Hallelujah Wars

[mattc]

I'm on the fence over this one. On the one hand, even I've heard several better versions of this song than the 'X-factor version'.
On the other hand, it's really not a bad rendition. I think if you didn't already know the song, you would say it was quite a good record, and a lot better than many Xmas No1s.

The fight for a Hallelujah Christmas victory - Times Online

[Fab Foodie]

I'm kinda with you mattc.

The girl can sing, no doubt.  Her version may not be the best but it's OK (too mkuch bloated production, but her rendidtions OK),  it's opened peoples minds to the work of Leonard Cohen. It  was an interesting choice frankly and it's proven very popular.
I'm fighting a loosing battle on the subject elsewhere, but there you go, it's only Pop-music, and Pop's a business.

Hallelujah - Cycle Chat

[Kathy]

My problem is that her voice is very generic. Every single Wanna-R-an-Be singer these days does exactly the same gospelish warbling (including the carol singers in Croydon last week, which was dire as they were all doing different tunes, let alone different keys).

Wainright/Buckley did it better!

[Flying_Monkey]

I think I must be the only person in the world who doesn't rate the Tim Buckley version so much. It's melodramatic and I find it a bit irritating. Cohen on the other hand has experience in his voice... if you see the shows he did this year in the UK, it's something else.

[tonycollinet]

I want Leona to be No 1 - just to shut em all up. Think I'll go download Run now.

[andygates]

Hallelujah needs a voice that's been there, been broken, got back up and lived life.  Neither of the current presentations have that: they're anodyne, plastic pap.  It's not a song you sing nicely, it's a song that has to wrench itself out of you.  They're going through the motions.

This is not a fault of the young: the current Pussycat Dolls single, I Hate This Part, is really nicely emoted and convincing; and it's not a fault of the production: despite being heavily produced, it still has oomph. 

It's just that these Hallelujahs are crap.

[pcolbeck]

Tim Buckley is my favorite.

[Zipperhead]

My problem is that her voice is very generic. Every single Wanna-R-an-Be singer these days does exactly the same gospelish warbling (including the carol singers in Croydon last week, which was dire as they were all doing different tunes, let alone different keys).

When I get to be dictator, the warbling singers will be first up against the wall.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/CLA4Oda1TZc&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/CLA4Oda1TZc&rel=1</a>

[Rhys W]

Over here in Wales we have another crap version to put up with. Apparently it's the only translated version that Mr Cohen is happy to have released. The problem is, it's sung by a couple of bed-wetting mummy's boys who make Coldplay sound like Metallica. To add insult to injury, they've changed the words to a pathetic, ill-informed Christmas carol whine about the middle east conflict.

I have nothing against harps, but...

[Bluebottle]

Yes Leona, or whoever, can sing.  So can Celine Dion but I wouldn't want to listen to them.  The song needs more than just warbling.  It needs dirt.  It demands a golden, broken Hallelujah.  I'm not a fan of the original arrangement but it had something tangible about it.  John Cale at least took it someplace different.

I'm with Louis Walsh (not often I'm likely to say that), the good thing about Leona's version is that Leonard will at least make some money out of it.

[pcolbeck]

You mean Alexandra's version.

The John Cale version is excellent. Definitely the best version if you want someone with experience in their voice. I don't care for the Leonard Cohen version even though he wrote it, I find him a bit like Bob Dylan in that I think his songs are brilliant but prefer someone else to sing them.

[Bluebottle]

I remain completely aloof to X-Factor and the like and so am willing to stand corrected whoever won/came second and got a deal.  I get what you are saying about Len and Dylan although am willing to forgive Dylan if only as I never get distracted by the backing singers jarring with the main vocals (which I get occassionally with Cohen).  To that list I would add that I just can't get Springsteen.  Other people covering his songs are fine (Ballboy's "Born in the USA" of Townes's "Racing In the Streets"?).  But not the man himself please...

[nicknack]

Tim Buckley is my favorite.

I think you mean Jeff (though Tim would've been better).

[pcolbeck]

Oops yes I did mean Jeff . I love his dads stuff as well, particularly his version of Dolphins.

[Fab Foodie]

I think I must be the only person in the world who doesn't rate the Tim Buckley version so much. It's melodramatic and I find it a bit irritating. Cohen on the other hand has experience in his voice... if you see the shows he did this year in the UK, it's something else.

Thank you FM, agree entirely, but we'll be catsigated by the Jeff's version is sacred brigade.

Kathy, I know where you're coming from.  She does have a very R'n'B voice although with a bit more deptyh than usual.  It is a style that sells well at the moment,particularly in the USA where Leona Lewis is doing very well.
I really like Gospel music and would have liked to have seen a more pared-down version from Alexandra, she has the voice to do it justice, unfortunately, the producers have gone for the Celine Dione Bombast which I find off-putting and detracts from a fine vocal.

[Flying_Monkey]

Tim Buckley is my favorite.

I think you mean Jeff (though Tim would've been better).

Agreed - I think that was what was preoccupying me!

[LEE]

I predict that I will never want to hear any version of that song ever again come New Year.

Leonard Cohen may be the only person looking forward to hearing it 30 times a day on the radio by that point.

[bikenerd]

I prefer Nick Cave's version.

I used to like Jeff Buckley in my early twenties.  I'm well over it now, but for people in their early twenties Jeff Buckley is great music.  Like My Chemical Romance is great music for 15 year olds.  And the National is great music when you're over 30 and things still don't really make any sense.

[clarion]

I've heard the offending item now.

Oh dear.

Edit: Oh dear indeed.  As I posted this, Steve Wright is playing the damn thing again.  Apparently, this woman can sing, but at the moment, she's doing an impression somewhere between Celine Dion's histrionics and Mariah Carey's overdose of notes.  She sings like she has no idea what the words mean.

OK - so it's by Leonard Cohen, and it's extracted from a reputed 80 verses he wrote, so the meaning may not be the most transparent, but she contrives to appear to be singing in a completely unknown foreign language, with the emphasis all over the place.  Ugh.

[nicknack]

Yes, crap isn't it.

Whitney fkin Houston's got a lot to answer for.

[andygates]

Nick Cave did a version???

OMGgottadownloadNOW!

[vorsprung]

I predict that I will never want to hear any version of that song ever again come New Year.

But you don't really care for music, do ya?

KD Langs version is best

[bikenerd]

Nick Cave did a version???

OMGgottadownloadNOW!

Nah, it's a different song, same name.  Sorry. 
(If he did do a version it would be immense.  And he'd probably do all 80 verses.)

[mattc]

Whitney fkin Houston's got a lot to answer for.

Damn right. It's quite satisfying that you're the first person to mention her, which shows she is fading into musical anonymity, as should anyone who churns out soulless commercial rubbish.

[clarion]

OK.  To redress the balance, Steve Wright's just played Leonard's version.  God you feel the hurt.