Had been avoiding You Want It Darker for some reason... maybe in some ways I knew it was the end, but wow this is great
― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 11 November 2016 06:16 (seven years ago) link
oh leonard
― Rae Kwoniff (NickB), Friday, 11 November 2016 06:28 (seven years ago) link
Just rescreened McCabe &...
So many feelings.
― a full playlist of presidential apocalypse jams (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 11 November 2016 07:04 (seven years ago) link
Played the new album yesterday for the first time, the title track seemed to fit the Trump news. I did wonder if Len thought so too.
― Mark G, Friday, 11 November 2016 07:11 (seven years ago) link
I was waiting for the vinyl release of the new album, but it seems to keep getting pushed back. I guess I might give it a listen now.
― Eallach mhór an duine leisg (dowd), Friday, 11 November 2016 08:13 (seven years ago) link
RIP L. Cohen. Been listening to 'Democracy' and 'Anthem' a lot recently.
― arron banksy (cajunsunday), Friday, 11 November 2016 08:20 (seven years ago) link
I was only just watching Bird on a Wire, the 1972 concert documentary, last night. It's a great watch, for those who haven't seen it. Rest in peace.
― heaven parker (anagram), Friday, 11 November 2016 08:28 (seven years ago) link
I haven't seen this mentioned, but it's a great recent article about him (and tbh softened the blow - it's fairly clear in it that he's on his way out).
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/leonard-cohen-makes-it-darker
― Andrew Farrell, Friday, 11 November 2016 09:11 (seven years ago) link
absolutely crushed by this, but also so heartened by him and his, I don't know... his example, his music, ILX knows what I am trying to say
― erry red flag (f. hazel), Friday, 11 November 2016 09:33 (seven years ago) link
It's something surely everyone has been expecting for a long time but god if it isn't another kick in the teeth in a terrible week. Or looking at it from the other angle, his timing is once again perfect and poetic. I can only hope he slipped out of consciousness 70 hours or so ago.
I've been wondering which Cohen record I'd go straight to in the event of his death, for a while I'd assumed it would be The Songs of Leonard Cohen or Old Ideas, but in the end it was, without hesitating, The Future. He saw through all that end-of-history nonsense so early on, and expressed it with such piercing humour, and both the title track and Democracy have been in my head a lot this week.
Given his whole life's project was based around exploring the area around love, the body, god and death, it's unsurprising that his last trio of albums is also up there with his best. Maybe it's because he was always the old guy (even in the 60s, he was the one guy who never got to be the young firebrand), but old age suited him so well, only Johnny Cash did it better. And like Johnny, it hits all the harder when their voice is at its most potent at the end of their life.
He meant a lot to me and my wife personally, and a lot to my parents. I saw him live twice, once at Glastonbury in 2008, which was one of the all time great Pyramid Stage moments (and the corny fucker knew exactly what he was doing when he timed Hallelujah to accompany the sunset). The second time was in London three or four years ago, and he actually *jogged* onstage and then played a Springsteen-length set. In his 80s. And he smoked every day. RIP.
― Matt DC, Friday, 11 November 2016 10:04 (seven years ago) link
I can only hope he slipped out of consciousness 70 hours or so ago.
he died monday
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Friday, 11 November 2016 10:17 (seven years ago) link
His last words were "Thanks, Obama"
(don't worry, I'll fp myself)
― Mark G, Friday, 11 November 2016 10:33 (seven years ago) link
RIP Leonard ;_;
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/1e/25/57/1e25575fb5d122e8f0bf6c8755c90789.jpg
― The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Friday, 11 November 2016 10:49 (seven years ago) link
weirdest irony of my adult life was getting my Mum into Leonard & now she's seen him live like 3 times and I have seen him zero times
My mother's been into LC her whole life (and been to many gigs) and just posted a really lovely post on FB of all places and also managed to refer to DJT as 'that orange arseh0le' so mum otm
― kinder, Friday, 11 November 2016 14:09 (seven years ago) link
He was my first folk music to hear. My dad had two of his records that I found in his stack. Then I heard him on Pump Up The Volume and pulled them out again. Its been a love affair ever since. Rest in Peace
― JacobSanders, Friday, 11 November 2016 14:32 (seven years ago) link
it is hard to even think of what to say. Cohen is one of those artists who can make time stand still w just a voice and an acoustic guitar. Cohen was a shining light in this godless world. he wrote about spirituality with a sense of sincerity, wisdom, and humor that you don't see much, or at all, in pop music. my favorite album of his, "Death of a Ladies Man", imo is the modern "Dark Night of the Soul".
