Well wheelie king, that is a difficult question, I would certainly say that Leonard Cohen deserves more kudos and accolades than he got. Jorma Kaukonen as well. But I would also say that James Taylor is VASTLY overrated...
― Alamac, Wednesday, 10 August 2011 20:59 (thirteen years ago) link
Leonard Cohen deserves more kudos and accolades than he got
Since he began touring again in 2008, I would say Cohen has received more ecstatic reviews and plaudits than just about any other artist from his era.
― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Wednesday, 10 August 2011 21:00 (thirteen years ago) link
Well, ban this, hindsight is 20/20. But was he revered at the time of his heyday? I think not.
― Alamac, Wednesday, 10 August 2011 21:05 (thirteen years ago) link
in Europe he's always been revered
― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Wednesday, 10 August 2011 21:06 (thirteen years ago) link
Even if this weren't true, who cares?
― a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 10 August 2011 21:07 (thirteen years ago) link
Cohen's never been commercially successful, but he's ALWAYS been revered
― Richard Nixon's Field of Warmth (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 10 August 2011 21:08 (thirteen years ago) link
a catch-all: I don't, but someone asked.
― Alamac, Wednesday, 10 August 2011 21:13 (thirteen years ago) link
i kinda remember cohen being a bit of a punchline for rock critics in the early 80s because his style of folk was very unfashionable and "dated" in that period but by the end of the decade he was back to being revered
― buzza, Wednesday, 10 August 2011 21:16 (thirteen years ago) link
you're right but that was largely because he reinvented himself with I'm Your Man, which was the most direct and commercial record he'd ever made
― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Wednesday, 10 August 2011 21:21 (thirteen years ago) link
also everyone loved Pump Up The Volume
― Richard Nixon's Field of Warmth (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 10 August 2011 21:23 (thirteen years ago) link
All that movie needed was a scene of shirtless Leonard spinning around in an office chair.
― a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 10 August 2011 21:31 (thirteen years ago) link
In fact, he did his best work after the '70s!
He did most of his best work in the 70s. His very best work was done in 1983 (and late 60s if you count "Bookends"). However, what he has done since 1986 is largely a good bit overrated.
― Hongroe (Geir Hongro), Thursday, 11 August 2011 00:37 (thirteen years ago) link
Paul Simon >>>>>>>>>>>> Art Garfunkel though.
― Hongroe (Geir Hongro), Thursday, 11 August 2011 00:38 (thirteen years ago) link
yo i just found this and all i can say is god damn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46bkXgxb66E
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 11 August 2011 02:46 (thirteen years ago) link
simons dork brio is otherworldly
― ice cr?m, Thursday, 11 August 2011 03:39 (thirteen years ago) link
haha yes
he changed "four in the morning, crapped out, yawning" to "tapped out," which is a bummer
― horseshoe, Thursday, 11 August 2011 03:41 (thirteen years ago) link
His very best work was done in 1983 (and late 60s)
Thought you meant Cohen here, 'cause I'd say that's true too.
I'd say Cohen is Yeats and Simon is Eliot.
― saint dominic's p4k review (Eazy), Thursday, 11 August 2011 03:44 (thirteen years ago) link
cohen is missy and simon is elliot
― ice cr?m, Thursday, 11 August 2011 03:46 (thirteen years ago) link
his early 70s longish hair w/ combover look was something to behold
― buzza, Thursday, 11 August 2011 03:46 (thirteen years ago) link
cohen is e.t. and simon is eliot
― max, Thursday, 11 August 2011 03:47 (thirteen years ago) link
late 70s i guess but
http://permanentplastichelmet.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/paul-simon.jpg
― horseshoe, Thursday, 11 August 2011 03:48 (thirteen years ago) link
xp there it is
cohen is robert culp and simon is elliott (gould)
― horseshoe, Thursday, 11 August 2011 03:49 (thirteen years ago) link
cohen is dickens and simon is eliot
― horseshoe, Thursday, 11 August 2011 03:52 (thirteen years ago) link
i don't know if the mustache really added to the look but hey 1975
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fwieE8fRwg&feature=related
― buzza, Thursday, 11 August 2011 03:54 (thirteen years ago) link
― horseshoe, Wednesday, August 10, 2011 11:52 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
came back here to do this one
― max, Thursday, 11 August 2011 03:55 (thirteen years ago) link
xpost Paul Kinison
― shining like national dog shit (Neanderthal), Thursday, 11 August 2011 03:58 (thirteen years ago) link
lol i'm your man
― surm, Thursday, 11 August 2011 04:01 (thirteen years ago) link
that "still crazy" performance sounds great, but simon sort of comports himself like will ferrell in the jazz flute scene from anchorman
― horseshoe, Thursday, 11 August 2011 04:01 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScG0wN05msA
― buzza, Thursday, 11 August 2011 04:03 (thirteen years ago) link
ok yeah a+
― big triffid in my backyard (Edward III), Thursday, 11 August 2011 04:09 (thirteen years ago) link
lolol
― shining like national dog shit (Neanderthal), Thursday, 11 August 2011 04:10 (thirteen years ago) link
A favorite Anton Corbijn photo of Cohen there.
