Leonard Cohen - Live in London

Two things about this album, firstly it is one of the most enjoyable live recordings I have ever heard and secondly it is by an artist whose time has come. Recorded on 17^th July 2008 at London’s O2 Arena, ‘Live in London’ was released as a DVD and a two-CD set in March 2009. It has received rave reviews by the media and now in early 2010 he has received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award after being a singer/songwriter/performer for over 40 years.

I have to admit that more often than not I find live recordings disappointing. How often have we heard artists who can’t hit their notes correctly on stage? The balance and sound quality is invariably not quite the same and the crowd noises are annoying. In addition, the live recording doesn’t help you enjoy the atmosphere that was present. None of these criticisms apply here.

Firstly, you have to say that the Cohen voice is still as powerful and deep as it always has been, in fact there is probably an added timbre that now comes with over forty years of performing. Unlike other artists as they get older, this septuagenarian’s singing now seems to suit his work more than it has ever done. Cohen has always had a maturity of thought way beyond his contemporaries, so the aged voice is somehow even more appropriate.

Secondly, the live audio quality of this recording is the best I have ever heard. There has been plenty of criticism about the acoustics at the O2 Arena but you can’t detect any problems here at all. What’s more listening to the album you wouldn’t know it’s a massive arena as the warmth and intimacy of the event is captured perfectly.

Lastly, the instrumentation on this album is absolutely exquisite. Cohen collaborated with ten of the finest musicians including Bob Metzger (guitar, steel guitar), Javier Mas (bandurria), Dino Soldo (saxophone, wind instruments) and the sublime voices of Sharon Robinson and the Webb Sisters, Hattie and Charley. The accompaniments alone make this album worth buying, even if you have the original versions you can’t help but be impressed with how beautifully and sensitively these songs have been re-arranged. My only gripe and it’s not really a criticism is that Cohen hasn’t made use of strings in his little band, I would love to hear a violin or cello as I’m sure this would add another dimension.

My other point was that Cohen is appreciated by his audience more now than he has ever been. The music, spiritual but not sentimental, reflects the current popularity of poetry and anything related to mind, body and spirit. Cohen spent five years in a Zen Buddhist monastery in Japan between 1996 and 2001 and it has undoubtedly had an impact on his whole being. He has always had a presence but there is now an inner calm and peace which he can use to mesmerise his audience.

Cohen uses all his experience to win over the crowd. There’s cleverness right from the start, welcoming his audience like guests with “it’s wonderful to be gathered here just on the other side of intimacy.” He chooses his words between the songs very carefully and his use of humour and wit never detracts from the mood he is trying to create. He ridicules his former depressions by naming all the anti-depressant drugs he has been on and reminisces about the last time he performed in London, 15 years previous when he says he was “a kid with a crazy dream.” The patter is laid-back and droll but you can’t help but love it.

He pampers the audience but his team of musicians as well. He knows exactly when to get the applause for his skilled performers. He has the timing of a true professional.

In the second half he recites some of this poetry including the incredibly moving “A Thousand Kisses Deep.” You feel that this brings together a lot of aspects that are so important to him at the moment including love, anti-ego and ageing, “The ponies run, the girls are young The odds are there to beat You win a while and then it’s done Your little winning streak And summoned now to deal With your invincible defeat You live your life as if it’s real A thousand kisses deep.”

There are too many excellent tracks on this album to mention them all. Suzanne, Bird on the Wire and So Long Marianne are classics from his two albums ‘The Songs of Leonard Cohen’ and ‘Songs From A Room’ in the late sixties. There are all his later favourites as well including Everybody Knows, The Gypsy’s Wife, Anthem and Democracy. For anyone who has not yet found the works of this unique master there are 26 of his greatest songs over two and a half hours. If you missed the concert but have some of his records from the past, there is still plenty to enjoy here though.

Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More

Unfortunately, just about the whole world knows how good this London foursome’s first album is by now. It won’t stop me though from extolling the virtues of this forty-six plus minutes of sheer delight. At a time when there are large swathes of mediocrity coming out of the music industry Mumford & Son’s Sigh No More stands out like a beacon of brilliant incandescence.

The first thing to say is how can a band become this good so quickly when they only formed in late 2007. There are shades of other groups in the Mumfords that come under the folk/rock/bluegrass domain. Fairport Convention, Strawbs, Dubliners, Pogues and Lindisfarne are names from the past that come to mind. There’s also a much more contemporary feel with the likes of Kings of Leon, Arcade Fire and the Maccabees in the same melting pot.

Stand-out tracks on the album are The Cave which is a great boisterous folk singalong with so much energy, Winter Winds has a feeling of Christmas with a marvellous brass processional finale, Awake My Soul is a feelgood piece with a rousing change of tempo and perhaps the pick of the album Little Lion Man which shows the band’s lyrical maturity so well, about a man wrestling with his ego after letting down his loved one.

There are other aspects of the Mumford’s music that make them special though. The first is Marcus Mumford’s distinct vocal style, angst driven but with a passion that just screams to be listened to. It singles the group out from the others in the same way as Anthony Followill seems to have done for Kings of Leon.

It would be unfair to say this is any way a one-man band though. The musical dexterity is prodigious throughout and for any guitar aficionados just listen to that banjo playing on Roll Away Your Stone and Little Lion Man. It is not just the musicianship that is excellent though, the production is masterly, crisp and clear.

This is the total package then at the first attempt. It’s a work of maturity in so many ways and such a good starting point for four men in their early 20s. It will be a surprise if they don’t get awards for this and it will be interesting to see how things progress in 2010 and beyond.

Unlike so many albums there is a consistency of track that is rarely found. It is one of my bugbears that you sometimes get a few great tracks on an album but rare that you get the whole twelve that you love. I have heard others say it is one of their favourites of all time and I can see it becoming a worthy classic in years to come.