Leonard Cohen - Dear Heather (2004)

Leonard Cohen - Dear Heather (2004)

rock | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 310MB

Sony

Allmusic:
There is an air of finality on Leonard Cohen's Dear Heather. Cohen, who turned 70 in September of 2004, offers no air of personal mortality -- thank God; may this elegant Canadian bard of the holy and profane live forever. It nonetheless looks back -- to teachers, lovers, and friends -- and celebrates life spent in the process of actually living it. The album's bookend tracks provide some evidence: Lord Byron's bittersweet "Go No More A-Roving," set to music and sung by Cohen and Sharon Robinson (and dedicated to Cohen's ailing mentor, Irving Layton), and a beautifully crafted reading of country music's greatest lost love song, "Tennessee Waltz." Cohen's voice is even quieter, almost whispering, nearly sepulchral. The tone of the album is mellow, hushed, nocturnal. Its instrumentation is drenched in the beat nightclub atmospherics of Ten New Songs: trippy, skeletal R&B and pop and Casio keyboard- and beatbox-propelled rhythm tracks are graced by brushed drums, spectral saxophones, and vibes, along with an all but imperceptible acoustic guitar lilting sleepily through it all. But this doesn't get it, because there's so much more than this, too. That said, Dear Heather is Cohen's most upbeat offering. Rather than focus on loss as an end, it looks upon experience as something to be accepted as a portal to wisdom and gratitude. Women permeate these songs both literally and metaphorically. Robinson, who collaborated with Cohen last time, is here, but so is Anjani Thomas. Leanne Ungar also lends production help. Cohen blatantly sums up his amorous life in "Because Of": "Because of a few songs/Wherein I spoke of their mystery/Women have been exceptionally kind to my old age/They make a secret place/In their busy lives/And they say, 'Look at me, Leonard/Look at me one last time.'" "The Letters," written with Robinson, who sings in duet, is a case in point, reflecting on a past love who has been "Reading them again/The ones you didn't burn/You press them to your lips/My pages of concern...The wounded forms appear/The loss, the full extent/And simple kindness here/The solitude of strength." "On That Day" is a deeply compassionate meditation on the violence of September 11 where he asks the question: "Did you go crazy/Or did you report/On that day...." It is followed by the spoken poem "A Villanelle for Our Time," with words by Cohen's late professor Frank Scott that transform these experiences into hope. "We rise to play a greater part/The lesser loyalties depart/And neither race nor creed remain/From bitter searching of the heart...." On "There for You," with Robinson, Cohen digs even deeper into the well, telling an old lover that no matter the end result of their love, he was indeed there, had shown up, he was accountable and is grateful. Cohen quotes his own first book, The Spice Box of Earth, to pay tribute to the late poet A.M. Klein. "Tennessee Waltz" is indeed a sad, sad song, but it is given balance in Cohen's elegant, cheerful delivery. If this is indeed his final offering as a songwriter, it is a fine, decent, and moving way to close this chapter of the book of his life.

Tracks
-01. "Go No More A-Roving" (words by Lord Byron, poem "So, we'll go no more a roving") – 3:40
-02. "Because Of" – 3:00
-03. "The Letters" (Cohen, Sharon Robinson) – 4:44
-04. "Undertow" – 4:20
-05. "Morning Glory" – 3:28
-06. "On That Day" (Cohen, Anjani Thomas) – 2:04
-07. "Villanelle for Our Time" (words by F. R. Scott) – 5:55
-08. "There for You" (Cohen, Robinson) – 4:36
-09. "Dear Heather" – 3:41
-10. "Nightingale" (Cohen, Thomas) – 2:27
-11. "To a Teacher" – 2:32
-12. "The Faith" (music based on a Quebec folk song, see "Un Canadien errant") – 4:17
-13. "Tennessee Waltz" (Redd Stewart, Pee Wee King, additional verse by Cohen) – 4:05
All songs were written by Leonard Cohen, except where noted.

sample & buy: Dear Heather

Leonard Cohen - Field Commander Cohen: Tour of 1979 (eac-log-cover)