As long as we're posting 70s photos:http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kp9rw15etK1qzcki4o1_250.jpg
― saint dominic's p4k review (Eazy), Thursday, 11 August 2011 04:21 (thirteen years ago) link
Simon showed the new composition to Garfunkel the same day, and shortly afterward, the duo began to perform it at folk clubs in New York. In the liner notes of their debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., Garfunkel claims, "'The Sound of Silence' is a major work. We were looking for a song on a larger scale, but this is more than either of us expected."[6]
The duo recorded it for the first time on March 10, and included the track on Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., which was released that October.[7] The album flopped upon its release, and the duo split up, with Simon going to England for much of 1965.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hUy9ePyo6Q
― big triffid in my backyard (Edward III), Thursday, 11 August 2011 04:29 (thirteen years ago) link
― horseshoe, Thursday, August 11, 2011 12:01 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
yeah this is like half the reason it rules!
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 11 August 2011 06:09 (thirteen years ago) link
That's an awful photo of Leonard Cohen, please remove it.
― Alamac, Thursday, 11 August 2011 12:49 (thirteen years ago) link
no way that pic is all-time
― pathos of the unwarranted encore (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, 11 August 2011 13:13 (thirteen years ago) link
haven't been following this terrifyingly long thread but i don't think anyone could argue that paul simon is cooler than leonard cohen
― full on... mask hysteria (history mayne), Thursday, 11 August 2011 13:14 (thirteen years ago) link
He's dressed like a teenage girl.
― Alamac, Thursday, 11 August 2011 14:06 (thirteen years ago) link
Ha ha that pic of cohen is amazing, is that death of a ladies man era
― om nom nom nnamdi asomugha (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 11 August 2011 14:18 (thirteen years ago) link
That was before a visit to NYC's Anvil in '78.
― a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 11 August 2011 14:20 (thirteen years ago) link
watching that old s&g clip, you can see why execs thought simon wouldn't get much play as a solo artist, he's so ubernebbish even garfunkel looks cool next to him
but that's his bag, right? sad sack par excellence, which makes his carping about being second best to dylan kind of o_O
dude was never going to be dylan or young or cohen or whatever, just own yr shit and move on
― hello I love you but I've chosen darkness my old friend (Edward III), Thursday, 11 August 2011 14:21 (thirteen years ago) link
keep imagining an alternate history where s&g hang it up for good after their first album bombs, it subsequently becomes a cult fave from the 60s, and simon to this day records charming lo-fi albums in his motel room in ithaca
― hello I love you but I've chosen darkness my old friend (Edward III), Thursday, 11 August 2011 15:26 (thirteen years ago) link
first mention of Neil Young here - kinda interesting to consider him a contemporary/peer (and as another "also-ran" to Dylan)
― Richard Nixon's Field of Warmth (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 11 August 2011 15:59 (thirteen years ago) link
Judging by this thread, I'd say Simon is underrated as a lyricist. He has a very distinctive and memorable style. I don't think Cohen is a very apt comparison. I love Cohen (some of the time anyway), but his stuff screams "I am writing serious poetry" in a way that Simon's best work doesn't. The job of a lyricist is to put words & music together in a memorable way - I honestly don't care how the words look on the page - it has nothing to do with my enjoyment of the music. I think Simon implicitly gets this. His best stuff has a disarmingly casual, almost tossed-off feeling, but there's clearly a ton of craft behind it. He comes up with memorable conceits, and can evoke a lot of feeling without any watch-me-emote histrionics. I think actually David Byrne is a pretty good reference point, in the lyrics department. Both have a gift for finding the transcendent in the banal, and both hide more than a bit of prickliness underneath a surface cheeriness.
― o. nate, Thursday, 11 August 2011 17:51 (thirteen years ago) link
I honestly don't care how the words look on the page - it has nothing to do with my enjoyment of the music. I think Simon implicitly gets this.
he literally says this word for word in the Playboy interview linked upthread
― Richard Nixon's Field of Warmth (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 11 August 2011 17:58 (thirteen years ago) link
i agree w/ that argument about lyrics ... i mean i basically have to as a rap fan, the idea that its about how it looks on a page is basically an anathema to the genre in many ways
― Gatsby was a success, in the end, wasn't he? (D-40), Thursday, 11 August 2011 18:04 (thirteen years ago) link
he's a fantastic lyricist, he tucks a lot of idiosyncratic details in his stuff and still makes them come off as conversational and natural
― Richard Nixon's Field of Warmth (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 11 August 2011 18:09 (thirteen years ago) link
angels in the architecture
― ℗⎣▲✘ (ico), Thursday, 11 August 2011 18:54 (thirteen years ago) link
I'll revise my earlier statement. As a lyricist, Simon is talented, with the exception of "My Bodyguard" and a few others. However as a melodian, his work in the last 35 years has been dreadful.
― Alamac, Thursday, 11 August 2011 19:52 (thirteen years ago) link