Rating 4.0
A middling tribute albumAfter spending the last few years wandering other musical landscapes, I rediscovered Leonard Cohen this year (years after being a mega LC geek in school) and especially wanted to seek this album out again. Compared to Famous Blue Raincoat (much shorter but much, much more luminous), I'm Your Fan is middling. What's up with the two covers of Tower of Song? Why is the cover of Suzanne so freaking boring? But then there are the beautiful plusses -- A Singer Must Die, the funky cover of Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On (who wouldn't want to hear THAT at a wedding?) and the oft-mentioned version of Hallelujah. I really like the French version of Avalanche (I didn't get the original for many years after this and was very surprised as my hand translated version was very different). Bottom line: if you want 1 LC tribute CD, get Jennifer Warnes's. If you want 2, get this one too. A must haveI bought this CD when it first came out in the 90's, as part of my R.E.M comprehensive collection. Since that time, this has stayed constantly near or in my CD player. Each interpretation of his songs highlights the beauty of the lyric he composed. I would be hard pressed to find a favorite track. I am a die hard R.E.M fan, but I don't think theirs is the best (near the top, maybe). But I would have to agree with most about The Pixies rendition of "I Can't Forget". not the best cd in the worldi got this as a gift, and since i enjoy leonard cohen music, i expected to enjoy this too, it's wasn't too dissapointed, but most of the interpetations to his songs are either trying to sounds just like leonard cohen or just too strange or unfit to the songs in my eyes.if anyone's looking to a good introduction to leonard cohen, i suggest "the best of" or just spending your money on any other leonard cohen cd, in this case i think, the sorce's still much superiour to the reflection, yes, the nick cave interpetation is great, but it doesn't justify getting the whole cd. |
