Leonard Cohen

Released after a long break from recording, this is another career highlight, even if the chiaroscuro lighting on the cover photo shot ensured that this was initially ignored in neon-mad 1985. Classic Cohen tracks include "Dance Me to the End of Love," "Coming Back to You" and "Hallelujah," which has to be one of the most beautiful, if decidedly unorthodox, hymns ever written.

"Oh, no," moans an aging hippie after being bitten by a vampire. "Now I'll be half-dead and
half-alive, kinda like Leonard Cohen." I always laugh at Leonard Cohen jokes, but I don't
share their derisive sentiment. It's true that Cohen's vocal range will never rival Cleo
Laine's, and his songs will never be featured in the repertoire of Up with People. And I have
to admit that Various Positions is less satisfying than Recent Songs or New Skin fo... More >

With a new crop of beautiful losers arising out of the latest bohemia as inexorably as ailanthus out of a vacant lot, the man who wrote the book is worth attending, because he's not bitter. After all, righteous anger has never been his long suit, and what does he have to be bitter about? At fifty, he's still living comfortably off the fruits of his spiritual torment. Of course, not every loser is so talented, or resilient, The hymn "If It Be Your Will" and the fable "The Captain" are as rich and twisted as anything in his career, and "The Law" does justice to his patented romantic irony, which by now has a soothing glow. If you're sick of hearing him whisper in your ear that to be a roue is a religious calling, so be it--me, I think this is a better advertisement for middle-aged sex than Dynasty. (Grade - B+)