A great singer-songwriter that features elsewhere in my collection, but not enough...
I bought this in my final year at Uni. I grew to love it intensely on interminable bus journeys between Dunkirk and Loughborough, where Paul was living. I was seeing Paul at the time. For many years I felt saddened that such pure music was a reminder of someone who wasn't worth it. He didn't like Leonard Cohen. I don't think Paul had a musical bone in his body.
Then I learnt that my memories were of the beauty of the English countryside - our relationship lasted from February to June, a time when the countryside changes beyond recognition.
Week after week I sat on the Barton's bus. There seemed so many different routes to Loughborough, it was like a magical mystery tour. I remember Sutton Bonnington (and Thrumpton and Gotham); Castle Donington and East Midlands Airport; and signs pointing to the unpronouncable Ashby de la Zouch.
The music even evokes the Barton's' buses. They were special, a throwback to an earlier age. Halfway between a coach and a bus, plenty of legroom and seat space, with an unforgettable and not unpleasant aroma. And vital in serving the outlying villages of Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire.
And the music....
Running through the entire album is an ambience I struggle to describe: purity, light, crystal, a mountain spring. Perhaps its the keythat the songs are all in. Gosh, never considered that before. It's sunny and uplifting, but not jolly. Never accuse Leonard Cohen of jollity! If you took away themusic you would be left with astounding poetry.
This album goes into the list of my favourites. How can I single out a 'best track' from eight exceptional tracks? And I so wanted to be one of Leonard's Be-Bop girls!
I do not play this album often enough, even though I probably play it more than many others.
And the music is
