But I'd have to think about which LC album is actually my favourite.
― Tim F, Monday, 30 January 2012 13:24 (twelve years ago) link
Live In London would be my desert island LC album, and I also adore Cohen Live: Leonard Cohen In Concert. I like Leonard best when he's live.
― mike t-diva, Monday, 30 January 2012 14:33 (twelve years ago) link
I gained newfound appreciation for "A Thousand Kisses Deep" after The Good Thief used it so shrewdly.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 30 January 2012 14:38 (twelve years ago) link
Ignoring Jazz Police, I'll go for I'm Your Man, one of those albums where everything sounds like a standout. At least three of these are in my all-time Cohen top 10. Songs of Leonard Cohen and Songs of Love and Hate are the other two masterpieces. The Future has the most frustrating classic/dud collision.
― Meme Rogers (DL), Monday, 30 January 2012 15:51 (twelve years ago) link
First album's genius only fully hit me when I saw McCabe and Mrs Miller, where these incredibly specific, detailed songs he'd written years earlier somehow seemed to have been tailor-made for those characters.
― Meme Rogers (DL), Monday, 30 January 2012 15:54 (twelve years ago) link
anagram mostly right - except for New Skin. I had a flatmate who would only allow that album of Cohen's to get played, so I kind of got used to it. And 'is this what you wanted' is great! I mean:
You were Marlon Brando,I was Steve McQueen.You were K.Y. Jelly,I was Vaseline.You were the father of modern medicine,I was Mr. Clean.You where the whore and the beast of Babylon,I was Rin Tin Tin.
And I've always loved 'leaving green sleeves':
I sang my songs, I told my lies,to lie between your matchless thighs. And ain't it fine, ain't it wild to finally end our exercise
Then I saw you naked in the early dawn, oh, I hoped you would be someone new. I reached for you but you were gone, so lady I'm going too.
― windborne grey frogs (dowd), Monday, 30 January 2012 19:49 (twelve years ago) link
i don't think death of a ladies man is the bees knees, and i hope it never gets unduly elevated in the cohen canon b/c of some challopsy fans, but no way is it horrible or terrible full stop. at the very least, it is an interesting experiment.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Monday, 30 January 2012 20:00 (twelve years ago) link
i like death of a ladies man just for its singularity in Cohen's catalog. such a crazy left turn, in terms of how he made records. don't know whether the songs are up to his usual standard, but it's entertaining! i've played it for people who don't like the earlier stuff and gotten a good response.
― tylerw, Monday, 30 January 2012 20:13 (twelve years ago) link
songs of love and hate is maybe my favorite album of all time so i guess that
― the parable is the parable of the (Lamp), Monday, 30 January 2012 20:35 (twelve years ago) link
NSFW (naked lady)
http://1heckofaguy.com/2011/02/02/more-about-leonard-cohens-hollywood-ymca-t-shirt/
― Burritos are one of the things I'm nostalgic about!!! (Eazy), Monday, 30 January 2012 20:57 (twelve years ago) link
this poll is gonna be all over the place
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Monday, 30 January 2012 22:02 (twelve years ago) link
yeah i have no idea what to vote for tbh
― tylerw, Monday, 30 January 2012 23:12 (twelve years ago) link
I'm leaning toward Live In London because 1) it's great and 2) it covers all these other great albums
― EZ Snappin, Monday, 30 January 2012 23:13 (twelve years ago) link
I'm still really tempted to vote Recent Songs, but the songwriting on Various Positions is really my favorite. Basically I think he's writing at a Yeats level there (really).
― Burritos are one of the things I'm nostalgic about!!! (Eazy), Monday, 30 January 2012 23:40 (twelve years ago) link
"If It Be Your Will" is my favorite Cohen song.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 30 January 2012 23:42 (twelve years ago) link
who can guess which one I'm voting for
― Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 30 January 2012 23:45 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, it's just an amazing poem and an amazing song.
Deets on its form:
Spenserian stanza: verse form that consists of eight iambic pentameter lines followed by a ninth line of six iambic feet (an alexandrine); the rhyme scheme is ababbcbcc. The first eight lines produce an effect of formal unity, while the hexameter completes the thought of the stanza. Invented by Edmund Spenser for his poem The Faerie Queene (1590–1609), the Spenserian stanza has origins in the Old French ballade (eight-line stanzas, rhyming ababbcbc), the Italian ottava rima (eight iambic pentameter lines with a rhyme scheme of abababcc), and the stanza form used by Chaucer in his “Monk’s Tale” (eight lines rhyming ababbcbc). A revolutionary innovation in its day, the Spenserian stanza fell into general disuse during the 17th and 18th centuries. It was revived in the 19th century by the Romantic poets—e.g., Byron in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Keats in “The Eve of St. Agnes,” and Shelley in “Adonais.”
