Artists have been covering the songs of Leonard Cohen since at least 1969, when Roberta Flack included ‘Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye’ on her memorable debut album First Take, showing it was possible to produce a version of a Cohen song that was superior to the original, sacrilegious though the thought may have been to Cohen fans.

Subsequently, cover versions of Cohen's songs by others have even played a role in resurrecting his career at certain points in his life. So while the notion of Cohen covers is hardly new, an album with 11 vocalists covering his work is, and when the producer is Larry Klein – a former friend and fan of Cohen – who delivered Herbie Hancock a Grammy in 2007 for River: The Joni Letters, expectation rises. Klein was untroubled that Cohen's songs come weighed down with subjectivity, instead looking for each singer to put their own imprimatur on the material. With a strong backing band, and a well chosen selection of Cohen songs from the lesser known to favourites like ‘Suzanne,’ ‘Hallelujah,’ ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’ and ‘Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye’ he gets fine performances from all his vocal guests. There's even some standout work by likes of Norah Jones, who Norah Jones-ifies ‘Steer Your Way’ – no mean feat with such strong material – Gregory Porter, Sara McLachlan, James Taylor and Mavis Staples, while Bill Frisell features on ‘Bird on The Wire.’ Not difficult to imagine a Grammy nomination, at the very least, going Klein's way.