Category: Music → VA - Tower Of Song: The Songs Of Leonard Cohen (1995)

If ever an artist deserved the tribute-album treatment, it's Leonard Cohen, an intermittently fascinating songwriter but perhaps the worst singer to ever release more than one major-label album. Cohen has never written a song which couldn't be improved by someone else singing it, and it's no coincidence that he's been the subject of three tribute albums. The latest is Tower of Song, which turns Cohen's work over to such middle-brow pop stars as Don Henley, Billy Joel, and Suzanne Vega. The results from this new project are mixed. Melodramatic, angst-ridden vocals by Tori Amos ("Famous Blue Raincoat") and Peter Gabriel ("Suzanne") emphasize Cohen's narcissism and purple poetry. On the other hand, Elton John delivers a delightfully campy, irreverent reading of "I'm Your Man," and Sting joins the Chieftains for a nicely understated, Celtic-folk arrangement of "Sisters of Mercy." --Geoffrey Himes (from amazon) --

Tracklist:

1. Don Henley: Everybody knows. 6:09
2. Trisha Yearwood: Coming back to you. 3:36
3. Sting & The Chieftains; Sisters of mercy. 3:19
4. Bono: Hallelujah. 4:57
5. Tori Amos: Famous blue raincoat. 5:37
6. Aaron Neville: AinТt no cure for love. 3:38
7. Elton John: IТm your man. 4:08
8. Willie Nelson: Bird ont the wire 4:20
9. Peter Gabriel: Suzanne. 5:13
10. Billy Joel: Light as the breeze. 6:11
11. Jann Arden: If it be your will. 5:27
12. Suzanne Vega: Story of Isaac. 4:06
13. Martin Gore: Coming back to you. 3:32