RIP.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 11 November 2016 14:42 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WirxqAn7Ck8
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 11 November 2016 14:46 (seven years ago) link
Always loved this speech he gave a few years ago, in which he recounts how his education as a guitarist was touched by tragedy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIR5ps8usuo
― heaven parker (anagram), Friday, 11 November 2016 15:01 (seven years ago) link
RIP, Leonard, thank you ...
― tylerw, Friday, 11 November 2016 15:55 (seven years ago) link
I especially love his acceptance speech for the R&R Hall of Fame. He recites Tower of Song, and the couplets hit like punchlines. An audience unfamiliar with the song might have thought he was just making extemporaneous observations that rhymed almost by accident. It's a testament to his stagecraft and wit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9IZfiHEgd8
― dinnerboat, Friday, 11 November 2016 16:08 (seven years ago) link
obv Cohen-sceptic response: I think you'll find that was him singing
― did we ever get wizz sorted (wins), Friday, 11 November 2016 16:14 (seven years ago) link
Now the clasp of this unionWho fastens it tight?Who snaps it asunderThe very next nightSome say the riderSome say the mareOr that love's like the smokeBeyond all repair
But my darling says"Leonard, just let it go byThat old silhouetteOn the great western sky"So I pick out a tuneAnd they move right alongAnd they're gone like the smokeAnd they're gone like this song
― tylerw, Friday, 11 November 2016 16:20 (seven years ago) link
It's written on the walls of this hotelYou go to heaven once you've been to hell
A heavy burden lifted from my soulI heard that love was out of my control
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 11 November 2016 16:33 (seven years ago) link
I think you'll find that was him singing
Even better.
― dinnerboat, Friday, 11 November 2016 16:54 (seven years ago) link
I have Cohen's whole catalog on shuffle right now. He didn't really have any bad songs, did he?
There's a lot of stuff from the 2000s onward that I'm less familiar with, it's all great
― Al Moon Faced Poon (Moodles), Friday, 11 November 2016 17:45 (seven years ago) link
RIP (music from people who figured out how to live)
Quite long (18 page PDF) but great interview a couple of weeks ago: https://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/darkerlaunchevent.pdf
― StanM, Friday, 11 November 2016 17:58 (seven years ago) link
In many ways his later, more recent stuff is as good or even better than the folk stuff. The cheesy synths I find fascinating in their contrast, and I think his wry humor became even more apparent. They're less heard than the "hits," but like few other songwriters his later albums produced so many songs that have the weight of classics. Even aside from "Hallelujah," which obviously was not some epochal cultural statement back in 1984, there are songs like "Dance Me to the End of Love," "The Future," "Anthem," "Waiting for the Miracle," "Everybody Knows," "Tower of Song," "In My Secret Life," etc. His "Essential" collection, in both its 2 and 3 disc iterations, doesn't include a duff track, and the more recent songs sit perfectly well with his earlier stuff. How many other '60s-associated acts could release a similar collection where the formative works and later output could cohabitant so cohesively? Or, by the standard of Christgau, where the fourth CD of the chronological box set is as good as the first?
Amazing that he was, what, already 30 when he released his first album?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 11 November 2016 18:02 (seven years ago) link
Not sad. He was 82. An inspiration for the rest of my life, the lives of many generations to come. Few artists are as important to me as Leonard Cohen is. He inhabits a place so spiritual, so visceral that I can't feel like he is truly gone.
So yes thank you thank you thank you.
― Van Horn Street, Friday, 11 November 2016 18:03 (seven years ago) link
:)
I'm catching up properly with the thread now - I have too much to say and can't say it, but everyone otm. I've been listening to him at work all day in a constant state of emotional vertigo.
songwriters have all kinds of opinions about artists but I don't know any songwriters who don't consider Leonard Cohen one of the best to ever take up the craft. I feel like he's one of those artists who you really remember when you got into him, and how -- for me it was Nick Cave's cover of "Avalanche," when I was 16, that set me searching for this guy. A friend sent me a dub of "Live Songs," the one with "Please Don't Pass Me By" on it, when it was a really hard one to find -- mindblowing stuff for me then. A giant. 82 is a good life. I know the Maker of All Songs will be as excited to see Leonard Cohen as Leonard Cohen will be to see Him.