Leonard Cohen - Field Commander Cohen: Tour of 1979

rock | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 340MB

Sony | rel: 2001

Allmusic:
As he'd firmly established himself as a poet and novelist years before he made his first album, Leonard Cohen is often regarded less as a musician than as a writer who happens to sing. But his songs have always displayed a subtle but mesmerizing melodic sense that dovetails gracefully with his lyrics, and though his craggy voice has its limits, no one else interprets Cohen's songs with his degree of intelligence and quiet passion. In 1979, after the release of his album Recent Songs, Cohen set out on an international concert tour accompanied by members of the jazz-rock group Passenger; Field Commander Cohen was compiled from recordings of the 1979 tour, and it presents an especially strong argument for Cohen's gifts as a musician. Cohen's voice had gained a great deal of strength and nuance since the dates preserved on 1973's Live Songs, and the smoky rasp that began to scar his vocals on I'm Your Man had yet to set in; this may well be Cohen's best set of recorded performances as a singer, and having Jennifer Warnes and Sharon Robinson on hand as duet partners is especially rich icing on the cake. While the musicians take care to never intrude upon the songs, they play beautifully, with remarkable taste and skill; Passenger bring out the nuances of these songs with a sure but gentle hand (especially bassist Roscoe Beck and Paul Ostermayer on sax and clarinet), and Raffi Hakopian's violin and John Bilezikjian's oud add breathtaking punctuation to these performances (Cohen often cites his musicians after the songs, and it's not hard to imagine a singer being thrilled to work with musicians of this caliber). While it falls short of the stark emotional force of Songs of Leonard Cohen or Songs of Love and Hate, Field Commander Cohen makes clear that Cohen writes songs, not literature accompanied by incidental music, and here these 12 songs possess a passionate, aching beauty that's a wonder to behold; this is easily the best Leonard Cohen live recording to emerge to date.

Tracks
-01. "Field Commander Cohen" – 4:25
-02. "The Window" – 5:51 * violin solo by Raffi Hakopian
-03. "The Smokey Life" – 5:34 * duet with Jennifer Warnes
-04. "The Gypsy's Wife" – 5:20 * violin solo by Raffi Hakopian
-05. "Lover Lover Lover" – 6:31 * includes two long oud solos by John Bilezikjian
-06. "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" – 4:04 * violin solo by Raffi Hakopian
-07. "The Stranger Song" – 4:55
-08. "The Guests" – 6:05 * violin solo by Raffi Hakopian
-09. "Memories" – (Cohen, Phil Spector) 4:38 * sax solo by Paul Ostermayer
-10. "Why Don't You Try" – 3:43 * duet with Sharon Robinson, solo by Paul Ostermayer
-11. "Bird on the Wire" – 5:10 * guitar solo by Mitch Watkins
-12. "So Long, Marianne" – 6:44
* Written by Leonard Cohen, except where noted.

sample & buy: Field Commander Cohen: Tour of 1979

Leonard Cohen - Live at the Isle of Wight (1970) CD+DVD

Leonard Cohen - Live at the Isle of Wight (1970) CD+DVD

rock | 1cd + 1dvd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover; iso-mds | 420+3940MB

Sony/Legacy 2009

Amazon:
Nearly 40 summers ago on August 31, 1970, 35-year-old Leonard Cohen was awakened at 2 a.m. from a nap in his trailer and brought onstage to perform with his band at the third annual Isle Of Wight music festival. The audience of 600,000 was in a fiery and frenzied mood, after turning the festival into a political arena, trampling the fences, setting fire to structures and equipment - and stoked by the most incendiary performance of Jimi Hendrix's career.
As Cohen followed Hendrix's set, onlookers and (fellow festival headliners) Joan Baez, Kris Kristofferson, Judy Collins and others stood sidestage in awe as the Canadian folksinger-songwriter-poet-novelist quietly tamed the crowd. Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Murray Lerner (From Mao To Mozart, Festival, Message To Love), perfectly captured Cohen's performance. Likewise, Columbia Records staff A&R producer Teo Macero did a brilliant job of supervising the live audio recording.
This CD/DVD package contains the new, beautiful film documentary by Lerner featuring interviews with fellow festival performers, as well as Cohen's full performance on CD. All tracks are previously unreleased (sans bits of "Suzanne" which were featured in the documentary Message to Love, also by Lerner). Included are live versions of classic songs from the first two Leonard Cohen LPs: "So Long, Marianne," "The Stranger Song," "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye," "Suzanne," "Bird On The Wire," "You Know Who I Am," and "The Partisan" as well as spoken word and poetry.

