― helenfordsdale, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― alex in mainhattan, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― anthony, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― dave q, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Andrew L, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Geoff the, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― fritz, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― DG, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― RickyT, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I'd get the oral sex first and then write the song after...
― electric sound of jim, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Still classic though.
― Ben Squircle, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Since this LP doesn't mark any kind of a departure for Cohen, I wonder how he can be classic but this record shite? I say it's real good, and fits comfortably in with the rest of his catalog.
― Sean, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Sean Carruthers, Monday, 25 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Tad (llamasfur), Thursday, 29 May 2003 02:06 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 29 May 2003 07:28 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 29 May 2003 14:06 (twenty-one years ago) link
― j fail (cenotaph), Thursday, 29 May 2003 14:11 (twenty-one years ago) link
It goes like this/the fourth, the fifth
― TMFTML (TMFTML), Thursday, 29 May 2003 14:19 (twenty-one years ago) link
first few albums is classicz, sez I. "The Partisian" is fucking badass, even when 16 Horsepower covered it.
after all that, it gets a bit dodgy. the man should never have been introduced to the synthesizer. and "Don't Go Home With..." is a classic example whenever one needs to explain the concept of "overproduction" to a neophyte.
the funny bit: i got into the guy after hearing the snippet of "If It Be Your Will" that's played in "Pump Up the Volume".
― Kingfish (Kingfish), Thursday, 29 May 2003 14:53 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Affectian (Affectian), Thursday, 29 May 2003 15:08 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Friday, 9 January 2004 21:43 (twenty years ago) link
― Broheems (diamond), Friday, 9 January 2004 21:53 (twenty years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 9 January 2004 21:55 (twenty years ago) link
Oh, CLASSIC btw, especially the first decade or so.
― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Friday, 9 January 2004 22:16 (twenty years ago) link
― o. nate (onate), Friday, 9 January 2004 22:49 (twenty years ago) link
― anode, Friday, 9 January 2004 23:15 (twenty years ago) link
― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Saturday, 10 January 2004 00:14 (twenty years ago) link
Suzanne is exempt from this, though. It's always great.
― cis (cis), Saturday, 10 January 2004 00:22 (twenty years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 10 January 2004 05:28 (twenty years ago) link
my fave is typically whatever i'm listening to at the point but i tend to listen to "love and hate" and "new skin" most of all
― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 10 January 2004 17:58 (twenty years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 10 January 2004 18:00 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 10 January 2004 18:01 (twenty years ago) link
― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Saturday, 10 January 2004 20:59 (twenty years ago) link
The lyrics to Avalanche are sheer genius. Ditto fer Dress Rehearsal Rag, Susanne, Lady Midnight and Story Of Isaasc. He totally fuckin' rocks dude.
Also other great songwriters seem pretty inconcise or repetitive compared to Lenny the Great.
The arrangements are good to. The eighties stuff is kinda weird. Although Tower of Song has a nice production effect. At least he didn't go techno.
― Casper, Thursday, 1 July 2004 05:55 (twenty years ago) link
― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Thursday, 1 July 2004 07:26 (twenty years ago) link
-- Leonard Cohen, Rolling Stone interview 2003.
― Mark (MarkR), Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:37 (nineteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 9 June 2005 23:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― avery keen-gardner (avery keen-gardner), Saturday, 23 July 2005 22:05 (nineteen years ago) link
― Palomino (Palomino), Saturday, 23 July 2005 22:10 (nineteen years ago) link
― AaronK (AaronK), Sunday, 24 July 2005 04:40 (nineteen years ago) link
― stet (stet), Friday, 19 August 2005 00:54 (nineteen years ago) link
all-time classic, no doubt.
― barbarian cities (jaybob3005), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 10:21 (eighteen years ago) link
"Paper Thin Hotel" is one of my fave lyrics ever
― fuck me, archipelago (Simon H.), Sunday, 5 April 2015 03:37 (nine years ago) link
lately new skin has been the favorite
― marcos, Monday, 20 April 2015 23:44 (nine years ago) link
"New Skin" remains the ultimate! Was at a Newbury Comics on Sunday & an employee was playing it straight through, which was so unexpected & awesome.
Has been one of my favorite albums ever for 20 or so years. They're all great but "Field Commander Cohen" has always struck a nerve.
