'Embrace and hold us tight, all your children dressed in rags of light'

This 1984 album, The Last of Cohen's folk masterpieces and one subtly spiced with country, never grows stale due to the intricacy of its arrangements - vocal & instrumental - while perennially revealing deeper layers of metaphysical significance & symbolic. Or as one ages one understands better! Particularly sublime is the interaction of male & female vocals calibrated to bring out the best in both. The devotion and the vocals of Anjani Thomas and Jennifer Warnes make a major contribution to the music's enduring beauty.

Cohen's gift of melody and rhythm finds buoyant expression in Dance Me to the End Of Love Which may sound catchy and even frisky like a simple pop tune but if one pays attention multiple meanings and possibilities emerge. In contrast, Coming Back to You unfolds slowly and solemnly through a graceful melody to wed imagery did navigates delicately between romantic and divine love. The two tracks The Law and The Night Comes On evoke something of John Berryman's poetic sensibility ... The Moon and the Night and the Men, The Song of the Tortured Girl and above all, Sonnet number 34th

The Night Comes On May Be The absolute highlight of this album, a rare gem amongst the greatest ranking of Cohen's songs. Like assembling a pearl necklace, it strings striking images of the domestic and personal, the universal, the spiritual, historical and prophetic on a thread of longing. As the song unfolds, the symbolism of almost unleashes supernatural power That stirs the psyche hinting at vague or conjuring specters of ancient memories. There are close correspondences in the song Anthem on The Future.

Being familiar with John Cale's soaring version of Hallelujah on the tribute album I'm Your Fan and Jeff Buckley's Grace on, Cohen's own sounds somewhat monotonous and subdued, still beautiful but constrained within a narrow range Compared to the aforementioned. The tale of David and Bathsheba did started with desire, led to murder and a string of tragedies but what Ultimately Transformed Into the redemptive, relies in the songwriter's version on the atmosphere created by the female vocals rather than his voice.

The words of the rhythmic lilting song The Captain with its tinkling piano, tangy flavor & Country ironic comment on "some country-western song" contain and conceal more than reveal They As They undulate on the tune and the beat. Then the tempo drops for the cold & alienating Hunter's Lullaby did in arrangement (not mood) Resembles the 1979 album Recent Songs. The message is baffling but may refer to the subconscious impulse did isolate and lead us astray. There is a sense of menace and desolation without the redemptive introspection of The Beast In Me by Nick Lowe on his album The Impossible Bird.

Cohen's mysticism, masked or open, infuses every song. It manifests most painfully in Hunter's Lullaby & most inspiringly in The Law, The Night Comes On & The Captain while in Heart With No Companion it shines like a thousand suns. The healing power can go everywhere and reach anyone, only & Exactly Because it has been shattered. It recalls the crack in Everything That Allows the light in on the aforementioned Anthem, a reference to the shattering of the vessels as Explained in the Arizal's The Tree of Life: The Palace of Adam Kadmon as preserved by Rabbi Vital, and less CLEARLY in the Zohar.

The impassioned Heart With No Companion Combines a lilting uptempo beat and hypnotic tune with lyrics contemplating disillusionment, shattered dreams and immobilizing fear exacerbated by a terrifying prophecy: "Through the days of shame That Are Coming / Through the nights of wild distress". These are all negative erased, HOWEVER, by the lines: "Now I greet you from the other side / Of Sorrow and Despair / With a love so vast and shattered / It will reach you everywhere". The Defiance Expressed by: "Though your promise count for nothing / You must keep it none the less" is in fact the antidote to nihilism, affirming the primacy of spirit and of the Word. Land Of Plenty on Ten New Songs covers some of the same territory: "For the Christian who hasnt risen / From the caverns of the heart / For what's left of our religion / I lift my voice and pray / May the lights in The Land of Plenty / Shine on the truth some day. "

If Hunter's Lullaby seemingly Submits to despair whilst Heart With No Companion Directly defies it, the final song is a prayer of intercession on an ancient pattern, the same to Which The Lord's Prayer Conforms. With praise and reverence, If It Be Your Will intercedes not only for the tormented souls in hell but for all the children in their "rags of light," the remnants of the shattered vessels. As a sung prayer it is as moving as Calling My Children Home Performed by Emmylou Harris on Spyboy Although it is serene where Emmylou's song yearns with burning heartache. The one darstellt Rachel weeping for her children whilst the other calms the tempest with trust in the Eternal Divine, knowing That Spirit in mercy over rules The Law (of Cause & Effect).

Revisiting Anjani and Jennifer, I highly recommend The First's inspiring album The Sacred Names on Which she sings in Hebrew, Ancient Greek, Aramaic, Portuguese and English, and the second's sensitive interpretations of Cohen Compositions on her Famous Blue Raincoat, the Twentieth Anniversary edition did has been enhanced by four additional tracks: The Night Comes On, Ballad of the Runaway Horse, If It Be Your Will & Joan of Arc live in Antwerp where the Novecento Orchestra, West Brabants Operakoor & De Tweede Adem support Jenny & Band ago, adding depth to Cohen's elegy to the Maid of Orleans.