"Chelsea hotel" by Lloyd Cole may very well be the worst cover in history. What madness would provoke someone to turn this great song into an upbeat softrock abortion? I love the drumming especially, wow, it makes me want to drive screwdrivers into my ears. And how it falls off after the chorus, So dramatic! -- like the buildup of a cheap soap opera before a commercial for douches. Total garbage. There are few greater crimes than taking something great and pointlessly remaking it into something awful. Stop me before I listen to that awesome harmonic solo again!
February 23, 2007 |  | A classic album in its own right, a must have in your collection! |  |
Forget about who wrote the songs, forget about trying to make comparisons, forget about whether or not the performances were worthy of a tribute. Simply take it as music. Leonard Cohen wrote great songs that here shows they were also great POP songs. So if you're into great music, especially pop songs, and can listen to music without biases or prejudices then you must pick up this disc. The first track "First We Take Manhattan" clearly exemplifies this. While a R.E.M. fan, this song is one of my favorites by them. Mike Mills as co-vocalist with lead singer Michael Stipes makes this an incredible track. Ian McCulloch has an incredible voice and this shows on "Hey That's No Way....". "I Can't Forget" sounds like any other great Pixies track. There are many other stand out tracks like That Petrol Emotion's "Stories of the Street," "Don't Go Home...," "Chelsea Hotel," "Hallelujah," and my favorite: Dead Famous People's "True Leaves No Traces," which transforms Cohen's beautiful lyrics into just a gorgeous pop song. Enjoy!
August 11, 2005After spending the last few years wandering other musical landscapes, I rediscovered Leonard Cohen this year (years after being a mega LC geek in school) and especially wanted to seek this album out again.
Compared to Famous Blue Raincoat (much shorter but much, much more luminous), I'm Your Fan is middling. What's up with the two covers of Tower of Song? Why is the cover of Suzanne so freaking boring? But then there are the beautiful plusses -- A Singer Must Die, the funky cover of Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On (who wouldn't want to hear THAT at a wedding?) and the oft-mentioned version of Hallelujah. I really like the French version of Avalanche (I didn't get the original for many years after this and was very surprised as my hand translated version was very different).
Bottom line: if you want 1 LC tribute CD, get Jennifer Warnes's. If you want 2, get this one too. July 11, 2004
I bought this CD when it first came out in the 90's, as part of my R.E.M comprehensive collection. Since that time, this has stayed constantly near or in my CD player. Each interpretation of his songs highlights the beauty of the lyric he composed.
I would be hard pressed to find a favorite track. I am a die hard R.E.M fan, but I don't think theirs is the best (near the top, maybe). But I would have to agree with most about The Pixies rendition of "I Can't Forget". December 10, 2003
 | | not the best cd in the world | |
i got this as a gift, and since i enjoy leonard cohen music, i expected to enjoy this too, it's wasn't too dissapointed, but most of the interpetations to his songs are either trying to sounds just like leonard cohen or just too strange or unfit to the songs in my eyes.
if anyone's looking to a good introduction to leonard cohen, i suggest "the best of" or just spending your money on any other leonard cohen cd, in this case i think, the sorce's still much superiour to the reflection, yes, the nick cave interpetation is great, but it doesn't justify getting the whole cd. March 26, 2003
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