Not many songs have been covered by so many artists like Leonard Cohen’s song “Hallelujah.” First recorded in 1984 on the underwhelmingly received Various Positions album, “Hallelujah” received little success upon its release but eventually found fame when Jeff Buckley and John Cale covered the song. However, many people know the song from the Dreamworks’ movie, “Shrek,” covered by Rufus Wainwright.

Continue reading ‘Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song’: Leonard Cohen’s Most Enduring Song Gets The Doc Treatment at The Playlist.

Daniel Gellar and Dayna Goldfine’s “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song” begins at what is, by most definitions, the end: with Cohen’s final concert, in December of 2013. He roams the stage, growling out the title song in his trademark fedora and black suit, with all 79 of his years behind it, and it sounds like both a dirge and a celebration. By this time, the omnipresent “Hallelujah” was the song Cohen was most associated with, its strange combination of spirituality and sin, of operatic emotion and shrugging acceptance, making it a standard – the 21st century’s “Yesterday.” 

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But there’s a whole oddball history there, a strange, twisted story of the “Hallelujah” path from forgotten album track to cultural ubiquity, first told in Alan Light’s 2012 book “The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of ‘Hallelujah’” (Light is credited here as a consultant), and later on in Malcolm Gladwell’s “Revisionist History” podcast.

Continue reading ‘Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song’ Is A (Mostly) Fascinating Chronicle Of A Musical Masterpiece [Venice Review] at The Playlist.

Filmmaker Todd Haynes‘ career is arguably one long marriage of art school tendencies and an obsession with formative rock n’ roll from the ’60s and ’70s. His career began with the experimental short, “Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story,” he then tracked the rise of glam rock in “Velvet Goldmine” and Bob Dylan‘s chameleonic shape-changing ways in “I’m Not There.” Now, Haynes turns his gaze to The Velvet Underground, the seminal 1960s art-rock group that arguably launched all forms of punk, art-rock, indie rock, and alternative music and made its primary singer/songwriter Lou Reed famous.

Continue reading ‘The Velvet Underground’ Trailer: Todd Haynes Chronicles The Outsiders Who Disrupted Rock ‘N Roll at The Playlist.

The always artful filmmaker Todd Haynes totally ignores the one clichéd anecdote about the iconoclastic rock group The Velvet Underground in his superb, eponymic doc “The Velvet Underground,” a film that should always be experienced at top volume. Attributed to the similarly groundbreaking musician/ producer Brian Eno, the oft-repeated phrase claims the debut VU record only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band.

Continue reading ‘The Velvet Underground’: Todd Haynes Captures The Chaotic, Brutal Beauty Of Rock’s Most Important Underground Band [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.

Director Todd Haynes is no stranger to musically-inclined films. He took on the glam rock genre with 1998’s “Velvet Goldmine” and made a truly singular biopic about Bob Dylan with 2007’s “I’m Not There.” Now, for his documentary feature debut, Haynes tackles a legendary rock group in “The Velvet Underground.” 

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The documentary has its world premiere out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival this week.

Continue reading ‘The Velvet Underground’ First Look Clip: Todd Haynes’ Documentary On The Legendary Band Premieres At Cannes at The Playlist.

Elizabeth: [laughing] You actually listen to Whitney Houston? You own a Whitney Houston CD? More than one?
Patrick Bateman: It’s hard to choose a favorite among so many great tracks, but “The Greatest Love of All” is one of the best, most powerful songs ever written about self-preservation, dignity. Its universal message crosses all boundaries and instills one with the hope that it’s not too late to better ourselves.

Continue reading Don’t Look Back: American Psycho at The Playlist.

LCD Soundsytem‘s “All My Friends” is one of the songs of the year, goddammit, it’s so friggin’ good. I don’t think I’ve heard a song that particularly identifies being a 33-42 year-old living in New York, ever.

Continue reading Connecting The Dots of “All My Friends” at The Playlist.