I'm Your Man, which sports Cohen's first-ever solo-production credit, does take one completely new tack, though: it is the first Cohen album that can be listened to during the daylight hours. While keeping the focus on his ever flatter but exceptionally charismatic voice, Cohen has fashioned an unabashedly contemporary record steeped in austere synth pop, from slinky reggae ("I'm Your Man") to Quiet Stormplushness ("Ain't No Cure for Love," "I Can't Forget"). For added flavor, there's Turkish oud or pedal steel here, caressing female harmonies there. Still, it's a pleasure to say there's still absolutely nothing comforting about having Leonard Cohen around.
What are you listening to and WHY might anyone be interested? (Vol. XIII)
Posted by: Richard Dane on 01 January 2017
2017 has arrived today, so time to start this thread afresh.
Last year's thread can be found here;
Before - good album...
Interesting re-mix
Bert Schurink posted:Interesting re-mix
Bloody Hell! Isn't there anything that guy "stevewhatshisfacename" won't touch and leave alone. Isn't anything sacred anymore?
1971 - vinyl - Uk first pressing...
CD. Ramones - Ramones
Just finished......
John Legend - Love In The Future
Interested in working through some of John's catalogue......
From Tidal:
Now Playing......
John Legend - Evolver
Continuing exploring John Legend's catalogue.....
Review from Tidal:
Tony2011 posted:
1971 - vinyl - Uk first pressing...
Following your rec. Streaming Tidal.
Erich posted:Tony2011 posted:
1971 - vinyl - Uk first pressing...
Following your rec. Streaming Tidal.
Mick Taylor's solo on Can't You Hear Me Knocking is epic!
Tony2011 posted:Erich posted:Tony2011 posted:
1971 - vinyl - Uk first pressing...
Following your rec. Streaming Tidal.
Mick Taylor's solo on Can't You Hear Me Knocking is epic!
Now precisely listening it!!
Now Playing.......
Jakob Bro - Streams
Jakob Bro (guitar), Thomas Morgan(double bass) and Joey Baron (drums)
Love Jakob's music, this album just arrived in the mail today and ripped to the NAS and giving it a SPIN! A beautiful album....
Review from All About Jazz - Geno Thackara --- "The music wants to go in its own direction," 
Jakob Bro
b.1978
guitar
" data-trigger="focus" title="" data-html="true" data-original-title="">Jakob Brodeclares, and "it's our job to follow it." If one central theme of jazz is "never the same way once," the Danish guitarist is someone who lives by it more than most. No two of his albums are made with the same cast and rarely do they repeat the same instrumental lineup. A given release may feature a quartet, nonet or fifteen-piece ensemble; there could be three horns or none, two extra guitars or just his own, occasionally no drums, or sometimes electronics and remixing.b.1978
guitar
At other times a simple trio is all it takes. The music on Bro's second ECM Records outing wants to flow quietly and gently like its namesake. The pieces tend to stay as sparse as the lineup: the leader's compositions here are like the framework for a glass house with wide open windows, allowing lovely natural views and letting in a soothing breeze. He and his trio-mates are pleasantly relaxed and feel no undue pressure to fill the space. The rhythm section ambles with comfortable ease while the guitar's electric sheen lets unhurried notes ring in the air.
As ample evidence for why he remains Bro's most frequent sideman,
Thomas Morgan
bass, acoustic
" data-trigger="focus" title="" data-html="true" data-original-title="">Thomas Morgan's double bass stays smooth and expressive in as few notes as necessary. The endlessly adaptable bass, acoustic
Joey Baron
b.1955
drums
" data-trigger="focus" title="" data-html="true" data-original-title="">Joey Baron is taking this chair for the first time, but having played with Johns from Abercrombie to Zorn, of course he's eloquent enough to join the conversation and more than hold his own. He contributes mostly with light strokes or cymbal splashes, always showing a tasteful feel for just when to liven up more to match the others. Baron shines most in the disc's sole group improvisation as they pay tribute to the late b.1955
drums
Paul Motian
1931 - 2011
drums
" data-trigger="focus" title="" data-html="true" data-original-title="">Paul Motian (his frequent predecessor at the drum stool on past Bro recordings), beautifully simmering on the toms amid a cloud of tone haze and warmly plucked bass.1931 - 2011
drums
Bro reaches for the distortion knob a bit more with "Full Moon Europa" and the gradual slow build of "Sisimiut," which respectively give the album's overall tone further subtle shadings of dark and light. They're balanced out in between with the prettiest melodic moment in "Shell Pink," followed by a stark guitar reprise of "Heroines" that offers the recording's surest embrace of emptiness. It all evokes the shifting and flowing its title suggests. Largely placid with the odd sharper current underneath, this Streams fluidly finds its path with understated beauty.
