Consumer Guide Album

Leonard Cohen: Live Songs [Columbia, 1973]
It's strange to encounter Cohen in the company of a large group--when he leads a thirteen minute singalong based on a blind man's placard he risks turning into the Pete Seeger of romantic existentialism. And I could do without the shaky guitar improv and the revival of "Passing Thru," though both are tolerable. But it so happens that all five of the self-covers on this album are from Songs From a Room, which I've always thought could use redoing. And eventually the singalong becomes a yellalong, which is much better. B+