{"id":41858,"date":"2010-01-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-24T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/famous-blue-raincoat\/"},"modified":"2010-01-24T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-24T00:00:00","slug":"famous-blue-raincoat","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/famous-blue-raincoat\/","title":{"rendered":"Famous Blue Raincoat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prior to the release of this album in November of \u201886, Jennifer Warnes was most notably known for singing parts in two huge singles; both were duets and both were Oscar winning songs from films. \u201cUp Where We Belong\u201d with Joe Cocker from An Officer And A Gentleman <\/i>and \u201c(I\u2019ve Had) The Time Of My Life\u201d with Bill Medley from Dirty Dancing <\/i>were the songs responsible for putting Warnes on the map.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Although she had spent the best part of the \u201870s as a backup singer for Leonard Cohen, the Seattle native had cut some fantastic pop albums but failed to really make her mark in the fickle world of pop music. Maybe a lack of decisive marketing was to blame, but all this changed when Warnes released Famous Blue Raincoat<\/i>, a collection of Cohen\u2019s songs that she expertly interpreted to wonderful effect. An array of session players was joined by legendary bluesman Stevie Ray Vaughan and Cohen himself to help Warnes deliver these songs in her own style.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The album kicks off with one of Cohen\u2019s best songs, \u201cFirst We Take Manhattan,\u201d which, when graced with Vaughan\u2019s stellar guitar work, is hands down the best version of this song. It was also one of two that Warnes covered here from Cohen\u2019s then yet-to-be-released LP, I\u2019m Your Man<\/i>. The other is a suave reworking of \u201cAin\u2019t No Cure For Love.\u201d One of Cohen\u2019s most-loved tracks, \u201cBird On A Wire\u201d (from Songs From A Room<\/i>), works so well for Warnes that you could be forgiven for thinking it\u2019s one of her originals.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Cohen joins Warnes for a beautifully morbid reading of \u201cJoan Of Arc\u201d (from his third LP Songs Of Love And Hate<\/i>) that, at almost eight minutes long, serves as the centerpiece of this remarkable album. Also from Songs Of Love And Hate<\/i>, \u201cFamous Blue Raincoat\u201d was chosen as the title track for this project and it is a definite highlight. Warnes\u2019 rich vocals work wonders for these songs of longing, and as sung from a woman\u2019s point of view, they offer a slightly more intriguing perspective.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cComing Back To You\u201d from Various Positions<\/i> is transformed into an almost country ballad that suits Warnes\u2019 voice nicely enough. It\u2019s really the only song here that I\u2019m not crazy about, though, as it comes off a little flat compared to the rest of the material included on the record. \u201cA Singer Must Die\u201d first appeared on Cohen\u2019s underrated LP New Skin For The Old Ceremony<\/i>, <\/i>and it fits in well here as Warnes employs a small choir for a gospel-influenced reading of this great song.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cCame So Far For Beauty\u201d from Recent Songs<\/i> closes out the album with an almost whisper that by this time Warnes had perfected. The only track on this disc not to appear on one of Cohen\u2019s albums is the beautiful \u201cA Song For Bernadette,\u201d which he wrote especially for Warnes. She didn\u2019t let him down either, as she again delivered the goods backed softly by a piano and string section. It\u2019s one of the album\u2019s most touching moments.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Produced by Warnes along with Roscoe Beck, Famous Blue Raincoat <\/i>remains one of her best albums to date. It also got a much needed re-mastered and expanded reissue in 2007 that gave the album new life and exposure. This release also contains some of the finest covers of Cohen\u2019s songs ever recorded; it\u2019s easily one of the best pop records of the \u201880s.<\/o:p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":30212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8520],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-41858","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-jennifer-warnes","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41858"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}