I'm Your Man

Time to go North Of The Border to focus on what is arguably one of the most respected Canucks ever to walk among us. I speak of Leonard Cohen. There's not a lot Cohen hasn't accomplished in eighty years. A noted poet, artist, novelist and singer, Cohen has been releasing works in one form or another since the early 50's. We'll focus on his rather well rounded music career here for the time being.

Cohen may be best known for a song that he recorded in '84 but wasn't made famous until a decade later when Alt Rocker Jeff Buckley covered "Hallelujah". Chances are you've heard either the John Cale version or the late Buckley's version. In either case, Cohen's career received a boost from that track. For the time being we'll focus on Cohen's '88 release 'I'm Your Man'. The album marked a shift in Cohen's musical direction, turning away from a simplistic Folk Rock sound to a more Synth Pop sound. Despite the shift the album features many of Cohen's concert standards. The album opens with in fact a cover track, well sort of. Cohen originally penned the "First We Take Manhattan" for an off again, on again backup singer for his band, Jennifer Warnes. Her version was released two years prior and featured Stevie Ray Vaughn on Guitar. Jennifer of course would go on to have a hit of her own when she teamed up with Joe Cocker for the song, "Up Where We Belong". The track also would later be covered by the likes of College Rockers, R.E.M and given a Metal twist by Female Fronted Synth Metallers, Sirenia. Back to the album though, while the sound is quintessentially 80's at times, very Miami Vice like, which Cohen actually did appear on, still remains a quality record. After all it's Cohen's voice that makes the album. A solid album here and perhaps a good starting point for listeners new to Cohen.

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