In Dylan LP years I have two year end best of categories, "Best Dylan Album" and "Best Non-Dylan Album." The best will be Dylan, natch, so like it seems unfair to not even give anyone else a chance at the top spot. This year I will have "Best Dylan Album", "Best Non-Dylan Album" and "Best Non-Cohen Album" because I can't put anything but Live in London up top and that's just the way it is. End of story.

The Flatlanders' Hills and Valleys is currently frontrunner for Best Non-Dylan/Cohen. Anyone with an interest in Texas music, folk-country, alt.country, singer-songwriter music of the last 30 years is going to across each of these three guys -- Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock (although Butch doesn't have the solo profile of the others.) The sound is pure Texas dust -- accordian throughout and unmistakable south west geography and politics -- but with a dazzling richness, each of these three guys have unique voices, vocally and in terms of their stories. The songwriting rises to the occasion. "Homeland Refugee" is a clever reversal of the classic Okie migration story, in this the Californian returns to the dust bowl after losing his house and job. "The Way We Are" kicks it honky tonk, "Sowing on the Mountain" is tex Mex bluegrass. There are a couple that reference migration, notably the jaunty "Borderless Love" and some classic Texas philosophising in "Cry for Freedom" and "Just About Time."

There's not a non-catchy song on the thing. Five stars!

Of uncertain provenance straight outta the low countries, a performance of the 9th best song on Various Positions from the live DVD/CD (London O2 arena gigs) to be released 6th April. I ordered it from Amazon til I saw an Australian version was being put out at the same time. Might camp out in fromt on JB Hi FI or something ...

All of thee are good some of them are really great but I'm not in the groove right now so I'll come back later with notes.

Country/Folk/Blues/Rock/Dylanalia/Cohenalia
Nancy & Lee 3 by Nancy Sinatra And Lee Hazlewood
Down In The Boondocks & Other Favorites by Billy Joe Royal
Comes In Twos by The Webb Sisters
Roger The Engineer / Over Under Sideways Down by The Yardbirds
Delta Blues by Son House
Live On Breeze Hill by Rick Danko
Broadside Ballads, Vol. 6: Broadside Reunion by Various Artists - Smithsonian Folkways
Live From Austin, TX by Eliza Gilkyson
Havilah by The Drones
Gala Mill by The Drones
Custom Made by The Drones
South Austin Sessions by Jesse Dayton
Country Soul Brother by Jesse Dayton
Boxer by The National
Never Going Back by Shemekia Copeland
Teasin' You by Snooks Eaglin
Singing Through the Hard Times: A Tribute to Utah Phillips by Various Artists - Righteous Babe Records

Jazz
Notes From The Underground by Medeski Martin & Wood
The Dial Masters - Original Choice Takes by Charlie Parker
Soul Pools by Babatunde Lea
A Night At The Jazz Rooms - Compiled by Russ Dewbury by Various Artists
Dig by Miles Davis Featuring Sonny Rollins
Nothin' But Soul by Gene Ammons
Reincarnation Of A Love Bird by Charles Mingus
Chet Baker & The Boto Brasilian Quartet by Chet Baker
West Coast - A Nice Day by Various Artists
Duet by Chick Corea & Hiromi

These three records were Grammy winners
Song For Chico by Arturo O'farrill & The Afro-latin Jazz Orchestra
Monday Night Live At The Village Vanguard by Vanguard Jazz Orchestra
Randy in Brasil by Randy Brecker

RnB/Funk/"World"
Rise Up! by Lonnie Smith
Texas Funk by Various Artists
A Promise by Myriam Makeba
The World's Rarest Funk 45s by Various
Senegal 70 - Musical Effervescence by Various Artists
People Sure Act Funny by Lee Dorsey
The Hard Way by James Hunter
Afro-Jaws by Eddie Lockjaw Davis

This EP from the Webb Sisters dropped on eMusic today so I had to get it immediately. They are part of Leonard Cohen's current touring ensemble. It includes a live version of "If It Be Your Will" including the intro and recitation at the beginning LC has been doing in concert. Me like much.

I haven't had much chance to listen to the rest and am running out the door again now but "In Your Father's Eyes" surprised/pleased me by being a Dixie Chick-esque banjo-lead number. So I'm looking forward to hearing that again properly and the other songs.

"If It Be Your Will" was recored at one of the O2 concerts in London, and a CD and DVD from those gigs are being released in March. I had ordered copies on Amazon, but then read Australian editions are being released at the same time. Woot. The "Suzanne" part of the DVD is on Amazon for your edification.

OK I haven't quite exhausted my all Cohen, all the time kick. It's a bitch coming down, man.

