Tower Of Song: The Songs Of Leonard Cohen

Performer: Various Artists
Engineer: Ed Cherney; Eric Rosse; Gabe Veltri; Justin Neibank; Richard Chappell; Rik Pekkonen; Ron Rigler; Simon Osborne; Tchad Blake; Bill Dooley
Producer: Don Henley; Ed Cherney; Howie B.; Mitchell Froom; Stan Lynch; Steve Lindsey
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Includes liner notes by Tom Robbins. Personnel: Willie Nelson (vocals, guitar); Suzanne Vega (vocals, acoustic guitar); Tori Amos (vocals, piano); Peter Gabriel (vocals, keyboards); Billy Joel (vocals); Dean Parks (guitar, acoustic guitar, mandolin); Dann Huff, Dominic Miller, Grady Martin, Jimmy Ripp, Jody Payne, Steuart Smith, Waddy Wachtel (guitar); Mac McAnally, Fred Tackett, Billy Joe Walker (acoustic guitar); Dennis Herring, Ron Sexsmith (electric guitar); Mark O'Connor (violin); Mickey Raphael (harmonica); Jim Hoke, Jim Horn, Lee Thornburg, Vince Denham, Charles Rose, Lon Price, Bill Churchville (horns); Jim Cox (piano, electric piano, organ); Matt Rollings (piano); Benmont Tench, Steve Nathan, Bobbie Nelson (organ); Scott Plunkett, Larry Klein, Mitchell Froom, Steve Lindsey (keyboards); Jerry Marotta (drums, percussion); Curt Bisquera, Jim Keltner, Matt Chamberlain, Scott Crago, Eddie Bayers, Paul English, Paul Leim (drums); Arno Lucas (tambourine); Lenny Castro (percussion); Simon Gogerly (programming); Chris Rodriguez, Donna McElroy, Carmen Twilley, Louise McCormick, Jackie Gouche, Julia Waters, Lori Perry, Alex Brown, Maxine Willard Waters, Sally Dworsky, Trisha Yearwood, Kim Fleming, Bob Bailey, Jean McClain, Yvonne Hodges (background vocals). Audio Mixers: Ed Cherney; Eric Rosse; Hugh Padgham; Tchad Blake; Bill Schnee. Audio Remixer: Howie B. Liner Note Author: Tom Robbins. Recording information: A & M Studios, Hollywood, CA; Javelina Studios; Secret Sound, Nashville, TN; Village Recorder, Santa Monica, CA. Photographer: Dennis Keeley. Anyone attempting a new tribute album to Canadian poet/author/songwriter icon Leonard Cohen faces several daunting difficulties, not the least of which is that it's already been done well twice. The "adult" music scene was covered off definitively as far back as 1986 with Jennifer Warnes's Famous Blue Raincoat, on which she channeled the spirit of Cohen in uncannily appealing fashion (a bout of divine inspiration she has not equaled for her own work). Cohen personally endorsed these sessions, duetting with Warnes on the epic "Joan of Arc." The "alternative" music scene got its licks in with 1991's I'm Your Fan, where poet/musician peers like John Cale teamed with such younger acolytes as Nick Cave, the Pixies, and R.E.M. to suffer Cohen's pain as if embodying a collective son for a surrogate holy father. Tower of Song strikes one as a venture likely devised by the Marketing Department, rather than those elitist projects with artists who actually share an affinity for Cohen's work. To be blunt, this 13-strong "tribute" is best described as a total train wreck. Most of the renditions are notable only for their astounding lack of subtlety. Big-name engines barrel down the track, horns blaring, with no regard for such warning signals as color, shade, contrast, tone, definition. A complete derailment, because what they've all fatally missed is the poetry of Cohen's lyrics. ~ Roch Parisien

Entertainment Weekly (9/29/95, p.62) - "Cohen's voice is so brooding and atonal that it wouldn't take great interpretive skill to make his melodies come alive. Yet it's surprising how vital his spooky, peephole poetry can be in the hands of...[the] performers on this tribute disc..." - Rating: B+

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