Leonard Cohen - Columbia Records Radio Hour, The Complex, Los Angeles, CA, 4-18-1993

I have some interesting Leonard Cohen rarities I'll be posting in the very near future. But first, I'm posting this because I recently posted a Rosanne Cash concert recorded for the Columbia Records Radio Hour, and that reminded me that I also have this one. It definitely needs posting, because he was supporting one of his best albums, 1993's "The Future," and the sound quality is fantastic.

The reason this sounds so good is because it was professionally recorded and released... but only to radio stations. This was his first concert of his 1993 tour (and his first concert since 1988). So the idea was that radio stations could play select songs from it to drum up interest in the tour. The whole thing was also broadcast to over 100 radio stations, but having a record of it meant the sound quality was a little better than just recording it off the radio.

Also, since this concert predated all the others on the tour by about a week, Cohen was still rehearsing for the tour, so some of these songs have different arrangements than on the other dates from this tour. And while he didn't have any banter per se between songs, for multiple songs, he spoke some of the songs' lyrics before the music kicked in.

The recording from this concert is only 49 minutes long. But I found three more songs he did in Paris on that tour that have nearly as good sound quality, so I added them in as quasi-bonus tracks for the last three songs. I also patched in some applause after each of those songs from earlier songs so the applause better matched.

This album is an hour and seven minutes long. But, as mentioned above, the main concert in Los Angeles is only 49 minutes long.

01 talk (Leonard Cohen)
02 First We Take Manhattan (Leonard Cohen)
03 Ain't No Cure for Love (Leonard Cohen)
04 Coming Back to You (Leonard Cohen)
05 Dance Me to the End of Love (Leonard Cohen)
06 Democracy (Leonard Cohen)
07 Waiting for the Miracle (Leonard Cohen)
08 The Future (Leonard Cohen)
09 I'm You Man (Leonard Cohen)
10 Closing Time (Leonard Cohen)
11 I Can't Forget (Leonard Cohen)
12 Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16116246/LENRDCHN1993_ClumbiRecrdsRdioHurThCmplxLsAnglesCA__4-18-1993_atse.zip.html

The cover photo is most likely from the exact concert. I say "most likely" because the caption said it was recorded in Los Angeles in April 1993, and I believe this was the only concert he did in that city in that month.