I did an 8tracks of various Cohenalia. Covers mostly (the ones I can stomach), some songs "about" him, a version of "Chant des Partisans" and a bit of Len himself, including a Dreadfully Serious Poem from his early Montréal days. Direct link or the embed:

Also see wayfarer's mix (Andre in comments here) includes some Len collabs which are new to me. That Herbie Hancock one makes me happy in a special place.

I also watched, remarkably for the first time, the I'm Your Man doco as it screened on SBS the other night. The live bits were filmed at the 2005 Opera House gig which we -- my two sisters and me -- were at. My sister -- who will ONE DAY flipping comment here ;-) -- watched it before me and emailed that it didn't seem like they were looking at the lyrics, which was a major gripe of ours at the time. Alas, SHE LIED. Here is my original blog post about it. Because, seriously Nick Cave is obviously looking at the frigging lyrics in the video. NICK, WHY DO YOU HURT ME THIS WAY. I mean, I don't care what Jarvis flipping Cocker does with his time but Nick Cave is NOT ALLOWED to disappoint me. Sure "Suzanne" is a bit wordy but what's your excuse for not knowing "I'm Your Man"? It brought it all back.

But it brough back all the things in my follow up post about the good things. The vid also reminded me Perla Batalla and Julie Christensen were awesome and really, despite being by far the least of the names there fame-wise, their "Anthem" was the highlight of the movie I just saw. They get it. It's interesting to see I liked The Handsome Family in 05 since now I find them boring. I'd forgotten I ever liked them. But "Heart With No Companion" is a terrific shitkicker song, it's just their own songs which have no melody. Anthony was an unknown -- really he was, back then. I'm tempted to dig back into Blogger and fix the error on the title of only my favouritest song ever, but I won't.

It's weird seeing blog posts from four years ago, I won't do it too often.

So maybe some of you are thinking "hey this is a COUNTRY MUSIC blog. It says it right there <----- Enough with the mopey skivvy-wearing singer-songwriter downers!" I can unify the desires of us all.

Great YouTube with Leonard Cohen doing "Red River Valley" (70s) which I present for your edification. The interview bit at the beginning is actually from an NPR profile I was listening to just yesterday. $2.99 in iTunes Audiobooks but now I see you can listen to it free. Recommended for free or three bucks, but Terry Gross' carping about whether he thought he was good looking got v. annoying at some point. His ambivalence about the zen retreat thing (from about 16:00) is fascinating though.

And of course "Tennessee Waltz" (this is from Dear Heather) Dig that frigging steel guitar:

Another round up of media/blog activity. Older link roundup here. Setlists can be found at the Leonard Cohen Files (since I'm getting a bazillionty Google search hits looking for setlists.) I added a "Cohen Fest 09" category to keep them all together.

Fuck Politeness (Sydney)
Courier Mail (I assume they mean "wows", not "woes." Fixed, apparently they meant "woos.")
Australian Jewish News
Faith and Theology
I know Andrew Bartlett was at the Brisvegas gig, I eagerly await a dispatch.
Illawarra Mercury
Crowds flock to Cohen (Bowral)
The Hunter gig seems to have got comparatively less media?

The subject line is from this song. I thought I should listen more intently to the last record, there are loltastic gems within.

Because of a few songs
Wherein I spoke of
their mystery,
Women have been
Exceptionally kind
to my old age.
They make a secret place
In their busy lives
And they take me there.
They become naked
In their different ways
and they say,
"Look at me, Leonard
Look at me one last time."
Then they bend over the bed
And cover me up
Like a baby that is shivering.

To update my setlists musings below, Len did actually play extra songs at Bowral (and other winery gigs) than the indoor shows. This is a long tour and I thought he might want to be conservative with his voice to make it through, but just the opposite!

I can't add much to my ramblings about the Sydney show. Bowral was a bit different in being a semi-festival event and outdoors, it's a bit without the environmental intensity of even a barn like the SEC. There's more to distract you, a bit of rain, sundry insects, the darkening skies, the people around you sitting crossed-armed the whole time without even clapping who you suspect are there because they are southern highland worthies and this is An Event To Be At (there was some dancing from this quarter towards the end but that may have just been the chards kicking in. OR THE POWER OF LEONARD. YOU DECIDE.) But we were in the second row centre this time so any hothouse atmosphere which fizzled off into the eucalypts was more than made up for with the golden halo of PROXIMITY to the authentic object which is the dragon I keep desperately chasing. (that is a really terrible sentence, but conveys ultimate truthiness and do I look like a poet?)