― Wally P. Doyle, Thursday, 5 September 2019 06:33 (five years ago) link
NYers, last weekend for this
https://thejewishmuseum.org/index.php/exhibitions/leonard-cohen-a-crack-in-everything
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 5 September 2019 11:27 (five years ago) link
Loved this show ^^.
― ... (Eazy), Thursday, 5 September 2019 12:39 (five years ago) link
FWIW I really disliked the show. I think I just can't with art shows about musicians. It felt overly worshipful or something -- I didn't find anything all that engaging on its own merits in an artistic sense, the whole thing was just "WOW LEONARD COHEN GENIUS WOW." Although the thing with the mens choir was sort of fun.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 12 September 2019 16:14 (five years ago) link
was it the Conspiracy of Beards? (there can't be more than one all-Leonard Cohen men's choir...)
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 12 September 2019 16:18 (five years ago) link
i thought it was mediocre too
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 12 September 2019 17:56 (five years ago) link
xp no it was a video installation that included the mens choir from his synagogue on one screen and then a bunch of rando fans who I think responded to an ad on other screens in a different room
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 12 September 2019 18:02 (five years ago) link
The best part of this show was the room with the slideshow of his self-portraits.
― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 14 September 2019 01:32 (five years ago) link
If you ever visit L.A. you can easily track down his old apartment here, the one where he was photographed on the front lawn for the cover of Old Ideas. I believe that apartment is where he passed away.
― omar little, Saturday, 14 September 2019 01:35 (five years ago) link
1033 S Tremaine Ave is the address.
― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 14 September 2019 02:17 (five years ago) link
my w1fe, who adored him, is bummed that she never knew he lived only three blocks away from her during her time living on Mansfield Ave at 8th St.
― omar little, Saturday, 14 September 2019 02:32 (five years ago) link
https://pitchfork.com/news/new-leonard-cohen-album-thanks-for-the-dance-announced-listen-to-the-goal/
― dow, Friday, 20 September 2019 15:49 (five years ago) link
already get the feeling from that short tune that it feels weird/wrong to consider it a "Leonard Cohen album"
― Simon H., Saturday, 21 September 2019 16:27 (five years ago) link
dud
― lumen (esby), Saturday, 21 September 2019 16:33 (five years ago) link
you're a dud
― The Ravishing of ROFL Stein (Hadrian VIII), Saturday, 21 September 2019 16:47 (five years ago) link
with due respect
He's good!.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 12 October 2019 06:16 (four years ago) link
Best mismatched inner sleeve EVER? pic.twitter.com/h0aS9K6g3B— Laurie’s Planet of Sound (@lauriespos) November 9, 2019
― ... (Eazy), Saturday, 9 November 2019 14:31 (four years ago) link
Lol
― Irae Louvin (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 9 November 2019 14:33 (four years ago) link
I can picture Roger Sterling picking up both those records for his pad in 1972.
― file of unknown origin (bendy), Saturday, 9 November 2019 23:13 (four years ago) link
fuck New Skin For Old Ceremony is just devastating
― Suggest Banshee (Hadrian VIII), Sunday, 10 November 2019 22:23 (four years ago) link
so many good lines on "Happens to the Heart", album out todayhttps://open.spotify.com/track/2DkpoHJ1h88e9dyc6SFIm2?si=MHmybq37SN-uG5U0iWNIQw
― corrs unplugged, Friday, 22 November 2019 10:10 (four years ago) link
new album is wonderful
― Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Friday, 22 November 2019 10:36 (four years ago) link
Ranking his openers!
― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 17 October 2020 05:11 (three years ago) link
You Want it Darker is such a perfect opener.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 17 October 2020 12:21 (three years ago) link
I knew this thread had to exist. To me, he is THE classic, but he is definitely not for everyone--which makes him even more of a classic.
― jimbeaux, Wednesday, 19 January 2022 20:08 (two years ago) link
He might not be for everyone, en toto, but everyone likes at least something he's done. Like, who really besides him and Mariah Carey have had a song become a standard in the last few decades?
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 19 January 2022 20:13 (two years ago) link
They do, but most often when it's done by someone else. Everyone loves the Jeff Buckley cover of Hallelujah, even though it's missing an entire stanza.
