Personnel: Jennifer Warnes (vocals), Fred Tackett, Michael Landau, Robben Ford (guitar), David Lindley (lap steel guitar), Sid Page, Barbara Porter (violins), Novi Novog (viola), Larry Corbett, Suzie Katayama (cellos), Paul Ostermayer (tenor saxophone), "Reverend" Dave Boruff (saxophone), Bill Ginn (piano, synthesizer), Gary Chang (synthesizers, programming), William "Smitty" Smith (synthesizer, Hammond B-3), Russell Ferrante (synthesizer), Richard Feves, Jorge Calderon (bass), Roscoe Beck (bass, guitar, acoustic bass, synthesizer), Vinnie Colaiuta (drums), Larry Brown, Steve Forman, Lenny Castro (percussion), Bobby King, Terry Evans, Kal David, Willie Greene Jr. (background vocals).

Like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen has the distinction of being a superior songwriter whose often-covered songs seldom rival the original (due in part to Cohen's inimitable voice). That changed with the appearance of Jennifer Warnes' FAMOUS BLUE RAINCOAT. Best known for her soft rock-oriented pop material, Warnes took a surprising (and critically acclaimed) turn on a this collection of first-rate interpretations. Cohen and Warnes worked together on the album (he duets with her on "Joan of Arc"), so these versions carry the poetic depth and breadth of Cohen's original vision. The arrangements might be glossy compared to Cohen's stark originals, but they also suit Warnes' smooth, accomplished approach. "First We Take Manhattan," "Ain't No Cure for Love," and the title track are standouts.

Jennifer Warnes was familiar with Leonard Cohen from a tour of duty as one of his backup singers in the early '70s, but this collection of Cohen's songs must have shocked her AM radio fans who knew her from her '70s country-pop hits and her movie themes, if they were even able to connect the woman who sang "It's the right time of the night for makin' love" with the one who declared "First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin" over stinging guitar work by Stevie Ray Vaughan on the opening track here. As that pairing suggests, Warnes wisely took a tougher, more contemporary approach to the arrangements than such past Cohen interpreters as Judy Collins used to. Where other singers tended to geld Cohen's often disturbingly revealing poetry, Warnes, working with the composer himself and introducing a couple of great new songs ("First We Take Manhattan" and "Song of Bernadette," which she co-wrote), matched his own versions. The high point may have been the Warnes-Cohen duet on "Joan of Arc," but the album was consistently impressive. And it went a long way toward reestablishing Cohen, whose reputation was in a minor eclipse in the mid-'80s. A year later, with the way paved for him, he released his brilliant comeback album I'm Your Man. For Warnes, the album meant her first taste of real critical success: suddenly a singer who had seemed like a second-rate Linda Ronstadt now appeared to be a first-class interpretive artist. ~ William Ruhlmann

Record Collector (magazine) (p.106) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "A career launching pad, FAMOUS BLUE RAINCOAT revealed her maturing interpretive skills for the first time."