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Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Leonard Cohen - BBC Sessions, Volume 3: In Concert, Birmingham Odeon, Birmingham, Britain, 12-8-1979 | ALBUMS THAT SHOULD EXIST

Leonard Cohen Live at The BBC Vol III - Birmingham 1979 - Albums That Should Exist

 

Here Leonard at Hammersmith Odeon in London in 1979.


Nice set again from Paul over at Albums That Should Exist this time from Birmingham (UK that is!) and as he says is BBC quality so although shortish as concerts go (under an hour here) it is really well recorded (of course

Paul Says : 

"I just posted a Beck concert that was edited way down by the BBC, and this is a similar situation for Leonard Cohen. I don't know the full set list, but I'm guessing a lot of it was cut out, including some of the banter between songs. Still, these BBC concerts are great due to the sound quality, and that's the case here.

An official album of Cohen's 1979-1980 tour has been released, called "Field Commander Cohen." It's a few minutes longer than this one. Luckily though, the set lists are drastically different. There are only two songs shared between that and this, "The Smokey Life" and "The Gypsy's Wife."

But what really makes this concert special is the song "Billy Sunday," also known as "Blues for the Jews." (I don't think there's a firm title, since the song has never been officially released.) According to setlist.fm, Cohen only ever performed this original song six times, all on this tour, and this was the very first public performance. It's quite a song, because it's fifteen minutes long."



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