Jennifer Warnes - Famous Blue Raincoat: 20th Anniversary Edition
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Free Music Notes for Famous Blue Raincoat: 20th Anniversary Edition
Free Music Review: It is dark, it is lovely
Hit: 5 Stars
"Famous Blue Raincoat," or "Jenny Sings Lenny," is perhaps that rare composite of poetry, put to melody, put to voice, and put to the kind of orchestral spirit that musically animates the possibilities of a complete work of art. [If only Jennifer Warnes would take the cue from her fans and those of her muse, Leonard Cohen, and lend her celestial voice to a new collection of Cohen's great canon of songs.]Every song on the original and on the re-issue--even the extra tracks--sustain the art of the song through performances and arrangements that reveal the scaffolding of genius and inspiration required in the architecture of the song itself. Melodically, Cohen's inventive arc and Warnes' devotion to the inherent possibilities of Cohen's invention, clearly allow her voice to achieve what his cannot. Songs like "Joan of Arc" (which is reprised on this set with a moving live version), "Song of Bernadette,""Came So Far for Beauty," and "Famous Blue Raincoat" achieve melodic force with Warnes' voice, which is heartbreaking and tender, but has a power that underscores her own possession of Cohen's songs. There really isn't anything quite like this record in that regard. I have never tired of this work, mostly because of its intimacy and its unyielding search for an essence of being, which is the essence of what ails the heart. The title song itself may be unnerving in its assault on the very betrayal of being, but Warnes' performance puts the sins of Cohen's persona where he belongs--in the netherworld of regret. This is an album for the ages and deserves a book-length appraisal. It is dark, it is lovely.Free Music Review: Deserves five stars. The remastering is very good.
Hit: 5 Stars
Everything on this album is first class. The songs are peerless. The singing is emotional and powerful, but also delicate -- a tremendous range often within the same song. The musical styles vary from a small jazz combo in the title track, to country-flavored songs like No Cure For Love, hard driving pop-rock like First We Take Manhattan, and Joan of Arc, which is difficult to describe -- at first it is a pop ballad with Jennifer Warnes and Leonard Cohen trading poetic verses, but it crescendos to something approaching a choral symphony.
The original CD release was fine, in terms of sound quality. This was an all digital recording, and it bore the sonic signature of many early digital recordings. The highest of the high frequencies -- cymbals, vocal sibilants -- had a bit of electronic "tizz." An unnatural fuzziness and bite. Otherwise, the sound seemed perhaps excessively smoothed. It was liquid and easy to take, but the finer details were obscured.
This new remastered edition improves just about everything about the sound. Less "tizz," a more natural midrange, a sense of space around the individual instruments and voices. You could say it sounds more like an analog recording now. This is noticeable even when listening to the CD played back from the computer on headphones. An audiophile system will do more justice to the reproduction, of course.
Highly recommended, both for the improvement in sonics, and the songs themselves. The bonus tracks did not strike me as essential, but they are certainly nice to have. A well-done and worthy re-issue.
Free Music Review: Masterful artistry at the highest level
Hit: 5 Stars
Jennifer Warnes is a master of nuance and inflection. No one weds a sound to a lyric (or a lyric to a sound) better than she does. More importantly, her content has always been rich in substance and inspiring in tone. She can locate the silver linings in sadness, and remind us that we all are capable of transcending our setbacks and healing our wounds. These are among the reasons why I have been so dedicated to her music for more than thirty years, and why Leonard Cohen himself has given her his blessings repeatedly and many times over. As I would expect from the gifted singer Warnes, the familiar tunes on the 20th anniversary edition of Famous Blue Raincoat still resonate with elegance and warmth, and, technically, they sound better than ever. In the new songs, Warnes takes us to some exciting new places that will delight her fans and win her new ones. "If It Be Your Will" is an entrancing journey into poetic tenderness, while "Ballad of the Runaway Horse" is a masterful narrative that Warnes meticulously articulates with wonderfully complex rhythms, accompanied by an array of subtle sound effects that are beautifully suited to the story. And for pure soothing comfort, Warnes gifts us a sensuous lullaby for adults with "Night Comes On." A final treat is a recording of a live performance of "Joan of Arc." Accompanied by an orchestra and chorus, Warnes gives a spellbinding performance that shines with honest spontaneity and grace.
David S. Rubin
Free Music Review: Warnes' Blue Raincoat-Story behind the Song
Hit: 5 Stars
Jennifer Warnes performs her magical voice across several diverse musical hurdles with the beauty, drama and power of Jackie Joyner running an Olympic Sprint. Jennifer is extremely adept at bringing a listener into the story behind the song, which is what makes her so perfect in relating Cohen's lyrical prose genuis into a musical masterpiece. She is virtually un-matched in her quilting notes and prose into an experience one cannot forget. She and Cohen here are as to what Bogey and MaCall, or Veronica Lake could do with nothing but black and white film. She Transcends her medium as a Pop/Opera virtuoso into something that your mind cannot easily let loose from. Her distinctive voice brings to mind others with similar enchanting qualities: Joni Mithchell, Streisand, Celine, Warick, Ross, who 'move' their audiences, but very few have the versatility to range in intensity as a "West Side Story" similarly demands. Jennifer may have others with similar talents, but Jennifer seems to excel here with the different ranges which Cohen's music demands like few others would dare attempt. 'Raincoat' is a trek, a journey of love, pain, despair, triumph, and struggles but it makes you appreciate every emotion evoked by this tremendous Lady. Life is full of un-expected twists and turns, and Jennifer Radiates Life out of it all, by Touching your heart with her virtuosity of relating to the story behind the song.Free Music Review: Desert Island Selection - Seven Stars
Hit: 5 Stars
With this collection, Jennifer Warnes helped many people to discover the songwriting brillaince of Leonard Cohen. Many also realized that they had missed just how incredible of a vocalist Jennifer is. But it all starts with the songs and these are outstanding. It's kind of funny that I got to know Cohen through Joe Cocker's version of Bird on a Wire and I got to know Jennifer through her duet with Joe on Up Where We Belong. It's like there is proof of Zappa's Conceptual Continuity everywhere if we just look and listen. So sit back and listen to these songs over and over. You will find that love is the force that unites us all.
This would be one of the last albums I'd part with if forced to trim my collection - and I mostly listen to rock. Every aspect of this disc is excellent or better. I bought the vinyl when it came out over 20 years ago and endured the critics nitpicking the realities of recorded sound. What they didn't realize was that they were listening to it turned up really loud because the music is so grand it demands one to take it to the limit. Anything but the best systems will show some audible distortion if you crank it loud enough. This is a great sounding disc.