Leonard Cohen?s gruff voice has kept many from properly appreciating the brilliance and utter romanticism of his songs. Perla Batalla here lovingly wraps her warm voice around 10 of them to glorious results. The best are t... more »he ones where she takes the most liberties: ?Famous Blue Raincoat? backed by a string quartet, a jazzy ?Seems So Long Ago, Nancy,? ?Ballad of the Absent Mare? as a duet with David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, ?Dance Me to the End of Love? as a duet with Bill Gable partially translated into Spanish, ?Suzanne? cleverly interpolating bits of Steven Foster?s ?O Susanna.? The sound is sumptuous. Engineer/mixer Leanne Unger is an excellent choice for the project as she has worked on many of Cohen?s own albums over the years. Her sympathy and love for Cohen?s songs, plus her familiarity with them, greatly enhances the album. The three cover shots of Perla Batalla and Leonard Cohen sharing warm moments speaks volumes both to Perla?s sincerity and love for Cohen?s songs and Cohen?s endorsement of Perla?s work. Beautifully conceived and executed, Bird on the Wire is a rewarding listening experience I find myself returning to frequently. It is every bit the equal of Jennifer Warnes? classic Cohen tribute album Famous Blue Raincoat. For those uninitiated to the glories of the songs of Leonard Cohen this is a wonderful introduction. For the rest of us it is simply heavenly. ? Michael Tearson« less
Leonard Cohen?s gruff voice has kept many from properly appreciating the brilliance and utter romanticism of his songs. Perla Batalla here lovingly wraps her warm voice around 10 of them to glorious results. The best are the ones where she takes the most liberties: ?Famous Blue Raincoat? backed by a string quartet, a jazzy ?Seems So Long Ago, Nancy,? ?Ballad of the Absent Mare? as a duet with David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, ?Dance Me to the End of Love? as a duet with Bill Gable partially translated into Spanish, ?Suzanne? cleverly interpolating bits of Steven Foster?s ?O Susanna.? The sound is sumptuous. Engineer/mixer Leanne Unger is an excellent choice for the project as she has worked on many of Cohen?s own albums over the years. Her sympathy and love for Cohen?s songs, plus her familiarity with them, greatly enhances the album. The three cover shots of Perla Batalla and Leonard Cohen sharing warm moments speaks volumes both to Perla?s sincerity and love for Cohen?s songs and Cohen?s endorsement of Perla?s work. Beautifully conceived and executed, Bird on the Wire is a rewarding listening experience I find myself returning to frequently. It is every bit the equal of Jennifer Warnes? classic Cohen tribute album Famous Blue Raincoat. For those uninitiated to the glories of the songs of Leonard Cohen this is a wonderful introduction. For the rest of us it is simply heavenly. ? Michael Tearson
"Perla Batalla's CD should be better known. Her strong, slighty husky voice is a perfect vehicle to project the emotion and poetry of the melancholy songs of Leonard Cohen. Batalla doesn't slavishly copy the originals. Piano replaces acoustic guitar as the lead instrument on several songs; she fiddles with the tempo on others and adds male voices to complement her own. In many cases her interpretation is better than the original as sung by 'gloomy Gus' Cohen.
My favorite song on the CD is "Ballad of the Absent Mare" a new little known song which Batalla sings as a duet with David Hidalgo. It's a lovely, lilting cowboy waltz that has something of Marty Robbins and Freddy Fender in it along with a Tejano accordion.
What good songs they are! "Suzanne, Bird on the Wire," and others have been copied and sung by hosts of other singers. Cohen is one of the finest song-writers of the past half century. It's hard to imagine that anybody could sing his songs any better than Perla Batalla does on this CD.
Smallchief"
Better than Lennie?
David H. France | friday harbor, wa | 08/17/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I've travelled the world to see Lennie in concert from Manchester in 1974 to Montreal in 2008 ... and no-one interprets his songs as well as Lennie himself .. not Judy Collins, not Jeff Buckley, not Jennifer Warnes, not Rufus Wainwright, not Sharon Robinson, not the Webb Sisters. I stand corrected ... Perla Batalla's version of Nancy is arguably the finest ever. In fact, her versions of all of Lennie's magical lyrics on this CD are some of the finest ever. The CD is simply magnificent."
Perla Batalla - the definitive Cohen
John Nelson | West Brunswick, Vic, Australia | 04/01/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Perla Batalla is at her best on this set of tracks performing the songs of Leonard Cohen. Her voice has that smoky flavour with a slight rasp and seemingly effortless ease to hit a note bang-on. None of your trendy floating and sliding around a note, Perla hits 'em and holds 'em, a great vocal power on display. Her version of the title track, "Bird on a Wire", is, for mine, simply the definitive interpretation of the song, reprises her appearance on the Cohen tribute set "I'm your man". She just nails it !!
"
What A Voice
Alan M. | Australia | 01/13/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
""Anthem" on "Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man" (Perla Batalla and Julie Christensen) blew me away - certainly the best Cohen cover I have heard, and probably the only one better than the original LC version.
On looking for other similar recordings Perla Batalla's "Bird on the Wire" CD jumped out at me and certainly lived up to my hopes.
"Ballad of the Absent Mare" sends shivers up my spine every time I listen (frequently) and it was great to find "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy".
This album is right up there with Jennifer Warnes' "Famous Blue Raincoat".
The music is great and compliments the fabulous lyrics and Ms Batalla's haunting voice brilliantly.
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1
