Famous Blue Raincoat (The Songs of Leonard Cohen)

Jennifer Warnes spent much of the 1970s as a backing singer in Leonard Cohen's touring band, and Famous Blue Raincoat grew directly out of that long friendship and musical apprenticeship as a full-album tribute to his songwriting, released in November 1986. A key impetus was 'Song of Bernadette,' which began as Warnes' own composition sketch before Cohen helped shape it, and the album also premiered 'First We Take Manhattan' and 'Ain't No Cure for Love' before Cohen recorded his own versions. Co-produced by Warnes and bassist Roscoe Beck, the record surrounds her warm, precise readings with lush, cinematic arrangements from an elite bench of West Coast session players - a deliberate contrast to the spare textures of Cohen's originals - and Cohen himself duets with her on 'Joan of Arc,' taking the role of the fire to her Joan. Initial critical reaction was mixed, with some reviewers finding the production overblown next to Cohen's austerity, but the album became a slow-burning commercial phenomenon, introducing a wide pop audience to Cohen's catalog at a low point in his visibility. It stands as Warnes' best-known and most enduring solo statement, cementing her reputation as an interpretive singer of exceptional taste. Its standing has only grown with time: it is now routinely cited as one of the finest tribute albums in popular music and is credited with helping revive broad interest in Leonard Cohen's work during the late 1980s.