(cohen Live)
THE SUNDAY AGE
Saturday July 30, 1994
`Cohen Live: Leonard Cohen in Concert' (Columbia).
IT'S been a long time between live drinks for the man with the leathery voice and deft way with words - 21 years after `Live Songs' he's back with a collection of his best recorded during two tours coinciding with the release of `I'm Your Man' (1988) and `The Future' (1993).
Cohen, 60 next month, is at his lugubrious best but this sadly lacks some of the humor and spontaneity that are always an integral part of a Cohen show - remember the whistling on `Live Songs'? As ever with Cohen, it's the words that count: he's happy to tinker with lines, linger on phrases and rejig his intricate rhymes within songs. But his band, which shows a remarkable consistency in personnel between the tours, is alive to requirements, indulging in the sumptuous rhythms of `Dance Me To The End Of Love' or taking a more restrained part in a song such as his heart-rending `Joan Of Arc'.
If you're his fan, you'll love it; if you're not, you soon will be. -- Jason Steger.
`Five Days In July', Blue Rodeo (WEA).
WHEN they toured here last year this fine Canadian band found small audiences - a pity because they make some of the best country rock to come out of North America.
Blue Rodeo have carved out their own brand of appealing roots music that is strong on harmonies and subtle playing. Since taking charge of their own production duties they seem to have found greater focus.
This, their most polished effort, retains the freshness of earlier recordings.
`Five Days In July' is the band's most country oriented album to date, awash with pedal and lap steel. The lead off track, `Five Days In May' features a stinging guitar line that would do Neil Young proud as it offers a counterpoint to the melody of the song. Maybe Blue Rodeo will find some just rewards in the country music arena if this fails to win over rock fans. -- Brian Wise.
© 1994 THE SUNDAY AGE
