Songs From The Road

A superb snapshot and souvenir from Cohens tour in 2008. This is an excellent collection with superb and wonderful playing from a great band.

I was trying to source this CD at a reasonable price and Amazon came up trumps! Delivered on the date as promised, I am very happy with the CD and the very reasonable price too.

If you have "Live in London", you might wonder whether you should be buying this. Don't think for too long - just go and buy it.There are 12 songs on the CD; these 12 songs are also on the DVD and there is a 20 minute documentary devoted to LC and filmed by his daughter Lorca, but from the viewpoints of his backing band members, the tour management and technicians. The 12 songs are beautifully sung and played, the DVD highlights the gentle intensity of the musicians and their remarkable skill at transforming each of LC's masterpieces into something even better, more special.No track is better than any other - each is just fantastic. LC's vocals, for someone in his mid-70's, are exceptional - he is in great form - and the musicians add panache. He is humble, gentle, generous and obviously enjoying himself - and the musicians are given the opportunity to shine, as each do. If this was an album of a single concert, all of us fans would be commenting on what a scintillating show we had just witnessed.Also, a word for the three lady backing singers - the excellent British sisters Charley and Hattie Webb and, the incomparable; Sharon Robinson. Ms Robinson has been working with LC off and on for 30-odd years, has co-written and co-produced a lot of his more recent music, and is an understated and wonderful individual. The Financial Times did a piece on her and her collaboration with LC which you can find if you either read her Wikipedia bio or go straight to her website - a very interesting read.I have to admit to being biased about LC. I love his work. As someone says in the little film, he is neither selling anything nor promoting a new album; he is just touring and giving his fans a chance to see him. I know that LC was swindled out of millions by his long-time manager (a figure of $50m has been bandied around), so maybe he was trying to make a little money. Frankly, I don't care what the reasons for touring and releasing live albums are, I'm just glad he did - because they are wonderful and I'm actually waiting for the next release ....

I already have the O2 Arena DVD from Leonard Cohen. I read the reviews of others about this Blue Ray DVD of "Extras" from various concerts most of which were good. Both the sound and vision are far superior to the tracks from the O2 DVD as you would expect from Blue Ray. My hope now is that Columbia will re-release the O2 concert in Blue Ray, hopefully soon and not to wait for Leonard's demise, he is after all 79. I certainly will be at the front of the queue to upgrade my standard DVD to Blue Ray.

This is a superb blu-ray, though initially I had some reservations about it. I saw Leonard Cohen in concert in Sligo, Ireland, in July 2010, and the show was incredible - magical, inspirational - he was so gracious, giving and responsive to the audience and he seemed in very good form. When I first watched this production, he seemed more exhausted and worn-out and less participatory that he seemed on that night in Sligo. This took some of the magic out of watching him. I understand he did collapse during this tour of 2008-2009 and his physical state, as well as the physical state of the backing singers, doesn't seem so good. Admittedly this was a very long tour and must have taken a lot out of them, and that night in Sligo in 2010 was the very start of a new tour. He played for over 3.5 hours and danced on and off the stage for the encores. The backing singers were all upbeat, energetic and engaged with the crowd. The crowd were alive with enthusiasm, unlike some of the crowds shown in this video which look more sedate (though none-the-less still very appreciative). So this video is lacking some of the energy which I experienced at the live gig.The other reservation I first had was that most of the tracks selected in this production are down-tempo and not the most well-known or initially striking.However I have come to love this production, despite those reservations. The music is sublime, the performances from all the musicians are excellent, the production and sound quality is very good, and there are moments which still move me to tears here. So without a doubt it gets 5 stars from me. I would very much like to see the release of some of those moments from Lissadell house in Sligo on July 31st though - now that would be a great treat!

12 songs cobbled together. I bought it a long time ago but have not been able to play Leonard Cohen at all. Am I mourning for his death. I think that is what it has been. But I stumbled on Marianne and Leonard on bbc catchup and that has brought me back to this particular dvd. 12 songs sung in different locations throughout the world. This longlived extraordinary intelligence - powerful profound intimate complex intimate so many many adjectives - and so visually a bit of a mess because these songs were not planned to be put together. Not quite right visually but the musical craftsmanship once one has jumped from one song to the next is totally acceptable. I like the fact that it is Leonard in his seventies because there is also the sense of an extraordinary varied life time of experiences being shared with us his audience - his students ... how much we learn from him when we open our minds to these amazing performances.

I have never seen him in person.This video is almost like being there.

I don't need to add anything. If you love Leonard, and you should. just buy it!

Beetje een vreemde keuze om niet 1 concert te kiezen maar elk nummer werd uit een ander concert gekozen. Met als gevolg dat je niet helemaal dezelfde concertbeleving hebt als bij 1 doorlopend concert. Ook de beeldkwaliteit schommelt daardoor nogal. De tour zat toen ook al in een grondige routine daar waar de eerste concerttour (geregistreerd op de dvd Live in London, jammer genoeg zelfs maar in 4:3 beeld) toch een stuk spontaner was en dus het in de uitvoeringen niet te ver ging zoeken.Gelukkig staat het nummer the Partisan wel op deze uitvoering en jammer genoeg niet op de dvd Live in London.De verzamelde live nummers op deze blu-ray blijven natuurlijk een prachtige herinnering aan een formidabel artiest die live nog het beste gaf tot kort voor zijn overlijden.

Macht Freude!

Très contente de mon achat , que du bonheur à écouter et très relaxant avec cette voix qui vous enchante