― jimbeaux, Wednesday, 19 January 2022 20:28 (two years ago) link
Dylan's Make You Feel My Love probably goes in there too, some big ass versions of that
― Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Wednesday, 19 January 2022 23:47 (two years ago) link
I wasn't a big Leonard Cohen fan (of his own recordings that is) until I got the DVD Live in London. IIRC the audio is exactly the same as what was used for the CD of the same name, but I usually prefer live DVD's over CD's. Charmed the hell out of me, it sent me back to his earlier albums, but except for his debut and I'm Your Man, I had mixed feelings about how most of those albums were recorded, so the live DVD is still my favorite Cohen release. I also loved how his music was used in McCabe and Mrs. Miller, probably my favorite Altman film.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 20 January 2022 17:38 (two years ago) link
I was lucky enough to see him before he died, back in 2013. It was, and remains, the single best show I've ever been to. When he played "Famous Blue Raincoat," which is my favorite song, to start his second encore I felt that my concert going career was complete. Everything after is gravy.
And yes, seeing him live was another level from listening to his albums.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 20 January 2022 17:55 (two years ago) link
Agreed: Live In London is my favourite Cohen release, his Manchester Opera Show performance in the first week of his comeback tour is my favourite gig of all time, and the DVD is a wonderful record of the same tour.
― mike t-diva, Thursday, 20 January 2022 19:00 (two years ago) link
Everyone loves the Jeff Buckley cover of Hallelujah, even though it's missing an entire stanza.
Never heard it. I've heard about a dozen other versions of it though.
― Someone left a space telescope out in the rain (Tom D.), Thursday, 20 January 2022 22:26 (two years ago) link
I love cohen to the point that I have two Leonard-related prints in my flat, but speaking of that London gig (which I attended!) the fact that he was packing stadia at the end of his career shows that he was pretty well rated for a not-for-everyone fellow
― Nerd Ragequit (wins), Thursday, 20 January 2022 22:48 (two years ago) link
Everyone has a Phil Spector story.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 20 January 2022 23:01 (two years ago) link
xp totally! Also Cohen returning to live performance due to his shitbag manager spending all of his money may be the greatest case of turning lemons into lemonade in rock history.
― birdistheword, Friday, 21 January 2022 04:44 (two years ago) link
Those comeback shows were too smooth and Vegas-y for my liking. There were too many band introductions and too much scripted patter. I was lucky enough to see him in the 1980s and 1990s, which were much rawer and off-the-cuff affairs.
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Friday, 21 January 2022 07:59 (two years ago) link
Love Cohen, but would gladly never hear Hallelujah again
― Zelda Zonk, Friday, 21 January 2022 08:09 (two years ago) link
Anyone see "Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song," 2021 movie doc . I have not yet. Just curious about
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 23 June 2022 14:59 (two years ago) link
I have not but they're screening it at Film Forum in NYC and I believe Alan Light and Larry "Ratso" Sloman are doing separate discussion/Q&A's for it.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 23 June 2022 16:06 (two years ago) link
Had not heard of that, thanks!"Hallelujah" has been used in too many already-weepy scenes on TV, and is frequently over-sung, seems like. My favorite version is Willie Nelson's, where he seems to be thinking out loud:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58UjoiSP2wM
― dow, Thursday, 23 June 2022 16:10 (two years ago) link
Think he also does "Tower of Song" on his new alb, which I haven't heard yet---here's my fave cover of that, by Marianne Faithfull:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS_zzwLgTbE
― dow, Thursday, 23 June 2022 16:13 (two years ago) link
Stone cold "Famous Blue Raincoat"---this live rendition, from Living (1971), has been stuck in my head for most of my life, and will see me out, no doubt
― dow, Thursday, 23 June 2022 16:17 (two years ago) link
Damn, sorry!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE6e9n1HuuM
― dow, Thursday, 23 June 2022 16:18 (two years ago) link
classic voice, classic dictionhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVp8JlT1oo0
― corrs unplugged, Thursday, 28 July 2022 09:28 (two years ago) link
this Blue Note tribute looks promising https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaKR_4S5O7U
― corrs unplugged, Friday, 29 July 2022 11:57 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugh8Xe6hX7U2009 interview so good
― calstars, Monday, 1 May 2023 22:43 (one year ago) link