favourite Cohen songs. However, you can do what I do and just skip it. The rest is all good. I think that Warnes' "Famous Blue Raincoat" is better than Amos' but not by much. Don Henley's "Everybody Knows" gets repeat plays from me - a case of a voice perfectly fitting a song. I thought Yearwood's cover of "Coming Back To You" was very good and I am not a Country fan. Anyone who likes Nelson's "You Were Always On My Mind" will enjoy his cover of "Bird On A Wire".Of the rest, Arden's "If It Be Your Will" stands out.
Eclectic mix (2006-06-09) Reading other reviews, i noticed the disdain for Bono's version of Haleluyah. I, however, LOVE Bono's take on the song. My only reservation is regarding the country-style interpreatations (Trisha Yearwood, Aaron Neville) (strangely, i rather liked Willie Nelson's version of Bird on a Wire), but that is only because I don't much like country. Otherwise, these are great, imaginative interpretations of Cohen's tunes: Tori Amos' voice is amazingly haunting for a very haunting song, and Billy Joel's Breeze is fantasticly bluesy. I love this CD in my car, as it is a nice mix of styles.
Not so great tribute... (2004-07-07)  I like many of the singers on this "tribute" CD (except Bono - I think He is a real fake), but Cohen sings his songs best (just like Gilbert Becaud, Neil Diamond etc.) and his voice is just fine! Don`t spend any money for this CD.
No one sings Cohen like Cohen (2004-01-30)  Like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen's voice is apparently an acquired taste. The charge is that he can't sing, but his brilliant songs compensate for that wretched voice. Nonsense. The worldly-wise voice of Cohen's later recordings is as perfect an instrument for his lyrics as Dylan's rough and creaky voice is for his. No one sings Cohen like Cohen, and the proof is in "Tower of Song," the second album ("I'm Your Fan" was the first) in which a diverse group of performers try their luck with the Canadian bard's impressive songbook. For the Cohen faithful, this has some value as a curiosity piece, but at no time do these "real" singers improve upon the man himself. Don Henley's take on "Everybody Knows" lacks the brooding menace (to say nothing of John Bilezikjian's spooky ode playing) found in Cohen's version from "I'm Your Man," and Bono, the one artist who I would have thought capable of making a Cohen song his own, fails miserably with "Hallelujah" (the best version of which can be found on "Cohen Live"). Suzanne Vega, Aaron Neville, and a few others fare much better, but if you're interested in hearing someone other than the man himself sing his songs, stick to Jennifer Warnes whose album "Famous Blue Raincoat: The Songs of Leonard Cohen" is outstanding. The song from which this album takes its title isn't included here and with good reason. In "Tower of Song," a self-mocking Cohen sings that he was "born with the gift of a golden voice." Cohen can make that claim without irony, more so than most of the artists on this disc.
Some really great covers (2003-05-04) There seem to be some very mixed reviews about this album on amazon[.com], and I feel the need to jump in with my own. First of all, let me say that I adore Leonard Cohen, the man is brilliant. However, as much as I enjoy listening to the master himself, I also enjoy listening to other people's interpretations of his work. Overall, I thought that this was a good tribute album and I listen to it frequently. However there were some disappointements. Don Henley's (Everybody Knows) & Sting's (Sisters of Mercy) renditions are rather boring. Bono's version of Hallelujah is just plain awful (which is very upsetting because one of the reasons I bought this album was because I just KNEW Bono, with his gorgeous voice, was going to present an amazing version of the song. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Shame on you Bono). But, there are also some real stand outs (after all it does merit 4 stars in my opinion). In particular I adore listening to the tracks performed by Tori Amos (Famous Blue Raincoat), Billy Joel (Light as a Breeze), Jann Arden (If It Be Your Will), Suzanne Vega (Story of Isaac), and Martin Gore (Coming Back to You). These songs alone, make this album worth purchasing and listening to, repeatedly. The remainder of the album, done by Trisha Yearwood (Coming Back to You), Aaron Neville (Ain't No Cure for Love), Elton John (I'm Your Man), Willie Nelson (Bird on a Wire), and Peter Gaberiel (Suzanne), is fine and remains true to the spirit of Mr Cohen's lyrics.
Look for similar items by category
Related Link
Powered by Amazon Web Services + Amazon Associates.
|
![]](http://resource.hanamoku.com/img/hanamoku_ca/00bar_top_right.gif){kind=small}
![]](http://resource.hanamoku.com/img/hanamoku_ca/00bar_bottom_right.gif){kind=small}
Goods, Product Information
