Peter Gabriel, Iggy Pop and James Taylor are among the artists who have lent their talents to Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen, a 12-track album celebrating the late legendary Canadian singer/songwriter.
The album was produced by Larry Klein, Joni Mitchell‘s ex-husband and main producer since the 1980s. Here It Is features versions of a mix of well-known and more obscure songs by Leonard Cohen, spanning from his 1967 debut album through 2016’s You Want It Darker, which was released shortly before his death.
Gabriel recorded the tribute album’s title track, “Here It Is,” a rarity that dates back to 2001, while Pop delivered a rendition of “You Want It Darker.” Taylor, meanwhile, contributed a new version of the 1984 tune “Coming Back to You,” which is available now as an advance digital track.
Norah Jones, Sarah McLachlan, Mavis Staples, Nathaniel Rateliff and David Gray are also featured on the tribute album.
Klein says he decided to organize the tribute album for his close friend Cohen after realizing that he’d frequently been covering his songs with other collaborators. He proceeded to assemble a group of respected jazz musicians and bring in guest singers to create reworked versions of Cohen’s tunes.
“It was an immensely gratifying experience to recontextualize these poems, and shine a different light on them,” Klein explains. “I hope that this musical language that we developed together…makes the songs connect with people in a new way.”
You can preorder Here It Is now; It will be available October 14 on CD, vinyl and digital formats.
Here’s the album’s full track listing:
“Steer Your Way” — Norah Jones
“Here It Is” — Peter Gabriel
“Suzanne” — Gregory Porter
“Hallelujah” — Sarah McLachlan
“Avalanche” — Immanuel Wilkins
“Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye” — Luciana Souza
“Coming Back to You” — James Taylor
“You Want It Darker” — Iggy Pop
“If It Be Your Will” — Mavis Staples
“Seems So Long Ago, Nancy” — David Gray
“Famous Blue Raincoat” — Nathaniel Rateliff
“Bird on the Wire” — Bill Frisell
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