Tracks:
CD
-01. Introduction - 3:05
-02. Bird On The Wire - 4:15
-03. Intro to So Long, Marianne - 0:15
-04. So Long, Marianne - 7:07
-05. Intro/Let's Renew Ourselves 0:51
-06. You Know Who I Am - 3:58
-07. Intro To Poems - 0:29
-08. Lady Midnight - 3:37
-09. They Locked Up A Man (Poem)/A Person Who Eats Meat/Intro - 1:59
-10. One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong - 4:54
-11. The Stranger Song - 6:47
-12. Tonight Will Be Fine - 6:39
-13. Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye - 3:34
-14. Diamonds In The Mine - 5:22
-15. Suzanne - 4:26
-16. Sing Another Song, Boys - 6:31
-17. The Partisan - 5:13
-18. Famous Blue Raincoat - 6:15
-19. Seems So Long Ago, Nancy - 4:18

DVD:
-01. Intro: Diamonds In The Mine
-02. Famous Blue Raincoat
-03. "It's A Large Nation"
-04. Bird On The Wire
-05. One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong
-06. The Stranger Song
-07. Tonight Will Be Fine
-08. "They've Surrounded The Island"
-09. Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye
-10. Sing Another Song Boys
-11. Judy Collins Introduces Suzanne
-12. Suzanne
-13. Joan Baez On The Isle Of Wight
-14. The Partisan
-15. Seems So Long Ago, Nancy
-16. Credits: So Long, Marianne
-Bonus Interviews: Bob Johnston, Judy Collins, Joan Baez, Kris Kristofferson.

sample & buy: Live At The Isle of Wight (CD/DVD)

Leonard Cohen - Cohen Live (1994)

Leonard Cohen - Cohen Live (1994)

rock | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 450MB

Sony | rec: 1988 & 1993

AMG:
Few artists have maintained such a devoted fan base for so long outside the mainstream as Leonard Cohen. With such a rich catalog, any compilation of his material is bound to invite discussion. Cohen Live opts to balance earlier material with work from his late-'80s/early-'90s period culled from two different tours. The newer songs include the lovely "Dance Me to the End of Love," the ominous "Everybody Knows," and "I'm Your Man." Cohen classics such as "Bird on a Wire," "Who By Fire?," and "Suzanne" are among the older songs. Backed by strong musicians, Cohen delivers the songs in his monotone rasp that is distinctly him. The renditions are fairly faithful to the studio versions, although the added warmth of the live performers provides an interesting contrast with Cohen's baleful persona. Cohen Live isn't necessarily essential, but fans will enjoy hearing one of the more original and enduring voices from the '60s in a different setting.

Tracks:
-01. "Dance Me to the End of Love" (Toronto, June 17, 1993)
-02. "Bird on the Wire" (Toronto, June 17, 1993)
-03. "Everybody Knows" (Vancouver, June 29, 1993)
-04. "Joan of Arc" (Toronto, June 17, 1993)
-05. "There Is a War" (Toronto, June 17, 1993)
-06. "Sisters of Mercy" (Toronto, June 18, 1993)
-07. "Hallelujah" (Austin, October 31, 1988)
-08. "I'm Your Man" (Toronto, June 17, 1993)
-09. "Who by Fire?" (Austin, October 31, 1988)
-10. "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong" (San Sebastian, May 20, 1988)
-11. "If It Be Your Will" (Austin, October 31, 1988)
-12. "Heart with No Companion" (Amsterdam, April 19, 1988)
-13. "Suzanne" (Vancouver, June 29, 1993)

Personnel:
* Leonard Cohen: guitar, keyboards, vocals
* Perla Batalla: vocals
* Julie Christensen: vocals
* Jorge Calderón: bass, vocals
* Bob Metzger: guitar, pedal steel guitar
* Stephen Zirkel: bass, trumpet, keyboards
* Bill Ginn: keyboards
* Tom McMorran: keyboards
* Paul Ostermayer: keyboards, saxophone
* Bob Furgo: violin, keyboards
* John Bilezikjian: mandolin
* Steve Meador: drums

sample & buy: Cohen Live

Leonard Cohen - Ten New Songs (2001) (eac-log-cover)

Leonard Cohen - Ten New Songs (2001)

