 | Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen) - Allison Crowe live performance
Tags: acoustic, Alexandra, Allison, Buckley, Burke, Cale, Canada, Castro, chanson, Chubby, Cohen, Crowe, Factor, folk, Glastonbury, glory, Hallelujah, hometown, Jason, Jeff, John, Leonard, live, music, piano, Popa, rock, Rufus, singer, songwriter, voice, Wainwright
Description:
"It's, as I say, a desire to affirm my faith in life, not in some formal religious way but with enthusiasm, with emotion.... It's a rather joyous song." ~ Leonard Cohen, creator of the song, Hallelujah. He says: "I wanted to write something in the tradition of the hallelujah choruses but from a different point of view... It's the notion that there is no perfection ~ that this is a broken world and we live with broken hearts and broken lives but still that is no alibi for anything. On the contrary, you have to stand up and say hallelujah under those circumstances."
Canadian indie singer-songwriter Allison Crowe's uniquely potent interpretation is heard on her album, "Tidings".
(The song enjoys increasingly wide appreciation - even marching into the mainstream in 2008 with a tv performance by American Idol contestant Jason Castro and by UK X Factor winner Alexandra Burke. Leonard Cohen himself has been inspiring audiences on tour this year - he performed Hallelujah as the sun set on Glastonbury 2008.)
"It's not hard to see why Crowe's Hallelujah -- recorded in a single take -- is popular. It's one of Leonard Cohen's most affecting songs, and the 26-year-old, accompanying herself on piano, makes it her own with raw honesty and formidable vocal power. It's simultaneously heart-breaking and redemptive, and it has captured the imaginations of people around the world. 'The song itself is just so emotionally resonant,' Crowe said modestly this week." ~ Adrian Chamberlain, Times Colonist (Canada)
"Bet you thought you heard all the versions you need to hear of this song, right? Think again, because Allison Crowe has a voice to fall in love with. She is from Vancouver Island in Canada, descended from Scottish, Irish, and Manx stock. She's exactly the sort of artist who can make serious headway on her own label and that's just what she's doing." ~ Record of the Day (UK)
"Hallelujah, by Leonard Cohen. This song has somehow become Crowe's signature, if a singer who defies description as stubbornly as she does has a signature... Cohen's original version is a spoken poem, all of the meaning contained in the words. Crowe's version is a living thing, a meditation and a celebration and a benediction." ~ anacronym (Canada)
"Crowe's warm, natural, passionate - and need I add lovely? - voice are perhaps shown to best effect on another glorious standard, Leonard Cohen's magnificent and deeply spiritual quest for faith, Hallelujah." ~ Martin Levin, Women's Post (Canada)
"j'ai rarement été bouleversée à ce point par une voix féminine. Pure comme de la glace, puissante et même violente sur la reprise de l'Hallelujah de Leonard Cohen." (en Francais - English translation follows) "I have never been so moved by a woman's voice. Pure as ice, powerful and even violent on the cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah." ~ SplinterMuse (France)
"(Jeff) Buckley especially just blew the song to pieces and every artist after him has tried and failed to put it back together. Until now. Allison Crowe manages to pump 'Hallelujah' full of all the soaring vocals and raw emotion that it requires. And the result is a big beautiful lump in the throat." ~ Muruch (USA) blog praises the Buckley and Crowe versions as very different, each great in its own way
Allison's hometown covers the whole of Canada - from Nanaimo, Vancouver Island to Corner Brook, Newfoundland. It's a land rich with songs of glory, joy and rare, natural, beauty.
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 | Let It Be (The Beatles) - Allison Crowe live performance
Tags: acoustic, Allison, Beatles, Canuck, Crowe, John, Lennon, live, McCartney, music, Paul, performance, piano, pop, rock, vocals
Description:
Canadian musician Allison Crowe performs live-in-the-studio, Let It Be. The Beatles songbook is rich for interpreters and this gospel-inflected tune by John Lennon and Paul McCartney is one which Allison Crowe loves to perform and have audiences sing along. "Let It Be", the audio version, is on Crowe's album "Tidings".
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 | River (Joni Mitchell) ~ Allison Crowe live
Tags: acoustic, Allison, Canada, chanson, Christmas, Crowe, folk, jazz, Joni, live, Mitchell, music, performance, piano, River, singer, voice
Description:
Canuck indie singer-songwriter Allison Crowe pays tribute to one of her great inspirations, Joni Mitchell, in this live performance of River ~ a song from Mitchell's timeless album, "Blue". The song appears on Allison Crowe's "Tidings" album.