I haven't played this in at least a decade, but saw it and thought it deserved a spin. And somehow, as if by magic, it seemed to be just the ticket. Great, laid back jazz.
Tidal. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not
Now Playing.......
Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man
Another CD that arrived today in the mail, ripped and play from the NAS....... I do like Leonard!
Review from the Rolling Stone here:
As second comings go, there probably isn't a less likely one than that of the Canadian poet and singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. Though his kind of confessional romantic despair would appear to be hopelessly passé in the Eighties, it has instead proved to be an inspiration to a new generation of singer-songwriters, from Suzanne Vega to Morrissey, who have taken a cue from his sardonic verse and brooding demeanor (if not his self-deprecating humor).
Underground noisemakers like Nick Cave and Coil have covered Cohen's songs, and Jennifer Warnes's album of Cohen covers, Famous Blue Raincoat, was an unexpected critical hit and respectable seller last year. What seemingly appeals to such a wide variety of musicians is Cohen's eye for poetic detail, his cutting barbs and his finely crafted melodies, which meld folk with ethnic musics — traits all in evidence on I'm Your Man, Cohen's first major-label album in nearly a decade and a beguiling return to form.
How does Cohen himself feel about such renewed acclaim? You can probably guess. "Well, my friends are gone and my hair is grey/I ache in the places where I used to play," he intones in a voice now so low it sounds as if it were about to fall off the record. Using that voice to its best advantage, though, Cohen has replaced the Judeo-Christian imagery of 1984's Various Positions with a blunter style reminiscent of his earliest poetry and songwriting, starting with the barbed social commentary of the synth-driven "First We Take Manhattan." Love as submission, a time-honored Cohen topic, takes on a conspiratorial friendliness in "I'm Your Man" ("If you want a boxer, I will step into the ring for you/And if you want a doctor, I'll examine every inch of you").
While the idea of romantic despair still infatuates Cohen — as in the album's first American single, "Ain't No Cure for Love," whose atypically banal lyrics are salvaged by Cohen's deadpan delivery — he still keeps his knife sharpened at every turn. The one-liners that crop up throughout the album demonstrate how far he has always been from his more angst-ridden contemporaries; few can write as devastating a put-down as the bitterly pessimistic "Everybody Knows" ("Everybody knows you've been discreet, but there were so many people you just had to meet/Without your clothes"). In "Tower of Song" he mocks his own infamous singing style: "I was born like this, I had no choice," he sings. "I was born with the gift of a golden voice."
Now Playing.......
Loreena McKennitt - The Visit
The voice is alluring and the music is marvelous, a good lift for a Saturday afternoon.
Now Playing.......
Lucinda Williams - This Sweet Old World
Recently received this in the mail and have played it a couple of times on the home stereo and in the car. Here it goes again for another spin. I really think I am liking this album......
Tidal. Johnny Cash - American III: Solitary Man
5 trax off the album due out 17th Nov
James Holden & the Animal Spirits for those who haven't heard him he does a nice take on electronic Kraut rock.
Out 3rd Nov or thereabouts.
I had a love hate relationship with his last album.
I think I have probably said this a thousand times but why they weren't huge after this album I will never know.
A classic 80's album.
Now Playing......
Lyle Lovett - Step Inside This House
I don't think Lyle has ever sang a bad song.......
Now Playing.......
Over The Rhine - Drunkard's Prayer
I love the music of Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist, they have put out some great songs and albums......
From an interview on Pathos.com found here:
Overstreet:
You mentioned in another interview that Drunkard’s Prayer might be your favorite OtR album of all. Why is that? If you had to name which song has its roots deepest in your heart, the one that feels most personal and potent to you, which would it be? And why? Would Karin choose the same one?
Detweiler:
I suppose I should temper that by saying that just about every record we’ve made was my favorite at the time. But some projects do feel more deeply rooted in a season of life or whatever, and none more so than Drunkard’s Prayer. I think Karin and I brought a fresh appreciation of each other to this record that made it a lot of fun to make.
Also, Drunkard’s Prayer achieves a simplicity that I believe is quite special, and captures the heart of what Karin and I are about musically in a more immediate way than some of the other records. It feels honest and real. Straightforward. When we can achieve that in a recording we are then free to say, Well, it may not be for everyone, but at least it’s authentic, and we can feel good about that.
I think the heart of the record is the song “Born.” Again, it’s a very simple song, that grew out of this chapter of our lives. It was a true collaboration – we couldn’t have written that one without each other.
I think the sentiment of the song is universal and timeless, but some of the language feels fresh. That always feels like a gift.