Jennifer Warnes - Famous Blue Raincoat

Very Lovely, A Little Morose

I like Leonard Cohen, I like Jennifer Warnes...I even like the CD, but it's definitely got problems.

This particular CD was manufactured in Germany, and its poor quality really surprised me. I like playing music a little loud, but to get just a middle line volume (like 50% on most CD's) I had to turn the volume on the player to 100% just to get the mid range on this CD. That was not good.

I was familar with the material on the CD because I had a cassette version from when "Raincoat" was first released in the late 80's. I remember it got lukewarm reviews at the time. "An artistic success, but commercial failure" was the general tone. Being a dedicated Cohen fan from way back, I thought the reviewers must be crazy.

Having matured a bit since then, I now understand what they were talking about. Leonard Cohen is an interesting, extraordinary artist (it's recently been said that Phil Spectre held a loaded gun to his head during a studio session saying, "I love you, man" to which Cohen replied, "I hope so.") Anyway, Cohen is the most successful "sensitive" male singer (I'm using "sensitive" interchangeably with "spiritual" these days) & writer in the contemporary cut throat commercial scene. He is uncompromising & often swims against the social current.

On one recent song he states "I'm neither left or right," but there is certainly a conservative element in his work that I personally have found just a little bit irksome--but on the other hand, his imagery that Cohen's sexually propelled religious images really touch a fundamental chord of beauty in the heart. Another element I can relate to is that LC's lrics don't shy away from brutal self-revelation. Cohen never tries to gloss over the many inequalites & unfairness of life. His themes are always adult in nature & delivery.

However, there is a downside too.

Cohen has a tendency to go overboard with social critique & ego-centric bitterness. These are not qualities particulary useful in the pop scene, particularly not in today's resurging political conformity. Despite these observations, Leonard Cohen has consistently worked to forge his success & his songs regularly play on the air. If not exactly a "super star," he is just a breath away.

Judy Collins brought both herself and Cohen into the pop mainstream with her beautiful rendition of "Suzanne." From then on Collins' star rose & she often performed her friend's work. In contrast to Collin's light & delicate voice, Cohen has a deep & mournful sounding voice that only accentuates the darkness of his own material. Although Cohen's LP's weren't consistently popular, his music was popularized many other artists, such as Jennifer Warnes.

This CD contains some of Cohen's most lovely songs: "Famous Blue Raincoat," "Song of Bernadette," and "Joan of Arc." Unfortunately these great tunes are sandwiched between more self-pitying sounding songs such as "Came So Far for Beauty" and "The Singer Must die."

Jennifer Warnes has a great voice, but it doesn't convey the light, airy quality of Judy Collin's. Collins can sing morose material without it sounding...well, morose. Warnes' deeper voice & delivery does not overcome the self-involved bitterness that characterizes some of the songs. However, the three songs mentioned are great enough to purchase the CD, particularly if you are a Leonard Cohen and/or Jennifer warnes fan.

Essential Leonard Cohen
Love Lifts Us Up: A Collection 1968-1983
Judy Collins Sings Leonard Cohen: Democracy July 16, 2007

Why not ask for more?

Can you believe this album is twenty years (+) old? I can't at all. In one instant the time passing has seemed interminable, and in another instant it seems to have passed like the blink of an eye. I remember how I heard about this album. I saw Joan Baez perform at Carnegie Hall in the fall of 1987 and she sang "Famous Blue Raincoat" in her concert. I ran to a record store the next day and, appropriately fevered, bought this album. I was excited because I was a fan of Jennifer Warnes from her Arista Records days ("Right Time of the Night" and "I Know a Heartache When I See One"), and while I knew of her connection to Leonard Cohen (she is credited as background singer Jennifer Warren on Cohen's 1973 album "Live Songs"), finding her singing a full album of Leonard Cohen's material was enough to send my young soul into orbit.

My initial impression on first listening was that "Famous Blue Raincoat" and "Joan of Arc" (duet with Leonard Cohen) were the album's peak moments. Time has not diminished that belief. But the program overall is brilliant as are the performances and production. Jennifer Warnes' vocals do these songs justice. But if you listen to any of her earlier albums, you will find that she enhances the quality of all of the songs she sings. This disc is as exciting to listen to twenty years later as it was when it was first released.

P.S.: Just read that an expanded version of this album is to be released in the near future. How fortunate for us! June 18, 2007

Quite possibly the best album of the 1980s

Forget every bad Jennifer Warnes top ten hit or ill-conceived duet you've ever heard.

I first bought this album, shortly after it came out, because I was a self-styled audiophile-in-training and all the boutique audiophile magazines raved on incessantly about the production quality, Warnes' voice, and only incidentally, Cohen's music and lyrics. As usual, the really astonishing thing was mostly ignored - the odd and indelible combination of Jennifer Warnes' highly accomplished and almost preternaturally controlled voice with the utter weariness and inventiveness of Cohen's lyrics, all of it put to some exquisite, adult pop music.

This album should come with a warning: "Kids, Don't Try This At Home." This really is powerful stuff about grown-up themes, emotions and experiences, told from a jaded but still slightly hopeful, adult point of view. Something uncanny happened when this album was made, a true "synergy" (God I hate that word, but...)that transforms musicians and material into something they'd never been before. Jennifer Warnes became a true artist, and Leonard Cohen became a true human being. Practically everyone I've played this CD for in the ensuing years has gone right out and bought their own copy.

I can say without exaggeration that I still listen to this CD every week, after twenty years, and I can't wear out my enjoyment of it. It still retains some reminder of the "shock of the new", and it really hasn't become dated. I'm still moved by the sweetness and the steel of Warnes' voice, and I still shake my head at the subtlety and richness of the lyrics.

Like Joni Mitchell at her height ("Blue", "For The Roses"), The Roches first two albums, Rickie Lee Jones at her best ("Pirates") and most of everything Shawn Colvin's ever done (except for most of her new album), this is one of those times when you can call popular music "art". It's also a great introduction to Warnes" later, also episodically wonderful albums ("The Hunter", "The Well").

And for those of you whose interest has been piqued, check out her website to see why the fact that this CD is out of print is maybe not such a bad thing.

May 15, 2007

For the Love of Leonard

There are few distinctly individual voices in the realm of Jennifer Warnes,I can hear her from the soul. This oldie but goodie relights my wildsoul and need for truth in everything. Joan of Arc is five layers of love song, everyone of the songs reflect the wonderful hearts and minds of both she and Leonard CohenLoved it. May 7, 2007

Get this one while you can!

I bought this primarily for one song, the title track, Famous Blue Raincoat, and it is still my favorite cut on the CD. But all of the songs are worth a listen and Leonard Cohen even does a guest turn on Joan of Arc.
For those of you who are used to Cohen's deeper, masculine voice, it may be harder to find Warnes as accessable...but I actually like her rendition of Famous Blue Raincoat as much as the Cohen original. Listen closely and you'll hear how she takes his songs and makes them unique, not just copies of his. March 13, 2007

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