CD Odyssey Disc 1381: Leonard Cohen

This last album made me think of my recently departed friend, Karen. A lot does these days, I suppose.

Karen and I once took swing dancing lessons together. I was the third person through the same class with her, following behind her partner Nick, and our friend Andrew. Her appetite for swing dancing just always managed to exceed that of her partners.

We had a great time, but swing-dancing didn’t stick with me either. But damn it, for those eight-odd classes we danced, and we spun, and we laughed. Later we showed off what few moves I could remember to our friends with joy and delight.

Despite being on her third spin through the beginner’s class, Karen was graceful and gracious throughout. Now that she’s gone, I’m so glad I did that.

Thanks for the dance, Karen.

Disc 1381 is…. Thanks for the Dance

Artist: Leonard Cohen

Year of Release: 2019

What’s up with the Cover? Nothing. This might as well be a menu cover for a fancy steakhouse.

How I Came To Know It: I love Leonard Cohen and I buy all his albums.

How It Stacks Up: I have 14 Leonard Cohen albums and this one comes in last. Sorry, Leonard.

Ratings: 3 stars

“Thanks for the Dance” suffers from a malaise common to posthumous releases; no one is quite sure what to do with the unfinished material. The result is an album that feels half finished because that’s exactly what it is.

When Leonard Cohen recorded “You Want it Darker” in 2016 he knew he was dying. The record has a beautiful finality to it and was a fitting bookend to a legendary career that had started with “Suzanne” almost 50 years earlier. Cohen made peace with his impending end, and gave us a beautiful goodbye, filled with all the wisdom and longing he was known for.

The vocal tracks for “Thanks for the Dance” were recorded around the same time, but Cohen never got the chance to set them to music. The music that is added later is principally written by Cohen’s son, Adam.

It’s unfortunate, because while Cohen’s greatest talent is far and away, his lyrical prowess, he is also an underrated songwriter. Look no further than the masterful “Hallelujah.” That song is excessively performed on singing competition shows for a reason; it has a gorgeous melody. Hell, some of the song’s most memorable lyrics (“It goes like this/the fourth, the fifth/the minor fall/the major lift”) is Cohen vocalizing what the tune is doing. Bottom line: the guy could write a song.

On “Thanks for the Dance” the music is timid in the mix, and apart from the occasional instrumental flourish, it doesn’t add much to the songs. There are two happy exceptions. First, the sexy and sultry “The Night of Santiago” where Javier Mas’ Spanish guitar is so delightful you forgive the relative sparseness in the rest of the song. And “The Hills” which is the one song where the music is also by Leonard Cohen. Even so it is a bit too quiet, but there are echoes of his talent for landing somewhere between majesty and apocalypse.

Otherwise, the album leaves Cohen to rely almost entirely on the considerable power of his words. As ever, these flow out of him in that low gravelly confessional style he mastered on his later records. Even though these are more beautiful words from the master storyteller, they still have this nagging feeling of being hangers-on; leftovers and cutouts desperate to be paired with the full power of Cohen’s artistic voice.

While the record has a host of amazing talent helping out - Daniel Lanois, Beck, Jennifer Warnes, and Feist among others – none of them add a lot of innovation. Even the backing female vocals which usually help his words soar, are quiet and distant.

Over the weekend I was listening to Nick Cave’s latest album, “Ghosteen”. Like Cohen, Cave is a born poet, and when it comes to musical arrangements, he is even more fearless. I would have loved for Nick Cave to be handed the reins of “Thanks for the Dance” to load whatever crazed bat-shittery came to his mind in order to enhance what he heard in all Leonard’s words of wisdom.

Instead, we get a diminished record, still resonant and powerful on the pure evocative power of Cohen’s poetry, but unable to transcend beyond just that power.

But don’t despair. Even here, there is still magic in the old man’s words. A vibrant and powerful energy that makes the record worth your time for the images alone. My favourite moment on the record is “The Night of Santiago” where Cohen recalls (or perhaps creates) a youthful memory of love consummated on a riverbank.

Cohen may have been near his own end, but the lines of the song are as virile as ever. And in this week where so much of life has been tinged with sadness, I leave you with just one stanza of that song, full of life and the lush and the restorative power of memory:

“Her thighs, they slipped away from me
Like schools of startled fish
Though I've forgotten half my life
I still remember this
Now, as a man I won't repeat
The things she said aloud
Except for this, my lips are sealed forever
And for now
And soon there's sand in every kiss
And soon the dawn is ready
And soon the night surrenders
To a daffodil machete
I gave her something pretty
And I waited till she laughed..”

Best tracks: Happens to the Heart, Moving On, The Night of Santiago, The Hills