rock | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 310MB

Columbia |  rar +5% recovery

AMG:
"I'm back on Boogie Street," declares Leonard Cohen on two different songs in this collection, titled with characteristic understatement Ten New Songs. (Previous album titles have included Songs of Leonard Cohen, Songs from a Room, and Recent Songs.) More poet than musician, Cohen has, since his early albums, tended to rely on collaborations with musicians to put together his music: John Lissauer on 1974's New Skin for the Old Ceremony, Henry Lewy on 1979's Recent Songs, and, notoriously, Phil Spector on 1977's Death of a Ladies' Man. On Ten New Songs, his partner is former backup singer Sharon Robinson, who co-wrote "Everybody Knows" on 1988's I'm Your Man and earns co-writing credit on all the material here. She has also conjured the musical backgrounds ("All tracks arranged, programmed, and performed by Sharon Robinson, reads the credit), and she harmonizes with Cohen throughout. But all collaborators (even Spector) are in the service of Cohen's poetic vision, which remains the dominant element on this elegiac set. After a restatement of purpose on "In My Secret Life," he turns in a moody set of reflections on decline, even alluding to fellow poet Robert Frost's famous "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" in "A Thousand Kisses Deep": "And maybe I had miles to drive/And promises to keep/You ditch it all to stay alive/A thousand kisses deep." The songs are full of leave-taking, with titles like "Alexandra Leaving" and "You Have Loved Enough" accurately describing the tone, concluding with the prayer-like valedictory "The Land of Plenty," which gently remonstrates with the consumer society the poet has always engaged and rejected: "May the lights in the land of plenty/Shine on the truth some day." Even in the quietude of Cohen's catalog, the result seems like a coda.

Tracks:
01. "In My Secret Life" – 4:55
02. "A Thousand Kisses Deep" – 6:29
03. "That Don't Make It Junk" – 4:28
04. "Here It Is" – 4:18
05. "Love Itself" – 5:26
06. "By the Rivers Dark" – 5:20
07. "Alexandra Leaving" – 5:25
08. "You Have Loved Enough" – 5:41
09. "Boogie Street" – 6:04
10. "The Land of Plenty" – 4:35

sample & buy

r c

Philip Glass (Leonard Cohen) - Book of Longing 2cd (2007) (eac-log-cover)

Philip Glass (Leonard Cohen) - Book of Longing 2cd (2007)

contemporary, minimalism, rock | 2cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 390MB

Orange Mountain Music  | rar +5% recovery

AMG:
In May 2006, Leonard Cohen published his first collection of poetry in 22 years, Book of Longing, having previously used some of the material as songs on his most recent albums, Ten New Songs (2001) and Dear Heather (2004). The book touched on many of the themes he had explored throughout his writing career, including spiritualism (he had spent part of his time between books as a postulant at a Buddhist monastery), eroticism, and self-deprecating humor. On June 1, 2007, at the Luminato Festival in Toronto, Ontario, composer Philip Glass premiered his song cycle based on Book of Longing, which is here given a two-CD recording. Cohen is present on the album speaking (not singing) some of his poems, and Glass also has set some of them to music, with singing by a soprano (Dominique Plaisant), a mezzo-soprano (Tara Hugo), a tenor (Will Erat), and a bass-baritone (Daniel Keeling). The obvious antecedent is Glass' 1986 album Songs from Liquid Days, which set lyrics by the likes of Paul Simon and Suzanne Vega, but perhaps a closer one is Cohen's album Death of a Ladies' Man (1977), his collaboration with Phil Spector. It's not that Book of Longing ever sounds like Death of a Ladies' Man, but the similarity lies in the mixture of two distinct styles. For better or worse, Death of a Ladies' Man sounds like what one would expect of the unlikely mixture of Cohen's droll, deep-voiced singing with Spector's elaborate production style, and Book of Longing is, as one might expect, a fusion of Cohen's poetic voice with Glass' distinctive circular rhythmic motifs. It is actually somewhat more respectful of the text than Songs from Liquid Days, although listeners still may find it odd to hear art songs in which Cohen's sometimes R-rated language is sung in a formal style by classically trained voices. These selections alternate with a series of tracks, notably "Not a Jew," "I Enjoyed the Laughter," "Don't Have the Proof," and "I Am Now Able," in which Cohen (without any musical backing) recites a very short poem either before or after a solo by an individual instrument (oboe, violin, saxophone, and cello, respectively). Fans of Ten New Songs and Dear Heather will hear some familiar phrases and references (e.g., "a thousand kisses deep" is the tag line of "You Came to Me This Morning," as it is of the song "A Thousand Kisses Deep"), although no complete song/poem has been repeated. Cohen may still be at his best as his own interpreter, but this is one of the more interesting and ambitious attempts to recast his writing in musical form.

