John Clarke
32 mins
Hallelujah: The Songs of Leonard Cohen
Ace CDTOP1544
★★★★
“I’ve never gotten over the pleasure of someone covering one of my songs. I’m one of those parents that’s happy to let go,” Leonard Cohen is quoted in saying in the booklet that accompanies this 26-track selection of versions of his work by everyone from Judy Collins to Nick Cave.
It’s the kind of open and generous attitude that endeared him to public and performers alike.
Despite his protestations that he was just a “very minor writer”, his songs had a power and influence that resonated in Jeff Buckley’s majestic reading of “Hallelujah”, Judy Collins’s pioneering and pure version of “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye” and Nina Simone’s heartfelt and moving cover of “Suzanne”, all of which are included here.
His songs also bring out the best in artists such as Marianne Faithfull, who offers a world-weary “Tower of Song”, Dion, with an early and almost classical reading of “Sisters of Mercy” and Madeleine Peyroux with her inspired interpretation from 2004 of “Dance Me to the End of Love”.
Inspired and inspiring, and with detailed notes from Cohen on the genesis of each song, this an album to treasure.