"An intensely moving rendition of "River," one of my favorite holiday tunes. When the artist sings the crystalline, sorrowful line "I made my baby cry," you can almost feel the tears welling up inside." ~ Carol Swanson, ChristmasReviews & Professor of Law at Hamline University (USA)
"One of my favorites; there is a pinch of Shawn (Colvin) in Allison's voice, except imo Allison has more punch and emotional bite in her vocals. She makes singing this song seem easy, and anyone who's tried it will tell you it's not." ~ Bob Muller, Joni Mitchell Discussion List (USA)
"truly transcendent" ~ Joseph Blake, The Times Colonist (Canada)
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 | Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen) - Allison Crowe live tv version
Tags: acoustic, Alexandra, alleluia, Allison, Burke, Canada, chanson, Cohen, Crowe, Factor, folk, Hallelujah, Leonard, music, piano, rock, Rufus, singer, songwriter, Tidings, voice, Wainwright
Description:
"It's, as I say, a desire to affirm my faith in life, not in some formal religious way but with enthusiasm, with emotion... It's a rather joyous song." ~ Leonard Cohen. The songwriter also says: "I wanted to write something in the tradition of the hallelujah choruses but from a different point of view... It's the notion that there is no perfection ~ that this is a broken world and we live with broken hearts and broken lives but still that is no alibi for anything. On the contrary, you have to stand up and say hallelujah under those circumstances."
By request, Hallelujah, Leonard Cohen's song, fittingly described by Allison Crowe as "awesome", is seen/heard here performed live in the tv studio. It's part of Crowe's "Tidings" special ~ broadcast across Canada each December (since 2003 by CHUM's A-Channel network) and her album of the same name. The one-hour music program was created by Producer Doug Slack and his team "Inside Pandora's Box". Allison Crowe joins a host of artists, including Popa Chubby, Dresden Dolls, kd lang, Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright and John Cale, each in their own ways, expressing the genius of Leonard Cohen.
"Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah'... it's one of the most beautiful songs ever written. I am happy to report that Allison Crowe does it justice and then some. Her voice will give you chills. If it doesn't, check your pulse, you may not be alive. It's incredibly moving." ~ Amy Lotsberg, Collected Sounds (USA)
"...a radiant, rousing, celebratory rendition of Leonard Cohen's lovely 'Hallelujah' " ~ Shirley Goldberg, Mo Magazine (Canada)
"Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah,' which, as performed by Allison Crowe, may be one of the most amazing things ever recorded onto magnetic tape." ~ Semper Ubi Sub Ubi (USA)
"HALLELUJAH is absolutely the best version I have ever heard of that song...and there have been some almost perfect recordings of it. But (Crowe)s takes the cake. Powerful, yet vulnerable. Sexy and innocent. Just amazing." ~ Steven Stewart, MusicFreedom (Finland)
"Hallelujah, by Leonard Cohen. This song has somehow become Crowe's signature, if a singer who defies description as stubbornly as she does has a signature... Cohen's original version is a spoken poem, all of the meaning contained in the words. Crowe's version is a living thing, a meditation and a celebration and a benediction." ~ anacronym (Canada)
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 | Skeletons and Spirits - Allison Crowe
Tags: acoustic, Allison, Canada, Crowe, live, music, passion, performance, piano, rock, skeletons, songwriter, spirits, voice
Description:
From Allison Crowe's album "This Little Bird" comes this jaunty take on relationships.
Here's a version recorded live, in June 2006, in Canada's most easterly province, Newfoundland, for the über-popular Rogers tv program, Out of the Fog. Hosts Krysta Rudofsky and Paddy Daly ~ marking his first week not on hockey programming ~ along with Producer Mike Fisher and his team are ace!
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 | In My Life (The Beatles) - Allison Crowe performs live
Tags: acoustic, Allison, Beatles, Canada, Crowe, Fab, Four, John, Lennon, live, McCartney, music, Paul, piano, pop, singer, toppermost, voice
Description:
Canadian singer-songwriter Allison Crowe performs, live-in-the-studio, The Beatles beautiful In My Life. "There are places I'll remember/ All my life though some have changed..." wrote John Lennon ~ and, with Paul McCartney contributing on the musical side, the song marked a beginning of a more literary creativity for The Fab Four. This song is found on Allison Crowe's "Tidings" album.
