"Famous Blue Raincoat" mash-up

Concluding “Heavy Graces”, the audio album, and the music-movie mash-up series that accompanies Allison Crowe’s newest release – is this second version of “Famous Blue Raincoat”.

The song’s composer, Leonard Cohen, says, it reflects on the "tyranny" of possession -- of the kind that enslaves us as women and men.

Impressionistic visuals come from director Josef von Sternberg’s 1930/31 film "The Blue Angel" ("Der blaue Engel"). Experience this classic movie in full @ http://archive.org/details/theblueangel1930

Famous Blue Raincoat (choral) - Allison Crowe (Heavy Graces)

"Famous Blue Raincoat", its composer, Leonard Cohen, says, reflects on the "tyranny" of possession -- of the kind that enslaves us as women and men.

It's territory covered here by musician Allison Crowe. (Crowe's previously celebrated the Cohen songbook via renowned interpretations of "Hallelujah", "Joan of Arc" and other tunes from the master songsmith.)

Impressionistic visual accompaniment comes via film scenes from "The Blue Angel" ("Der blaue Engel" first released in Europe in 1930 saw its full North American release the following year.)

This choral rendition of the Leonard Cohen classic is the first of two versions recorded by Allison Crowe for her album "Heavy Graces".

BBC's Hallelujah doc examines Leonard Cohen's unique mix of spirit and flesh

In late 2003, Leonard Cohen's song "Hallelujah" was mostly known as a male-sung ballad. Allison Crowe unleashed a vitally different interpretation on "Tidings" - her '03 EP that proved so popular it's re-released the next year as a full-length CD.

Five years later, pretty much to the day, BBC Radio 2 in the UK broadcast an one-hour documentary on the song, which, by this time, was being covered almost continually. Host of "The Fourth, the Fifth, the Minor Fall" is Guy Garvey of the band Elbow.

The BBC crew caught up with Allison Crowe at View Two Gallery in Liverpool, England - where she was visiting as a guest for Beatles Week. The space was empty as an echo chamber, and special thanks go to producer Richard McIlroy who captured the audio in the moment - shared with his rapt two year-old.

Cohen's "Hallelujah" has now been covered more than 200 times, and each performer, and audience, finds their own meaning and inspiration. For visceral Allison Crowe, as she explains in this interview excerpt from the full documentary, it's about body and soul.



Also heard in this segment, chatting with Guy Garvey, are singer Kathryn Williams, The Bishop of Croydon - Nicholas Baines, and Cohen-collector and scholar Jim Devlin.

The BBC prefaced its broadcast on All Saint's Day, November 1, 2008:

"Warning: Listening to this sampling of artists, critics, and other commentators talk about their perspectives on Hallelujah may put ones preconceived notions about the song at risk."

Upward Spiral for Allison Crowe - in Spirit and Flesh

“Canada’s finest songwriter”, Crowe reigns as instrument of faith and sex and God...

Allison Crowe, one of the great voices in music, this week gives a candid interview to UK writer Stephen Thomas. Published on culture blog ‘We Write Lists’, the chat highlights the twinned strands of spirituality and sexuality – a double-helix of musical vitality that makes Crowe such a singular force.

For the musician, described by Thomas as “Canada's finest songwriter”, performance is an act of communication that can reach emotionally and physically ecstatic heights for artist and audience.

Edith Piaf, Mahalia Jackson, and Oum Kalthoum moved people profoundly with their voices in earlier generations. Combining the joyful exuberance of Louis Armstrong, with the manic energy of rock and rollers from Little Richard in the 1950s to Bruce Springsteen of the 1970s, and the intensity of Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam of the ‘90s), Crowe tells ‘We Write Lists’ a concert set is akin to “some seriously good sex”. And, she notes: “To me, music is spirituality.”

Allison Crowe has just released her seventh CD. Titled “Spiral”, the album’s collection of original songs span country, roots, rock, pop and folk, alongside interpretations of classics from Annie Lennox (Why), Leonard Cohen (Chelsea Hotel No. 2), and Hunters and Collectors (Throw Your Arms Around Me).

"I Found You" - inside-album art by Tara Thelen from Allison Crowe's newest release, "Spiral"

Crowe’s own voice, piano and guitar is joined on this outing by Billie Rocha-Woods (acoustic guitar, backing vocals), Dave Baird (bass, backing vocals), Brendan Millbank (cello), Larry Anschell (electric guitar), and Laurent Boucher (percussion). Anschell also has a hand in engineering (as do B.R.N. and John MacMillan). String arrangement, orchestration and production is by Hollywood film-scoring phenom Kayla Schmah. Drawing raves, too, is the album art, with paintings by Bergen, NL-based Tara Thelen, graphics by Florida’s Alix Whitmire, and photography by Rocha-Woods and Dan Goldwasser.

Next month, the Spiral concert tour launches with dates on Canada’s Pacific Coast – then moves to continental Europe for shows in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria, and, still-to-be-confirmed, Italy.

'We Write Lists' Interviews: Allison Crowe

UK blog 'We Write Lists' caps its multi-part exploration of music and more with this week's thoughtful Q&A with Allison Crowe.

Click on the banner above to enjoy this interview session.

Relish - 'We Write Lists' Part Six

This week, the UK blog 'We Write Lists', tells us:

"Over the last six weeks we've had the pleasure of bringing you a series of guest-posts for We Write Lists by musician and singer-songwriter Allison Crowe. We'd asked her to write about her six favourite albums, which was admittedly a cruel challenge to set. Instead, Allison chose six albums that held her heart, and influenced her significantly, during the formative years of her musical life. And, kindly, she sent us so much on each album that they warranted serialisation - the final excerpt of which you may enjoy now. Next week we'll be tying the series up with an exclusive interview! "

Click on Joan Osborne's Relish album cover above. And, be sure to catch the full series, and much more about music, at 'We Write Lists'.