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''Dear Heather'' is the 11th studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, released by
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
in 2004. It was dedicated "in memory of
Jack McClelland Jack McClelland may refer to: * Jack McClelland (basketball), American college basketball coach * Jack McClelland (footballer, born 1930) (1930–2004), English footballer who played in the Football League for Rochdale, Swindon Town and Stoke City ...
1922-2004."


Background

The album features Cohen experimenting with different musical approaches. On "To a Teacher", Cohen quotes himself from ''
The Spice-Box of Earth ''The Spice-Box of Earth'' is Canadian poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen's second collection of poetry. It was first published in 1961 by McClelland and Stewart, when Cohen was 27 years old. The book brought the poet a measure of early literary acc ...
'', his second collection of poetry from 1961. The basic tracks of "The Faith" dated back to the '' Recent Songs'' sessions from 1979. The album includes a live version of the country standard " Tennessee Waltz", which was taken from a performance during his tour in support of the LP '' Various Positions''. Considering the plethora of sources from which the material sprang, Cohen had originally wanted to call the album ''Old Ideas'', but eventually changed it to ''Dear Heather'' for fear that fans might assume it was merely a compilation or "best of" package (''
Old Ideas ''Old Ideas'' is the twelfth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, released in January 2012. It is Cohen's highest-charting release in the United States, reaching number 3 on the ''Billboard'' 200, 44 years after the release o ...
'' would be the title of Cohen's next studio album). There is increase in spoken poetry over singing, with two songs featuring words by other writers: Lord Byron ("No More a-Roving") and F. R. Scott ("Villanelle for our Time"). The gospel-tinged "On That Day" addresses the still-raw tragedy and horror of the
9/11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...
.


Reception

The album reached #131 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and Internet Album charts and #5 on the Canadian Album charts. It was Cohen's highest charting album in America since 1969's '' Songs from a Room''. The album's highest chart position came in Poland where it reached #1 on the Polish Albums Chart.'' Dear Heather'' was not received as well by critics as ''Ten New Songs'' and Cohen's 2001 live album '' Field Commander Cohen: Tour of 1979'' had been. Some critics found it dour - although such notices had been commonplace throughout various stages of Cohen's career - and noted a tone of finality in the offering. '' The New York Times'' reported, "Some of the songs are virtually unadorned with poetic imagery and fall flat; in others, Mr. Cohen uses his calmly sepulchral voice for speech rather than melody. The production is homemade." The ''
Stylus A stylus (plural styli or styluses) is a writing utensil or a small tool for some other form of marking or shaping, for example, in pottery. It can also be a computer accessory that is used to assist in navigating or providing more precision w ...
'' deemed it an "unsatisfying way to end such an intriguing career." In the November 2004 '' Rolling Stone'' review of the LP, Michaelangelo Matos praised the album, calling Cohen " Canada's hippest 70 year old" and insisting that "given how monochromatic Cohen tends to be, the jumbled feel works in ''Dear Heathers favor." Thom Jurek of AllMusic argues that ''Dear Heather'' is Cohen's "most upbeat" album: "Rather than focus on loss as an end, it looks upon experience as something to be accepted as a portal to wisdom and gratitude...If this is indeed his final offering as a songwriter, it is a fine, decent, and moving way to close this chapter of the book of his life."


Track listing


Personnel

*Leonard Cohen – vocals, guitar, Jew's harp * Sharon Robinson – vocals, arrangements * Anjani Thomas – vocals, backing vocals; piano on "On That Day", "Nightingale" and "Tennessee Waltz" * Bob Sheppard – tenor saxophone on "Go No More a-Roving" *Stan Sargeant – bass on "On That Day" and "Nightingale" *Johnny Friday – drums on "On That Day" and "Nightingale" *Sarah Kramer – trumpet on "Dear Heather" *Mitch Watkins – guitar on "The Faith" and "Tennessee Waltz" * Garth Hudson – accordion on "The Faith" *
Roscoe Beck Charles Roscoe Beck is an American bassist with a reputation as "a solid bottom-liner". Beck has played with artists like Robben Ford, Eric Johnson, Leonard Cohen, and The Dixie Chicks. He is also a successful record producer with two Gra ...
– bass on "The Faith" *Bill Ginn – piano on "The Faith" *Raffi Hakopian – violin on "The Faith" * John Bilezikjian – oud on "The Faith" *Paul Ostermayer - flute on "The Faith" *Ron Getman – steel guitar and vocals on "Tennessee Waltz" *John Crowder – bass and vocals on "Tennessee Waltz" *Richard Crooks – drums on "Tennessee Waltz" *
Jeremy Lubbock Jeremy Michael Lubbock (4 June 1931 – 29 January 2021) was a Grammy-winning English pianist, conductor, orchestrator, music producer, arranger, composer, and songwriter. Life and career Born in Berkshire, he learned piano as a child, and ...
- string arrangement on "The Faith"


Track notes

*"Go No More a-Roving" is musical adaptation of Lord Byron's poem " So, we'll go no more a roving", dedicated to Cohen's friend and mentor, Canadian poet
Irving Layton Irving Peter Layton, OC (March 12, 1912 – January 4, 2006) was a Romanian-born Canadian poet. He was known for his "tell it like it is" style which won him a wide following, but also made him enemies. As T. Jacobs notes in his biography (2001) ...
, member of the Montreal Group of modernist poets. *"Villanelle for Our Time" was recorded 6 May 1999, shortly after Cohen's return from Mount Baldy Zen Center. It is an improvised jazz recitation of a poem by F. R. Scott, Cohen's older colleague from the Montreal Group of modernist poets. *"To a Teacher" is a spoken-word track based on Cohen's poem from his 1961 book of poetry ''
The Spice-Box of Earth ''The Spice-Box of Earth'' is Canadian poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen's second collection of poetry. It was first published in 1961 by McClelland and Stewart, when Cohen was 27 years old. The book brought the poet a measure of early literary acc ...
'', dedicated to the Canadian poet
A.M. Klein Abraham Moses Klein (14 February 1909 – 20 August 1972) was a Canadian poet, journalist, novelist, short story writer and lawyer. He has been called "one of Canada's greatest poets and a leading figure in Jewish-Canadian culture." Best known ...
. *"The Letters" is a duet with Cohen's producer, collaborator and track's co-writer Sharon Robinson. *"Because Of" is a recitation of Cohen's poem which was included in his 2006 '' Book of Longing''. *"On That Day" is a song about the
September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...
in New York City. *The track "Nightingale" is dedicated to the late R&B singer Carl Anderson, Anjani Thomas's colleague. She composed the music using Cohen's abandoned poem. *Music track for "The Faith" is actually an outtake from '' Recent Songs'', with completely new lyrics, re-
mix Mix, mixes or mixing may refer to: Persons & places * Mix (surname) ** Tom Mix (1880-1940), American film star * nickname of Mix Diskerud (born Mikkel, 1990), Norwegian-American soccer player * Mix camp, an informal settlement in Namibia * Mix ...
ed and with new vocals added (thus the production was co-credited to ''Recent Songs'' producer Henry Lewy). It was based on a Québec folk song. *The final track is a live performance of " Tennessee Waltz", recorded 9 July 1985 at the Montreux Jazz Festival. It was taken from the bootlegged radio recording and cleaned up digitally.


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


References


discogs.com entry
{{Authority control 2004 albums Leonard Cohen albums Columbia Records albums