All those things I loved about the Sydney gig, I loved doubly seeing up close. It was magic to get "Sisters of Mercy" for the first time. And I enjoyed "Closing Time", I think it and "Anthem" (from the same record, The Future) have really benefitted from being liberated in the live form. Pavlov's Cat spoke beautifully about "The Partisan" in her notes, and I should single it out too. He is playing the guitar for it, so that's the functional reason he is standing straight up at the mike rather than galloping around like a 10 year old Romanian gymnast like he does on most of the other songs. But form follows function (or the other way round ...?), and his suddenly grave and dedicated bearing, looking steadily straight ahead, or upwards a little but either way into the past/future transports you to the world of the song. Seconds before the suit and hat was that of a rakish ladies man, whose pick up line is "oh won't you let me see your naked body?" And then instantly he's the partisan, in a black and white reel. The lighting was great in the shows, evocative but not obtrusive and I think it did a particularly superb job on the emotion here.

I did joke in the car back though that The Partisan himself may not have worn a bolo tie, unless he was liberating Albuquerque. I love that tie. He didn't do "Memories" of course -- the song the naked body line is from -- but how cool would it have been if he had? IMHO, très.

(UPDATE: Just found awesome and awesomely weird live "Memories" on YouTube. That's Sharon Robinson on backup who is still doing an amazing job today. Or maybe you prefer a drunk version with lots of hawt young Len pics in slideshow? Got you covered too.)

I did get teary when at the end he said "thank you for keeping my songs alive all these years." I don't believe he said it in Sydney, although the patter is substantially the same, and I know he says it to everyone but still ... *sniff.* That bit and the rest of the beautiful 'Wither Thou Goest" ending to the show is recorded here. Thanks Irene for taking the footage. Shivers.

True nerds might like to know he did the "Thousand Kisses Deep" recitation after "Democracy". I've only ever seen it in the setlists after "I'm Your Man", we did give him a standing O after that one though so maybe he decided to go straight into a song rather than wait for the tumult to die down enough to bless us with his verse.

I did a quick vid of "Dance Me to the End of Love", only 2 mins because I wanted a personal keepsake but didn't want to be fussing with the camera long. Excuse the wobbliyness, it is merely my raging hormones causing my hands to shake uncontrollably. And excuse my, um, "singing." I put it on YouTube but the image quality is better viewed at my MobileMe gallery.

They were all rapturously received again. We were in the "gold class' sealed off area at the front but I was pleased to see enterprising General Admission folks get up about as close as us, just on the other side of the fence as it tapered towards the stage. Lots of them had Len shirts and knew the words. And the security dudes handed Len a couple of love notes from them ... I don't think security are supposed to do that? But still, I like to see chutzpah like that pay off. I'm a cheap seats type at heart, just masquerading for a night with the pukka ladies in the pashminas, and their excitable presence added to the atmosphere up front so bravo! sneaky general admission people.

It is over (for me), which is sad. But who can be sad after being a part of this. "Forget your perfect offering" is truly profound advice, but this was a perfect offering and I won't forget it.

Some random artlessly taken and artlessly edited pics, starting with the view of the crowd from my spot.

I greet you from the other side, of sorrow and despair with a love so vast and shattered it will reach you everywhere. No wait! I actually greet you from Goulburn.

Where I am stuck for hours (one one more to go!) due to an unfortunate public transport organisational FAIL. Well, Leonard at the Vineyard was perfect once again, but you knew that already, right? Right now I'm trying to work out some setlist issues. At the second Sydney gig (according to the setlists on the Leonard Cohen files) he did "Sisters of Mercy" instead of "Hey, That's No Way..." and "Closing Time" instead of "Democracy" BUT he definitely did all four last night and nothing else I can tell was omitted. So did we get an extra song? I will have four hours on the XPT to puzzle it out. I will do photos and whatnot if I ever get home. Haven't even spotted the Big Merino.

Update:
No photos because of the seats (let's not get me started) but I'll try in Bowral. Meantime, check out Leonard in his first musical phase: a country and western singer in The Buckskin Boys.

I've been following the setlists of Len's most recent tour -- which incidentally will number almost 100 shows in nine months by the time this Pacific leg is up -- so I knew he generally opens with "Dance Me To The End of Love." This is one of my very favourite songs, by anyone and so I had to be sure to be composed and focused from start to soak up every note -- no throwaway warm up openers tonight. In fact, the first highlight came even before the song when Leonard (Leonard Freaking Cohen) bounded, literally bounded, on stage and was greeted by a standing ovation. Excited as I was, I may not have thought of that myself but there was a great release in going up with the masses and I evidently felt sufficiently unrestrained that I couldn't help but tear up. And I squealed like I'd just seen a Bay City Roller.

