Harvey Kubernik, Present At The Spector Cohen Sessions, Says That There Was No Phil Spector Circus Environment, Cohen Is Swigging From A Bottle Of Jose Cuervo & No Mention Of Guns Or Armaments

But that is hardly enough for Phil Spector--whose brilliance only starts with the songs he writes, but really gets to shining when he gets those songs into a studio. And so it is obvious that the Leonard Cohen sessions have been important to him--almost therapeutic. He certainly seems to be taking his work extremely seriously: He has been decidedly less theatrical in the studio of late; the usual Spector circus atmosphere seems to have been replaced at least in part by a rediscovered, or new interest in the music itself. And that seems to be very good medicine, both for Spector and for Cohen.

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"Working with Phil," says Cohen nonetheless, "I've found that some of his musical treatments are very...er...foreign to me. I mean, I've rarely worked in a live room that contains 25 musicians--including two drummers, three bassists, and six guitars."
The track Cohen and Spector are particularly interested in listening to right now is "Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On," the album's all-out stomper, with hosts of loud horns and pulsating beat that's hammered all the way home by dual drummers playing in perfect synch. Above it all, comes Cohen's menacing, gritty vocal work, which holds center stage in a most unexpected but effective way. "I can really belt 'em out, you know," says the singer, as he takes a swig of Jose Cuervo from the bottle.

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Dylan, Hal Blaine, Jim Keltner (who was on the Celine Dion project), Nino Tempo (who I spoke to constantly when I worked for Marty Machat), Allen Ginsberg (a friend of my ex-husband and mine), and Dan and David Kessel were present.  Dan or David Kessel noted that Cohen was in his Shaolin Priest mode on these sessions.

By 6 A.M., Spector and Cohen are still listening to one rough mix after another. Bob Dylan appears somewhere in the midst of Spector's huge, complicated sounds. So do Hal Blaine, Jim Keltner, Nino Tempo, Jesse Ed Davis, Allen Ginsberg, Art Munson, Ray Pholman, and Dan and David Kessel--sons of jazz guitarist Barney Kessel. The music is hard and solid and soulful. There is, above all, nothing "El-lay" about it.

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