Album Reviews

To live as the non-English speaking world experiences our pop music, you might try this record of familiar Leonard Cohen songs sung in Swedish by Jan Erik Lundqvist. So popular are Mr. Lundqvist’s interpretations that he’s put out two volumes. This first one dates from 2002, which Meyer records reissuing it on 180 gram vinyl more recently. Leonard Cohen apparently approves.

On this volume Mr. L covers “Take This Waltz,” “Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye,” “Fagel Utan Bo” (which means “Bird on a Wire,” not “Another Gay Beau” in case that’s what you’re thinking), “Famous Blue Raincoat,” “I’m Your Man,” “Suzanne,” and other Cohen chestnuts including “Hallelujah,” made famous in “Shrek” and before that by the late great Jeff Buckley, though most people I talk to know the song without knowing who wrote it.

The exquisitely drawn arrangements are for acoustic guitar, mandolin, cello, bass and keyboards, with the pleasingly grizzly-throated Mr. Lundqvist occasionally accompanied by the soprano Moa Frisks.

I made a compilation from vinyl including “Bird on a Wire,” that I hand out to folks at audio shows. Though the disc is filled with great stuff, it’s always the Swedish “Bird on a Wire” that gets people’s attention. “Who is that?” And “How can I get a copy,” is what they always ask, both because the version is so compelling and because the sound is so clean, pure and natural sounding (though I suspect the record was cut from digital).

I’m not sure if any of the usual vinyl vendors sell this disc. I got it from Mr. Meyer, who voiced the German language translation of my turntable set-up DVD. If you’re interested you can visit their website www.MeyerRecords.com or contact the German distributor at www.toca-records.de.