Leonard Cohen — Live In London

Live In London

Columbia/Sony BMG

Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

04/07/2009 2:35pm

I have this theory that absolutely no rules apply to Leonard Cohen simply by virtue of his being Leonard Cohen. The man gets away with everything, and that theory is perfectly exemplified on Live At London, which was recorded for CD and DVD during his show at London, England's O2 Arena on July 17, 2008.

It would be quite hard for anyone else (save Chuck Berry) to tour in their seventies or eighties. There's a good chance anyone else's voice would have deteriorated by now, but not Cohen's. He still manages to belt it out and, though his delivery might come across a bit monotone, it's obviously intentional. He's perfectly able to hit all the notes in the high bits on "Hallelujah" and many of his other memorable songs. He can also do it for three hours.

If anyone else were to write songs with lyrics so steeped in sex, love and longing (take "I'm Your Man," for instance), they'd be considered a bona fide sleaze. There are and were plenty of hair metal bands that do this, and they're considered skuzzy and gross — except to their fans, of course. Cohen escapes this tag because his lyrics are poetry, and we all know bards like Shakespeare and Byron had plenty of dirty sonnets up their sleeves.

Live At London manages to show that Cohen's poetry, music and the man himself are still relevant more than 50 years after he released his first book of poetry and over 40 years after his first album came out. While most aging rockers have become self-parodies, that Cohen is still graceful on stage represents that he's a man who seems to not only have defied age, but every single rule as well. He's as timeless as his music.

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