Leonard Cohen
Field Commander Cohen - Tour of 1979

THE REVIEW

Let's jump back thirty years: it's between December 4th and 6th, 1979 in London, and then in Brighton on December 15th of the same year. The audiences are crowded, and on stage is a band, the Passenger, supported by violinist Raffi Hakopian, oud player John Bilezikjian, and two singers, Jennifer Warnes and Sharon Robinson. But no, they are not the protagonists of this time-traveling journey: our hero is one of the greatest - or even the greatest - songwriters of all time.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Sir Leonard Cohen.

We had to wait more than twenty years (until 2001, to be precise) before Columbia unearthed the recordings of what the Canadian author himself defined as "the best tour of his life." Better late than never, I would add, because it would have been a shame to miss a gem like this. The live album gathers a handful of tracks from four different Cohen albums (Songs of Leonard Cohen, New Skin for the Old Ceremony, Death of a Ladies' Man, and Recent Songs) and seems to mildly mark the transition from the more stripped-down folk of the beginnings to the more modern sound of the album Various Positions.
Our protagonist, in fact, still possessing a deep but not overly deep voice, remains faithful to his guitar, but spices it up with the help of violins, flutes, saxophones, female voices, keyboards, and pianos, exotic instruments, etc.

The album begins with a few notes of guitar, then applause: it starts with the title track "Field Commander Cohen," a song with solemn, martial, melancholic tones, which here becomes at times Caribbean (not entirely coincidental, given the references to Cuba). An excellent start for our protagonist. It follows with one of my favorites by Cohen, "The Window," presented in a version very similar to the studio version. It's the turn of "The Smokey Life" and "The Gipsy Wife" (songs I always tend to associate, perhaps because of the similarity between the titles and their succession in Recent Songs). The first is performed with Jennifer Warnes, and the second is beautifully intertwined with a violin solo by Hakopian: a performance of impressive beauty. The live continues with "Lover Lover Lover," introduced by a brief instrumental part, then jumps to the debut album with "Hey, that's No Way To Say Goodbye" and "The Stranger Song," both presented very simply, without too many embellishments. The same formula is used for the melancholic "The Guests," which precedes the not very "Cohen-like" (if I may say so) "Memories," certainly in contrast with the sad vein that characterizes almost the entire album. To the delight of the audience, the last pieces presented are "Why Don't You Try?," "Bird On The Wire," and "So Long, Marianne." An exciting conclusion with enthusiastic audience frenzy.

What else to add, then? The album is splendid in its studied simplicity, certainly the most beautiful Cohen concert that has ever been released.
Useful for those who want to approach Cohen, essential for those, like me, who madly love the debut albums of this essential singer-songwriter.