"In My Life, looking back at life... is perfect (for the season of joy and peace)." ~ Allison Crowe
"You're about to hear from one of Canada's very best artists. I first heard her live at the lift-off for our beloved colleague David Grierson... I made her promise not to make us cry, but she sang this Beatles tune." ~ Shelagh Rogers, CBC Radio Host & Public Broadcaster (Canada)
"A stone's throw away at the village hall, Canadian angel Allison Crowe gave one of the weekend's most magical moments, earning one of few encores for her solo rendition of Lennon's In My Life (a song inspired by Durness)." ~ John Lennon Northern Lights Festival review in The Scotsman (UK)
"Songwriter and mistress of coversongs Allison Crowe beat out Johnny Cash, Ben Lee, Chantal Kreviazuk and Shawn Colvin covers of In My Life at the last minute. Buy or download all Crowe's albums via Rubenesque - her own label - and you'll know why this Canadian youngster is one to watch for the next half-century." ~ Cover Lay Down blog (USA)
"Crowe improves upon a classic" ~ John Kimantas, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Canada)
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 | In the Bleak Midwinter - Allison Crowe (live on television)
Tags: acoustic, Allison, Canada, Canuck, carol, chanson, Christmas, concert, Crowe, holiday, live, music, Noel, piano, special, Tidings, voice
Description:
Allison Crowe performs a traditional song of the season, In the Bleak Midwinter. This is part of her live television special, Tidings.
A live-in-the-studio recording of this song is on Allison Crowe's very popular, and classic, "Tidings" CD album.
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 | The First Noel - Allison Crowe
Tags: Allison, carol, chanson, Christmas, Crowe, First, music, Noel, piano, The, Tidings, voice
Description:
Here, musician Allison Crowe performs the traditional carol, The First Noel. This recording was made live-off-the-floor one Canadian Winter - as a gift for Allison's Fan Club.
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 | I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You) - Allison Crowe
Tags: Allison, Aretha, Canada, concert, Crowe, Franklin, glory, hometown, independent, live, music, piano, Ronnie, Shannon, soul, voice
Description:
This funkily lo-fi recording is from a concert just before Christmas 2006 (more hometown glory - Winter). Allison Crowe performs "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" - a song written in the '60s by Ronnie Shannon, and which was a break-through hit for Aretha Franklin.
Bob Muller, curator of cover songs at JoniMitchell.com says: "it takes a lot of self-confidence to tackle Aretha's version of "I Never Loved a Man..." but Allison does and nails it just as good as the Queen of Soul herself. Her piano playing is equally exquisite. Treat yourself to one of the mightiest talents on the singer-songwriter scene today."
Cheers to Del and Scott for capturing this happening. Warmest thanks to web creator extraordinaire Cylune for enabling this video to be enjoyed as it is ( :
Another live, first-take, recording of this song appears on Allison Crowe's "This Little Bird" CD album.
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 | Silence - Allison Crowe
Tags: "Allison, "This, acoustic, Allison, Bird", British, Canada, Columbia, Crowe, Crowe", folk, Little, music, Newfoundland, Silence
Description:
From Allison Crowe's newest album, "This Little Bird", comes "Silence".
...like a song that Yvonne (Madeleine LeBeau) could have played in Rick's Cafe, in the film classic Casablanca. Maybe before Paul Henreid as Victor Laszlo asks the orchestra to play "La Marseillaise". Of course, following a nod from Rick (Humphrey Bogart), the band does, indeed, rally to the Marseillaise - France's national anthem.
Here now, is a tune from Ce Petit Oiseau (This Little Bird).
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 | Scared - Allison Crowe music video
Tags: acoustic, Allison, Canada, Canuck, chasing, Crowe, live, music, Nanaimo, pavements, piano, rock, Scared, singer, songwriter, video
Description:
This video accompanies the song "Scared" ~ recorded live-off-the-floor in 2001 by Allison Crowe and her trio for Crowe's debut disc, "Lisa's Song + 6 Songs". Filming was done entirely in the downtown streets and dock area of Nanaimo, British Columbia - chasing pavements in Canada's "Harbour City".
When it premiered as part of an Urban Industrial show presented by Crimson Coast Dance Society, Allison said: "This song is about not being afraid to stand up for yourself and what you believe in, to speak out even in the most adverse of circumstances. It was a wonderful gift from Angela Kendall and Brian Dutkewich (of transmission 2 video)." Allison Crowe plays piano and sings, Dave Baird plays bass, and Kevin Clevette is on the drums.
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