I am saying he -- and will all he way through, my singer chauvinism has me in chains -- but of course the band was superb in a very Cohenesque way. The sound preserved the classic album sounds, 80s organ and drums, easy listening sax and girls backups, stripped though of some of the more egregious Songsmith-esque touches of some of the studio sessions. I snark because I love. (I love Leonard's cheap Casio keys and electric drums sound, I mean. Not Songsmith, heavens but no.) And so he had a lush bed and although you might suspect at his age his voice would need all the hideyholes it could get, not so. Although naturally it is not his 70s voice, it's not that far removed from the one on Cohen Live, a collection of late 80s/early 90s performances which I listen to a lot. Actually listening to that today it occurred to me that he was really pushing his voice as low as it could go and as growly, and leaning heavily on the words and phrasing, whereas the 2009 live Len had a much lighter touch without sacrificing any of the expression. This could be completely wrong, but luckily I have the chance to test the thesis in Bowral on Sunday. There were some notes where the voice, all the instruments and the words came together for a second or two and locked into place perfectly with the memory of the recorded versions and it would echo through my ribs. Also? Matey is still sexy as.

The hits kept on coming in the set list and you couldn't begrudge any omissions (although I'd love to hear some of the lesser ticket items on my favourite record, Various Positions). Last night at the second Sydney show he did "Sisters of Mercy" which I was temporarily disappointed about not getting at ours, except I think it was at the expense of "Democracy" which I was on the edge of my seat wait for. Everything was a highlight. "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" -- oh my god perfection. It was like hearing Chelsea Hotel #2 for the first time, not the one millionth, suddenly each line seemed to have a meaning I'd never considered before, although I had, it just seemed that way. I felt the same way about "Anthem" which seemed more compelling and more, well, anthemic than on the record. I was a puddle at his spoken word parts, part of "If It Be Your Will" before passing on to the Webb Sisters to complete and the variation on "A Thousand Kisses Deep." Oh hell, all of them. "Tower of Song" !!!! I loved his little smile when people cheered on the ironic "gift of the golden voice" line in that -- the big screens serve a purpose although being close enough to see those details with your own eyes is why I insist on being up the front. He played a bit of guitar, although clearly wasn't doing much heavy lifting on it it was still super cool to see. I loved to see him smile, and enjoy the experience so much.

He charmed me with his generosity, he charmed me with his bolo tie (!), he charmed me when he pronounced "about" like a Canadian, he charmed me when he stood head bowed and clasped to his chest reverently in front of his band like he was coming before the Don, his genuine humility at being there and the rapture was charming too. I loved I could share it with my sister, who first bought Various Positions on LP when I was 8 and she was 16, which I guess was the first step to here. (not just "here" the Len concert, but "here" the blog, and the rest of the music)

How do you know a person's opinions on just about everything can be safely ignored? When they crack that Leonard Cohen music is depressing. It is the opposite. Always has been.

And now on to Bowral, where we have second row centre and get to do it all again. Memo to pack a hat and sunscreen (or a leaf, a la Len)

I'M EXCITED.

We have gigs Wednesday and Sunday.

I'll update this list as new field reports come through:
Bernard Zuel in SMH, Kathy McCabe in the Daily Telegraph.
New: Dr Cat at Adelaide report, Adelaide Now and Noise Pollution, Upper Yarra Star, LC Files Adelaide thread and Geelong Advertiser.

Sorrow at Sills Bend
Still Life With Cat
YouTube: Hallelujah, I'm Your Man/A Thousand Kisses Deep, Suzanne
Stuff.co.nz Auckland gig and Wellington.
NZ Herald
Leonard Cohen Files threads on Yarra Valley and Auckland and Yarra Valley.
And
Len with a leaf on his nose.

Leonard Cohen ticket buying expedition FAIL.

Just got two tickets for my sister Fuschia and myself to Leonard at Centennial Vineyard in Bowral (their site, broken at the mo). Second row, front section. Remember in the last thread we all said we'd PAY ANYTHING to get to see Len? Lucky that, 'cause they were $300 each! The Ent Cent gigs gold tix are $200. If it be your will, Len. We shall also chance our arms with the internet pre-sale for the Ent Cent gigs which starts tomorrow.

A Day on the Green details (winery gigs, you have to sign up on their site to get the code for the pre-sale)
Frontier Touring site for other dates/details (you have to sign up with them for the pre-sale. Physical sales 9am Monday 10th)

To celebrate here is Famous Blue Raincoat in Norwegian.
09 Gikk Du Noen Gang Fri_.mp3 by Kari Bremnes

Which is from this album, all of which is really good even if like me you no speakee norskee.

Cannot fnd any actual dates yet BUT:

CANADIAN songwriting legend Leonard Cohen is to tour Australia for the first time in 24 years.

Best.song.ever: