Jackie Leven: Live Or Die – Live in Bremen, 1999 & 2004

Very personal, rapturous review by editor-in-chief Thoralf Koß of the 4-CD box (MIG, 26 April 2024) with a 1999 solo concert and the 2004 concert with Michael Cosgrave in the Radio Bremen Sendesaal. The text begins with three quotations: a comment under the theArtsDesk obituary (with the closing line of “Main Travelled Roads”), the Tagesspiegel obituary of 17 November 2011 and the musikreviews comments of 2011, including Jochen König's criticism of the FAZ obituary. Koß praises Leven as one of the most likeable and honest musicians ever, compares him with Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, Elvis Presley and above all Scott Walker, describes his “tramp outfit” and his refusal to give encores (“only idiots like Robbie Williams”). He praises the guitar playing, voice and sound quality. In a postscript he tells of a lengthy conversation with Leven at the Beatpol in Dresden about 15 years earlier and a signed CD “For Peace Comes Dropping Slow”. Tone: hymn, highest praise.