Customer Rating: 
Summary: Leonard Cohen Live Songs
Comment: I have been a Leonard Cohen fan for many years, but my collection was limited to I'm your man, The Future and the compilation album So long Marianne. Only recently did I fully explore So long Marianne and the earlier songs grew so much on me that I started acquiring all the original albums.
Live Songs is my first "live" album. The sound quality and musical refinement is of course not comparable to the studio recorded albums, but that is not really the point. To me the recording presents the familiar songs (previously released) in entirely new ways. Instrumentation is more bare, with lyrics mostly true to the original. Where it is different, it is different in interesting ways - really adding to the effect of the song and the emotional experience.
The familiar songs that I particularly like is Bird on the wire and Nancy - both to me almost beautiful beyond description.
Songs I like and did not know from other original albums include Passing through which I would have loved as a studio recorded song as well.
I am not very fond of Please don't pass me by (too long and sentimental for my tastes), but I imagine that the song at the live event itself may have been special.
All in all I would recommend the album as it forms part of the overall Leonard Cohen collection, presents well-known songs in interesting new ways and includes enough previously unreleased material (?). I am of the opinion therefore that the album has a place of its own.
Customer Rating:
Summary: His First Live Album
Comment: The performance is classic. His voice is still young; his deep voiced talking style of singing was still in front of him, for the most part. And -- best of all for fans -- there are songs here that never surfaced on his studio records. I'd buy it again.
Customer Rating:
Summary: His other live CDs are even greater.
Comment: This is a great Cd, but not as great as is other live CDs. So if you can't afford to buy them all, I wouldn't start with this one.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Early 1970's Live Cohen...
Comment: There are 3 Live Cd's in Cohen's catalogue...each with it's own strengths (I don't find weakness in Cohen, he is an unfinished project)
This is the 1st one, an import (bought mine in London) showcases Cohen touring about his Songs From A Room album...on 2 separate occasions in 1970 and in 1972..a couple of unreleased poems and the traditional country Passing Through are found besides such classics as The Story of Isaac, Bird On The Wire with laid back minor accompaniment coming from the likes of Charlie Daniels on fiddle and bass..
Customer Rating:
Summary: Please Don't Pass me By (A Disgrace)
Comment: I first heard this album, in particular, the song "Please Don't Pass Me By", back in ~ 1973. It was on a late-nite FM radio show, on a now non-existent station out of Milwaukee, WI, USA. I'll never forget that song, the emotions it drew out of my soul; shame, sympathy and anger... The whole gamete of emotions that I was capable of feeling!Leonard Cohen's voice ripped right through my soul, stirring feelings that I found hard to control. The perfect combination of Cohen's voice and lyrics are impossible to describe in this song of Disgrace, only feelings can come close to relaying the affect it had, has, on me. I am so thankful that I was able to find this song on a CD; my Vinyl copy disappeared years ago, lent-out and never found its way back.
I highly recommend this CD to any fan of Leonard Cohen, and to fans of many of the 60's and 70's "Folk" music artists.