― though she denies it to the press, (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Friday, November 11, 2016 2:51 AM (fourteen hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
<3
― did we ever get wizz sorted (wins), Friday, 11 November 2016 18:04 (seven years ago) link
if you haven't seen it, it's worth searching out the Ladies and Gentleman... Mr. Leonard Cohen doc. It's a fantastic look at Cohen as a young celebrity poet in Canada, before he shifted his focus to music.
― Al Moon Faced Poon (Moodles), Friday, 11 November 2016 18:12 (seven years ago) link
I believe that he was ready to die; but I wasn't ready to lose him, and that's why I'm sad.
― Eallach mhór an duine leisg (dowd), Friday, 11 November 2016 18:14 (seven years ago) link
I'd really love a poll for Leonard Cohen right now.
― Van Horn Street, Friday, 11 November 2016 18:29 (seven years ago) link
I'd love it only if every song got one vote.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 11 November 2016 18:32 (seven years ago) link
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, November 11, 2016 6:02 PM (forty-six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
imagine having written "bird on the wire" and being able to do 3hr+ concerts where you get "bird on the wire" out of the way within 5 songs
― did we ever get wizz sorted (wins), Friday, 11 November 2016 19:03 (seven years ago) link
I brought this over in the rolling poll thread. Any volunteers for a runner?
― a full playlist of presidential apocalypse jams (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 11 November 2016 20:05 (seven years ago) link
I'll do it if someone can show me the ropes. Especially if someone else can handle the images.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Friday, 11 November 2016 23:47 (seven years ago) link
Favourite song / favourite album / favourite cover version. NO worst anything.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Friday, 11 November 2016 23:48 (seven years ago) link
Somebody just sent me this, which I saw when it was first broadcast in the 80s, on Michelob Presents Night Music, AKA Sunday Night. If it doesn't come through, try searching Leonard Cohen Sonny Rollins on YouTube---it's bracing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6HUCbSb-9c
― dow, Saturday, 12 November 2016 01:51 (seven years ago) link
Dale Peck non--hatchet job:https://www.facebook.com/dale.peck.773/posts/10154791854268623
― who even are those other cats (Eazy), Sunday, 13 November 2016 02:47 (seven years ago) link
His "Essential" collection, in both its 2 and 3 disc iterations, doesn't include a duff track, and the more recent songs sit perfectly well with his earlier stuff.
my go-to Cohen. The Sly Stone Essential is also uh essential.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 13 November 2016 03:05 (seven years ago) link
Didn't know how I would mark this but heard the first two albums in a record store yesterday. Decided I would play some songs for my 15 year old daughter so I picked "First We Take Manhattan," "Tower of Song," "Hallelujah," and "Suzanne."
― timellison, Sunday, 13 November 2016 03:36 (seven years ago) link
what did she think?
― The times they are a changing, perhaps (map), Sunday, 13 November 2016 04:14 (seven years ago) link
I played some stuff for my kids the other day, and you should have seen them light up with recognition when it got to Hallelujah. Amazing, as ubiquitous as versions of that song are, how few have heard the original.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 13 November 2016 04:17 (seven years ago) link
I haven't read the book, but I'd love to read reviews of that album and see if any singled out that song as particularly special.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 13 November 2016 04:18 (seven years ago) link
I'm not sure, she was quiet. It's a lot to take in.
― timellison, Sunday, 13 November 2016 04:27 (seven years ago) link
Holy Shit at the SNL cold open...
― a full playlist of presidential apocalypse jams (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 13 November 2016 04:50 (seven years ago) link
Care to describe?
― rip van wanko, Sunday, 13 November 2016 04:57 (seven years ago) link
Seems odd to invoke Cohen, wasn't exactly a slow news week
― rip van wanko, Sunday, 13 November 2016 04:58 (seven years ago) link
SPOILER ALERT
Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton playing piano and singing "Hallelujah" (very well on both counts BTW), concluding with a message to "not give up".
― a full playlist of presidential apocalypse jams (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 13 November 2016 05:18 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lWcqbVKhCs
ugh this version kills me
― k3vin k., Sunday, 13 November 2016 05:42 (seven years ago) link