Released on vinyl in 1973 the album is a representation of the European tours Cohen did in 1970 and 1972. There are some terrific renditions of what had become Cohen standards but the highlight for me is the 13 minute performance of ‘Please Don’t Pass Me By’, with a haunting introduction that became a solid part of his live schtick.

It’s not an easy album to listen to casually as Cohen was quite happy to use his bellow voice on some tracks, but he is after all the man ‘blessed with a golden voice’. However while the performances are not necessarily superior to the studio releases they do have a presence that Leonard live brings. However, while it’s a record of the man as he got into his stride as an accomplished live performer it doesn’t match Live In LOndon… not only the best live Cohen album but one of the best live albums of all time.

I think I like the album as much for its cover design as I do the music…
with it’s brutal image of LC and the bare bones credits that are printed on the cover.
For pedants it’s sad that having gone up front with all the credits that long term
backing vocalist and collaborator Jennifer Warnes gets mis-credit as Jennifer Warren.