Tracks:
cd 1
1. Prologue - I Can't Make The Hills 3:09
2. I Came Down from the Mountain 2:58
3. A Sip of Wine 8:41
4. Want to Fly 2:09
5. The Light Came Through the Window 4:10
6. Puppet Time 2:38
7. G-d Opened My Eyes 2:35
8. You Go Your Way 0:07
9. I Was Doing Something 4:19
10. Not a Jew 3:02
11. How Much I Love You 3:52
12. Babylon 5:46
13. I Enjoyed the Laughter 1:49
cd 2
1. This Morning I Woke Up Again 5:15
2. I Want To Love You Now 5:57
3. Don't Have The Proof 2:44
4. The Night of Santiago 5:09
5. Mother Mother 3:44
6. You Came to Me 10:27
7. I Am Now Able 3:20
8. Roshi's Very Tired 2:38
9. Epilogue - Merely A Prayer 3:55

sample & buy

rc

Leonard Cohen - Death Of A Ladies' Man (1977) (eac-flac-cover)

Leonard Cohen - Death Of A Ladies' Man (1977)

rock | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 315MB

Columbia | rar +5% recovery

Wiki:
Death of a Ladies' Man is the fifth of Leonard Cohen's albums. Produced and co-written by the storied Phil Spector, it was a surprise to some fans when the voice of typically minimalist Cohen was surrounded, some critics said submerged, completely by Spector's Wall of Sound, which included mulitple tracks of instrument overdubs. The album was originally released by Warner Bros., but was later picked up by Cohen's longtime label, Columbia Records.
15 songs were written by the two over a course of three weeks, and Spector described it as "some great fuckin' music". Not everyone agreed with this assessment, preferring Cohen's earlier acoustic folk music to the jazz-, rock- and even funk-influenced arrangements. Among the seven unknown outtakes is probably "Do I Have to Dance All Night". A live recording was released in France as a single in 1976. Bob Dylan and Allen Ginsberg sang backup vocals on the chorus of "Don't Go Home with Your Hard-on".
Death of a Ladies' Man was recorded in Los Angeles, California. Before Cohen had completed his vocals, Spector barred him from the studio (supposedly under armed guard) and mixed the album by himself. For this reason some of the songs only have "guiding vocals" originally meant to be redone later. Interviewed for the 2005 documentary I'm Your Man, Cohen expressed disappointment in the record and felt that the songs "got away" from him; he also noted that it was a favorite among "punksters" as well as his daughter.

Tracks:
1. "True Love Leaves No Traces" – 4:26
2. "Iodine" – 5:03
3. "Paper Thin Hotel" – 5:42
4. "Memories" – 5:59
5. "I Left a Woman Waiting" – 3:28
6. "Don't Go Home with Your Hard-On" – 5:36
7. "Fingerprints" – 2:58
8. "Death of a Ladies Man" – 9:19

sample & buy

read the comments

Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man (1988) (eac-flac-cover)

Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man (1988)

rock | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 265MB

Columbia | rar +5% recovery

AMG:
A stunningly sophisticated leap into modern musical textures, I'm Your Man re-establishes Leonard Cohen's mastery. Against a backdrop of keyboards and propulsive rhythms, Cohen surveys the global landscape with a precise, unflinching eye: the opening "First We Take Manhattan" is an ominous fantasy of commercial success bundled in crypto-fascist imagery, while the remarkable "Everybody Knows" is a cynical catalog of the land mines littering the surface of love in the age of AIDS.

Tracks:
1. "First We Take Manhattan" – 6:01
2. "Ain't No Cure for Love" – 4:50
3. "Everybody Knows" (Cohen, Sharon Robinson) – 5:36
4. "I'm Your Man" – 4:28
5. "Take This Waltz" (Cohen, Federico García Lorca) – 5:59
6. "Jazz Police" (Cohen, Jeff Fisher) – 3:53
7. "I Can't Forget" – 4:31
8. "Tower of Song" – 5:37

sample & buy

rc 

Leonard Cohen - New Skin For The Old Ceremony (1974) (eac-flac-cover)

Leonard Cohen - New Skin For The Old Ceremony (1974)

rock | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 175MB

Columbia | rar +5% recovery

AMG:
Leonard Cohen was a poet long before he decided to pick up a guitar. Despite singing in a dry baritone over spare arrangements, Cohen is a gifted lyricist who captivates the listener. New Skin for the Old Ceremony may be Leonard Cohen's most musical album, as he is accompanied by violas, mandolins, banjos, and percussion that give his music more texture than usual. The fact that Cohen does more real singing on this album can be seen as both a blessing and a curse — while his voice sounds more strained, the songs are delivered with more passion than usual. Furthermore, he has background vocalists including Janis Ian that add significantly to create a fuller sound. It is no surprise, however, that he generally uses simple song structures to draw attention to the words ("Who By Fire"). The lyrics are filled with abstract yet vivid images, and the album primarily uses the metaphor of love and relationships as battlegrounds ("There Is a War," "Field Commander Cohen"). Cohen is clearly singing from the heart, and he chronicles his relationship with Janis Joplin in "Chelsea Hotel No. 2." This is one of his best albums, although new listeners should start with Songs of Leonard Cohen.

