I keep hearing bits and pieces of Leonard Cohen that I like, as well as reading interviews with favorite musicians who extol his awesome virtues. With that in mind I’d like to try something out, but I’m not sure where to start. So what do you guys think?
PS I’m not interested in ‘best of’ collections!
I’m Your Man and The Future have some good stuff on them.
Mmmmm. The best of collections really are very good.
That said, my favorite albums are “Various Positions” and “I’m Your Man”. I also REALLY REALLY like “Ten New Songs” but a lot of people don’t, so maybe not that one till you’ve heard more.
Absolutely my recommendation. The Best of Leonard Cohen belongs in every music collection. If it’s not my all-time favorite collection of music, it’s pretty damned close.
Aside from the various best of compilations (I suggest Essential on that note), my favourites are Various Positions through The Future. And, although my favourite songs on those albums are on VP and TF, I’m Your Man if my favourite of the albums.
I second Ten New Songs…
The two from 60s. Newer ones, I like them, but they get a bit worn out for me after a while whereas I can listen to the old ones like I can listen old Bob Dylan anytime.
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The collections are great, but you might as well get the albums instead.
Songs of Love and Hate is his best album and has almost no songs on the collections. I’m Your Man is also a must listen album.
I’m really fond of the ‘Live in London’-double CD. That may just be because the one and only time I saw him live was on that tour, but it’s got (most of) the essentials on it, with a strangely intimate quality – you feel like you’re being sung to.
There are really two Leonard Cohens: the folky sixties and seventies albums, and the more uptempo newer stuff, and it’s rare that people like both. I’m in the sixties camp, and my favourites are ‘Songs of Leonard Cohen’ and ‘Songs of Love and Hate’.
See, I’m definitely more of the “newer stuff” Cohen fan (With the exception of Dear Heather, which has at least three songs on it that are nearly unlistenable, most especially the title track).
Songs of Leonard Cohen is good, but Songs of Love and Hate is pretty much my least favorite Cohen album of all time. IMO the only good track on SoLaH is Famous Blue Raincoat, the others make me reach for the “next” button on my iPod.
Also, I just love the way his voice deepened in his middle to later years - from about the period from Recent Songs through Ten New Songs. He went from a fairly lightweight baritone back in Songs of Leonard Cohen to a deep rumbly bass that is just delicious, in a “Damn, wish he was thirty years younger” sort of way.
ETA: I’ve gotten his brand new album, but haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet.
Worth mentioning:
I’m Your Fan - The Songs of Leonard Cohen
It has a few stinkers, but there is a metric ton of awesome music within.
mmm
My favourite Leonard Cohen album is Famous Blue Raincoat by Jennifer Warnes. The music is all his, lovingly reinterpreted by other artists.
It’s a fragmented vote, but I’m going with “I’m the Man”. Thanks for the suggestions!
I’m Your Man.
A solid album but for all that is holy, skip past “Jazz Police.” It’s so bad your ears will bleed.
Leonard Cohen personally selected the tracks on The Essential Leonard Cohen. Apparently I have the same taste in Leonard Cohen as Leonard Cohen, because in my opinion the selections are without fault. He’s had new albums since then, though, so it doesn’t cover everything.
Heh. Those were Joe Jackson recommendations I was looking for, right? :smack:
I generally don’t like best-ofs, if only because most bands I like have gems that won’t ever make that kind of list. In any case I just downloaded it, and away we go!
The AV Club’s pop-culture primer this month just happens to be about Leonard Cohen: http://www.avclub.com/articles/primer-leonard-cohen,68629/1/
As for best-of compilations, I’ll third the recommendation of The Essential Leonard Cohen. It’s a two CD set that covers highlights from most of his career.
I’ve been meaning to create a Leonard Cohen playlist for quite a while now. I have 42 songs in my iTunes collection and I knew it would take me a while to get the selections and the order together. I checked out The Essential Leonard Cohen because of the recommendations here and see that I have 18 of the 31 on the album. Made my playlist much easier. I’ll burn it now and have it in the car changer tomorrow.
Thanks, folks…
Another worth-mentioning tribute, Tower of Song. For Elton John’s version of I’m Your Man, if nothing else.
I couldn’t pick a single best Cohen album because his great songs are dispersed among several, so *The Essential Leonard Cohen *is it.
The album recommendations here are good, with the caveat for I’m Your Man that the arrangements seem to have been done on a $50 mid-80s Radio Shack Casio. The best way to avoid that is a live album…