Leonard Cohen - Live Songs (1973)

"Live Songs" is Leonard Cohen's first live album, released during the three-year silence between "Songs of Love and Hate" and "New Skin for the Old Ceremony". It consists of recordings from concerts performed mostly in Europe in 1970 and 1972. Cohen is backed by a medium-sized, country-influenced group, which includes guitarist/fiddler Charlie Daniels and vocalist "Jennifer Warren", who would soon become famous as Jennifer Warnes, among other things a popular interpreter of Cohen's songs.

The album consists mostly of reinterpretations (often with additional or significantly altered lyrics) of songs from Cohen's second album, Songs From a Room ("Nancy" is a version of "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy", and "Improvisation" is an extended instrumental guitar trio version of the vamp from "You Know Who I Am", which is also featured). Neither Songs of Leonard Cohen nor the then-recent Songs of Love and Hate (which featured a live track, "Let's Sing Another Song, Boys", culled from the same tour as the 1970 recordings here) are represented. The other tracks are a cover of the folk standard "Passing Through", and two new compositions: "Please Don't Pass Me By (A Disgrace)" (a thirteen-minute singalong recorded in 1970) and "Minute Prologue". A "bonus" track, "Queen Victoria", was recorded by Cohen alone in his Tennessee hotel room in 1972.

At the beginning of a Paris, France performance of "Bird on the Wire", Cohen recites the first verse of a French translation of the song's lyric.

Tracklist

Side 1 (Recorded in 1972)

01.  Minute Prologue  (Cohen)  - 1:12 (London)

02.  Passing Through  (Blakeslee, Cohen)  - 4:05 (London)

03.  You Know Who I Am  (Cohen)  - 5:22 (Brussels)

04.  Bird on the Wire  (Cohen)  - 4:27 (Paris)

05.  Nancy  (Cohen)  - 3:48 (London)

06.  Improvisation  (Cohen)  - 3:17 (Paris)

Side 2 (Recorded in 1970 and 1972)

01.  Story of Isaac  (Cohen)  - 3:56 (Berlin)

02.  Please Don't Pass Me By (A Disgrace)  (Cohen)  - 13:00 (London)

03.  Tonight Will Be Fine  (Cohen)  - 6:06 (Isle of Wight)

04.  Queen Victoria  (Cohen)  - 3:28 (Tennessee)

Personnel

Leonard Cohen - vocals, acoustic guitar

Jennifer Warren - vocals

Corlynn Hanney - vocals

Donna Washburn - vocals

Ron Cornelius - acoustic guitar, electric guitar

David O'Connor - acoustic guitar

Charlie Daniels - fiddle, electric bass

Bob Johnston - harmonica, organ

Notes

Released:  May 1973

Recorded:  1970, 1972 in London, Brussels, Paris, Berlin, Isle Of Wight, Tennessee

Genre:  Folk, Live

Length:  49:10

Label:  Columbia

Producer:  Bob Johnston