Tracks:
All songs were written by Leonard Cohen, except where noted.
01. "Is This What You Wanted" – 4:13
02. "Chelsea Hotel #2" (Cohen, Ron Cornelius)– 3:06
03. "Lover Lover Lover" – 3:19
04. "Field Commander Cohen" – 3:59
05. "Why Don't You Try" – 3:50
06. "There Is a War" – 2:59
07. "A Singer Must Die" – 3:17
08. "I Tried to Leave You" – 2:40
09. "Who by Fire" – 2:33
10. "Take This Longing" – 4:06
11. "Leaving Green Sleeves" (trad./Cohen) – 2:38

sample & buy

rc

Leonard Cohen - The Future (1992) (eac-log-cover)

Leonard Cohen  - The Future (1992)

rock | 1cd | eac-wv-cue-log-cover | 375MB

Columbia | rar +5% recovery

AMG:
As with most every Leonard Cohen album, a new record means a new means of musical exploration. With The Future, Cohen adds chiming synthesizers and eerie orchestrations to his brooding anthems about life's darker half. One of the last of Cohen's full-length albums, The Future is definitely one of the most direct. More notable tracks include "The Future" and "Waiting for the Miracle," both of which were featured on the Natural Born Killers soundtrack. Closer to spoken word poetry set to music than simply songs, the entire album is one long manifesto calling all to challenge the concepts of righteousness and despair in our modern world. Regardless of the music behind the man, Cohen still manages to bring to The Future what he brought to his earlier recordings: one man against the world with nothing but a gruff voice and a cause.

Tracks:
01 "The Future" – 6:41
02 "Waiting for the Miracle" – 7:42
03 "Be for Real" – 4:32
04 "Closing Time"– 6:00
05 "Anthem" – 6:09
06 "Democracy" – 7:13
07 "Light as the Breeze" – 7:17
08 "Always" – 8:04
09 "Tacoma Trailer" – 5:57

sample & buy

rc

Leonard Cohen - Live Songs (1973) (eac-flac-cover)

Leonard Cohen - Live Songs (1973)

rock | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 190MB

Columbia | rar +5% recovery

AMG:
Although never released in the U.S. (except on vinyl), Live Songs is an integral part of the early Cohen chronicles. The CD contains ten live recordings, largely from a handful of European concerts between 1970 and 1972, through which time Cohen had effectively made his transition from brooding poet to brooding poet with guitar. By 1973, Cohen's cult following had swelled to a peak and already began a slight decline. The release includes several new songs, including "Passing Through," "You Know Who I Am," and "Tonight Will Be Fine," all of which skillfully combine heavy doses of erotica, love, and depression. Live Songs also includes a handful of his most popular tracks from the 1969 release, Songs From a Room. "Bird on a Wire" and "Story of Isaac" are both played admirably live, though neither adds significantly to their studio versions. The album's unmistakable climax lies in the 13-minute epic, "Please Don't Pass Me By," a tale of his personal descent into hell baring such pain and suffering that Cohen rarely sang the song again. The less moving, but still powerful "Queen Victoria" finishes off the CD and went on to become a fan favorite. Live Songs is certainly not an introductory CD, but for those who've formed a friendship with the words and wisdom of Leonard Cohen, this album finds him raw and naked in one of his finest hours.

Tracks:
1. Minute Prologue
2. Passing Through
3. You Know Who I Am
4. Bird on a Wire
5. Nancy
6. Improvisation
7. Story of Isaac
8. Please Don't Pass Me by (A Disgrace)
9. Tonight Will Be Fine
10. Queen Victoria

sample & buy

rc

Leonard Cohen - Recent Songs (1979) (eac-flac-cover)

Leonard Cohen - Recent Songs (1979)

rock | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 250MB

Columbia | rar +5% recovery

AMG:
The first thing Leonard Cohen's music fans noticed about his sixth new studio album, given the typically open-ended title Recent Songs, was that, musically, it marked a return to the gypsy folk sound of his early records after the incongruous arrangements Phil Spector imposed on its predecessor, Death of a Ladies' Man, only two years earlier. There were subtle musical developments, particularly a flavor of the American Southwest, courtesy of the band Passenger, which played on several tracks, but the acoustic guitars and violin recalled classic Cohen. Fans of the artist's poetry noticed something else. His writing had become increasingly bitter and angry during the 1970s in the books The Energy of Slaves and Death of a Lady's Man as well as in his lyrics, but there was a new equanimity in these Recent Songs that began with the welcoming introduction of "The Guests." All was not suddenly well, of course, but "the open-hearted many" outnumbered "the broken-hearted few." Cohen's usual mixture of religious and sexual imagery in the songs was elegant and evocative rather than painful. If he was conscious of the sacrifices he had made in vain in "Came So Far for Beauty," he was nevertheless able to make a sincere plea to a woman in "The Window," mixing it with a prayer to "gentle this soul." The album was full of references to absence and dislocation, but Cohen deliberately countered them with humor. The cover of "The Lost Canadian (Un Canadient Errant)" was enlivened by a mariachi arrangement, and the album ended with "Ballad of the Absent Mare," an allegory about a cowboy's search for a horse that ended with the suggestion that the pursuit was only a romantic game. Though often abstract, Recent Songs suggested Cohen had regained a certain equilibrium after a long dark period.

Tracks:
1. "The Guests" – 6:40
2. "Humbled in Love" – 5:15
3. "The Window" – 5:56
4. "Came So Far for Beauty" (Cohen, John Lissauer) – 4:04
5. "The Lost Canadian (Un Canadien errant)" (trad., Antoine Gérin-Lajoie) – 4:42
6. "The Traitor" – 6:16
7. "Our Lady of Solitude" – 3:13
8. "The Gypsy's Wife" – 5:13
9. "The Smokey Life" – 5:19
10. "Ballad of the Absent Mare" – 6:26

sample & buy

rc

Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967) (SONY 2007) (eac-flac-cover)

Leonard Cohen  - Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967) (SONY 2007)

rock | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 285MB

SONY | rar +5% recovery

AMG
At a time when a growing number of pop songwriters were embracing a more explicitly poetic approach in their lyrics, the 1967 debut album from Leonard Cohen introduced a songwriter who, rather than being inspired by "serious" literature, took up music after establishing himself as a published author and poet. The ten songs on Songs of Leonard Cohen were certainly beautifully constructed, artful in a way few (if any) other lyricists would approach for some time, but what's most striking about these songs isn't Cohen's technique, superb as it is, so much as his portraits of a world dominated by love and lust, rage and need, compassion and betrayal. While the relationship between men and women was often the framework for Cohen's songs (he didn't earn the nickname "the master of erotic despair" for nothing), he didn't write about love; rather, Cohen used the never-ending thrust and parry between the sexes as a jumping off point for his obsessive investigation of humanity's occasional kindness and frequent atrocities (both emotional and physical). Cohen's world view would be heady stuff at nearly any time and place, but coming in a year when pop music was only just beginning to be taken seriously, Songs of Leonard Cohen was a truly audacious achievement, as bold a challenge to pop music conventions as the other great debut of the year, The Velvet Underground & Nico, and a nearly perfectly realized product of his creative imagination. Producer John Simon added a touch of polish to Cohen's songs with his arrangements (originally Cohen wanted no accompaniment other than his guitar), though the results don't detract from his dry but emotive vocals; instead, they complement his lyrics with a thoughtful beauty and give the songs even greater strength. And a number of Cohen's finest songs appeared here, including the luminous "Suzanne," the subtly venomous "Master Song" and "Sisters of Mercy," which would later be used to memorable effect in Robert Altman's film McCabe and Mrs. Miller. Many artists work their whole career to create a work as singular and accomplished as Songs of Leonard Cohen, and Cohen worked this alchemy the first time he entered a recording studio; few musicians have ever created a more remarkable or enduring debut.

Tracks
01. "Suzanne" – 3:48
02. "Master Song" – 5:55
03. "Winter Lady" – 2:15
04. "The Stranger Song" – 5:00
05. "Sisters of Mercy" – 3:32
06. "So Long, Marianne" – 5:38
07. "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" – 2:55
08. "Stories of the Street" – 4:35
09. "Teachers" – 3:01
10. "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong" – 4:23
11. "Store Room" – 5:06
12. "Blessed Is the Memory" – 3:03

sample & buy

r c

Leonard Cohen - Songs Of Love And Hate (1971) (SONY2007) (eac-flac-cover)

Leonard Cohen - Songs Of Love And Hate (1971) (SONY2007)

rock | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 295MB

Sony | rar +5% recovery

AMG
Songs of Love and Hate is one of Leonard Cohen's most emotionally intense albums — which, given the nature of Cohen's body of work, is no small statement. While the title Songs of Love and Hate sums up the album's themes accurately enough, it's hardly as simple as that description might lead you to expect — in these eight songs, "love" encompasses the physical ("Last Year's Man"), the emotional ("Famous Blue Raincoat"), and the spiritual ("Joan of Arc"), and the contempt in songs like "Dress Rehearsal Rag" and "Avalanche" is the sort of venom that can only come from someone who once cared very deeply. The sound of the album is clean and uncluttered, and for the most part the music stays out of the way of the lyrics, which dominate the songs. Thankfully, Cohen had grown noticeably as a singer since his first two albums, and if he hardly boasts a range to rival Roy Orbison here, he is able to bring out the subtleties of "Joan of Arc" and "Famous Blue Raincoat" in a way his previous work would not have led you to expect. And while Bob Johnston's production is spare, it's spare with a purpose, letting Cohen's voice and guitar tell their stories and using other musicians for intelligent, emotionally resonant punctuation (Paul Buckmaster's unobtrusive string arrangements and the use of a children's chorus are especially inspired). And Songs of Love and Hate captured Cohen in one of his finest hours as a songwriter, and the best selections (especially "Famous Blue Raincoat," "Joan of Arc," and "Love Calls You by Your Name") rank with the most satisfying work of his career. If Songs of Love and Hate isn't Cohen's best album, it comes close enough to be essential to anyone interested in his work.

Tracks
1. "Avalanche" – 5:07
2. "Last Year's Man" – 6:02
3. "Dress Rehearsal Rag" – 6:12
4. "Diamonds in the Mine" – 3:52
5. "Love Calls You by Your Name" – 5:44
6. "Famous Blue Raincoat" – 5:15
7. "Sing Another Song, Boys" (live at the Isle of Wight Festival 30-08-1970) – 6:17
8. "Joan of Arc" – 6:29
9. "Dress Rehearsal Rag" (bonus track, early version, an outtake recorded during the Songs From a Room sessions in 1968) – 5:37

sample & buy

r c

Leonard Cohen - Songs From A Room (1969) (SONY2007) (eac-flac-cover)

Leonard Cohen - Songs From A Room (1969) (Sony2007)

Rock | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 240MB

Sony | rar +5% recovery

AMG
Leonard Cohen's first album was an unqualified triumph which announced the arrival of a bold and singular talent, and many who heard it must have wondered what Cohen could do for an encore. By comparison, Cohen's second album, 1969's Songs from a Room, was something of a letdown. While it's a fine LP, it ultimately feels neither as striking nor as assured as Songs of Leonard Cohen. Bob Johnston stepped in as producer for Songs from a Room, and his arrangements are simpler than those John Simon crafted for the debut, but they're also full of puzzling accents, such as the jew's harp that punctuates several tracks, the churchy organ line in "The Old Revolution," and the harsh synthesizer flourishes on "A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes." Johnston also had trouble coaxing strong vocal performances from Cohen; his singing here sounds tentative and his meter is uncertain, which regardless of how one feels about Cohen's much-debated vocal prowess is not the case with his other work. And finally, the quality of the songs on Songs from a Room is less consistent than on Songs of Leonard Cohen; as fine as "Bird on a Wire," "You Know Who I Am," "The Story of Isaac" and "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" may be, "The Butcher" and "A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes" simply aren't up to his usual standards. Despite the album's flaws, Songs from a Room's strongest moments convey a naked intimacy and fearless emotional honesty that's every bit as powerful as the debut, and it left no doubt that Cohen was a major creative force in contemporary songwriting.

Tracks
01. "Bird on the Wire" – 3:28
02. "Story of Isaac" – 3:38
03. "A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes" – 3:18
04. "The Partisan"- 3:29
05. "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" – 3:41
06. "The Old Revolution" – 4:50
07. "The Butcher" – 3:22
08. "You Know Who I Am" – 3:32
09. "Lady Midnight" – 3:01
10. "Tonight Will Be Fine" – 3:53
11. "Like a Bird (Bird on the Wire)" – 3:21
12. "Nothing to One (You Know Who I Am)" – 2:17

Personnel
* Ron Cornelius - acoustic & electric guitar
* Bubba Fowler - banjo, bass, violin, acoustic guitar
* Charlie Daniels - bass, violin, acoustic guitar
* Bob Johnston - production, keyboards
* Neil Wilburn - engineer

sample & buy

r c