― Burritos are one of the things I'm nostalgic about!!! (Eazy), Monday, 30 January 2012 23:45 (twelve years ago) link
you're my man
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 30 January 2012 23:48 (twelve years ago) link
Voted "Songs of Leonard Cohen"
― Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 10:59 (twelve years ago) link
Peter Glaze's on Crackerjack, back in the day?"You were in love but you needed proofYou climbed up a ladder to the roofYou fell off and a full bucket landed onto yer..."
― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 2 September 2005 10:50 (6 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― Mark G, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 11:12 (twelve years ago) link
I don't see any clunkers on Various Positions. Love all the lesser-known songs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucIS3TEAfsw
― Burritos are one of the things I'm nostalgic about!!! (Eazy), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 12:49 (twelve years ago) link
"Coming Back To You" is a beaut, isn't it
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 12:49 (twelve years ago) link
I've got to have your word on thisor none of it is trueAnd all I've said is just insteadof coming back to you
― Burritos are one of the things I'm nostalgic about!!! (Eazy), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 13:02 (twelve years ago) link
And since she spoke the truth to meI tried to answer truthfullyWhatever happened to my eyesHappened to your beautyHappened to your beautyWhat happened to your beautyHappened to me
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 16:36 (twelve years ago) link
in full command of every plan you wrecked - my favourite :)
― zhalgiris, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 18:26 (twelve years ago) link
is there anybody who really likes Dear Heather? i never listened to that one...
― zhalgiris, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 20:51 (twelve years ago) link
I love the song Dear Heather, if that counts...
― windborne grey frogs (dowd), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 23:56 (twelve years ago) link
yeah there are some good songs on it, and nothing on it is unlistenable. it's just kind of incoherent and some of it is a bit slapdash. it's respectable.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Wednesday, 1 February 2012 00:01 (twelve years ago) link
has anyone bought that complete studio albums box set that came out last year? not complete anymore, i guess. anyway, was wondering if the remastering on death of a ladies man is any good -- don't think that one's been worked on since the beginning of the CD era.
― tylerw, Thursday, 2 February 2012 20:22 (twelve years ago) link
drop a tweet or note to a. begrand - I know he got it because he wrote about it.
― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 2 February 2012 20:27 (twelve years ago) link
I asked him on twitter.
― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 2 February 2012 20:30 (twelve years ago) link
― tylerw, Thursday, February 2, 2012 2:22 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
probably not. i don't think they are doing new masters for any of these box sets. plus, they are ugly.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Monday, 6 February 2012 03:51 (twelve years ago) link
As far as I am aware only the first 3 LP's have been remastered. The rest are just the standard issue releases.
― AnotherDeadHero, Monday, 6 February 2012 10:01 (twelve years ago) link
Oh, I voted for 'New Skin' by the way.
hm, too bad about the death of a ladies man disc, would be curious to hear it w/ a fresh remaster. such a murky album (mostly in a good way). i sort of expected that at some point, cohen's demos for ladies man (which must've existed at some point) would emerge on a deluxe edition. would be cool to hear those songs as cohen originally presented them to spector.
― tylerw, Monday, 6 February 2012 15:51 (twelve years ago) link
I've never heard a Cohen demo of anything, but since some of the songs took years to finish, I'm guessing they exist.
I've read some of the 99 verses that didn't make it into "Democracy", and they're as good as the ones that stayed.
― ‘Neuroscience’ and ‘near death’ pepper (Eazy), Monday, 6 February 2012 15:53 (twelve years ago) link
yeah i guess i've never heard cohen demos either -- just seems like with that record, cohen would've had versions of those songs that he gave to spector and then spector went nutso w/ 'em. Maybe I'm wrong?
― tylerw, Monday, 6 February 2012 15:59 (twelve years ago) link
I've only heard the first three (all pretty great) and I'm Your Man (never really got into, found the production really off-putting). I'd go with the debut without hesitation.
― Gavin, Leeds, Monday, 6 February 2012 16:09 (twelve years ago) link
Not being a Leonard Cohen fan, I really enjoy Death of a Ladies' Man.
― Popture, Monday, 6 February 2012 16:20 (twelve years ago) link
has anyone bought that complete studio albums box set that came out last year? not complete anymore, i guess. anyway, was wondering if the remastering on death of a ladies man is any good -- don't think that one's been worked on since the beginning of the CD era.― tylerw, Thursday, February 2, 2012 2:22 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalinkprobably not. i don't think they are doing new masters for any of these box sets. plus, they are ugly.
actually all the albums in that box are remastered versions
― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Monday, 6 February 2012 16:26 (twelve years ago) link
really? remastered beyond the recent masters?
also let's be honest this is fucking beautiful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDemnguRYj4
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Monday, 6 February 2012 16:39 (twelve years ago) link
I mean that the first three albums were reissued w/new remasters and bonus tracks in, what, 2007? those neat little hardback book editions. maybe there was a project to do the same for all the back catalogue but it seems to have stalled. and yes, I believe all of them are remastered (even the recent ones) except for the first three (which are the same as the 2007 remasters, but without the bonus tracks).
― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Monday, 6 February 2012 16:43 (twelve years ago) link
all of them in the complete studio albums box, I mean
and to complicate matters still further, there is also a "complete columbia albums" box which includes the live albums as well. these are also remastered.
― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Monday, 6 February 2012 16:44 (twelve years ago) link
― tylerw, Monday, 6 February 2012 15:59 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
there are a few alt versions on the last set of reissues, of the first few recs - a diff dress rehearsal rag, a song called 'in the store room' which shed a little light. & chelsea hotel #1 on the live in israel bootleg, just after he wrote it w/a bunch of extra verses, is crucial.
― quick brown fox triangle (schlump), Monday, 6 February 2012 18:10 (twelve years ago) link
I don't know about demos for DOALM but they recorded like twice as many songs so there are a half dozen tracks somewhere maybe hidden in a cave beneath Phil Spector's crazy mansion.
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 7 February 2012 00:54 (twelve years ago) link
those would be fun to hear. there's probably a good screenplay to be based on those sessions. but considering cohen's opinion of the album and spector's um situation, an expanded version of the album is unlikely. guess some bootlegger needs to go digging in phil's backyard!
― tylerw, Tuesday, 7 February 2012 17:23 (twelve years ago) link
DOALM outtakes?!? gimme
― max buzzword (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 7 February 2012 17:28 (twelve years ago) link
huh wikipedia sez: 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"
yes Leonard, you do have to dance all night
― max buzzword (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 7 February 2012 17:32 (twelve years ago) link
some great fuckin' music
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 7 February 2012 21:45 (twelve years ago) link
interesting, say more about that
― Tell me who sends these infamous .gifs (bernard snowy), Friday, 11 November 2016 20:16 (seven years ago) link
10ns is a masterpiece
― did we ever get wizz sorted (wins), Friday, 11 November 2016 20:18 (seven years ago) link
I probably wouldn't have voted for it but 0 is painful
― did we ever get wizz sorted (wins), Friday, 11 November 2016 20:19 (seven years ago) link
I like five of the Ten New Songs but it's one of those times I thought getting someone else to write the music -- even if that person is Sharon Robinson -- produced a lethargic record.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 11 November 2016 20:21 (seven years ago) link
I think I said upthread (and many years ago) something to the effect that 10 New Songs is his best mood music album, and the lethargic quality actually feeds into that a lot. I think that dynamic of barbed, whispered lullabyes over soft somnambulant keyboards on the one hand seems like a kind of hack's idea of late era cohen, but on the other, well, sometimes I like to be fed lines by hacks.
Obviously the last few albums have also leaned hard into that post-I'm Your Man noirish sound, but none with the same air of massaged consistency that I'm sure many find boring. But it's probably the Cohen album I reach for most often (translation: I am old and sad and need comforting).
― Tim F, Friday, 11 November 2016 20:38 (seven years ago) link
i love the ten new songs vibe. a thousand kisses deep was used to great effect in 'the good thief', which is the first time i heard cohen from that particular style, having really only known his acoustic work and a few choice '80s cuts.
― nomar, Friday, 11 November 2016 21:01 (seven years ago) link
tim otm, there's an aesthetic continuity to it that's kinda like being folded up in velvet; it's what i want from the future but that record distracts from it with its covers. i also think "in my secret life" and "alexandra leaving" are unmatched in his catalog, as songs and as poems; they're in many ways his most crisp compositions, a style he arrived at imo by way of "anthem" and "tower of song," and which he continued to build on in the last run of records
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Friday, 11 November 2016 21:05 (seven years ago) link
a bit from me this am:
Ten new songs, recorded virtually alone in his house, whispering so as not to disturb the neighbours, the sprechgesang never more intimate, and how one song comes back to haunt another, both written in common meter (amazing grace how sweet the sound) so you know it's really One Old Song.
― did we ever get wizz sorted (wins), Friday, 11 November 2016 21:23 (seven years ago) link
which I guess was my way of saying tim otm, though I couldnt have known it at the time
― did we ever get wizz sorted (wins), Friday, 11 November 2016 21:24 (seven years ago) link
Every song y'all praised on TNS wold be a keeper, and "In My Secret Life" and "A Thousand Kisses Deep" are all time. Also:
a thousand kisses deep was used to great effect in 'the good thief',
otm. I can't think of the song w/out remembering the movie (which deserves more love btw).
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 11 November 2016 23:06 (seven years ago) link
A great line I had forgotten from "That Don't Make It Junk" (on 10 New Songs):
"I fought against the bottle... but i had to do it drunk."
― Tim F, Saturday, 12 November 2016 07:29 (seven years ago) link
Such a beautiful song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU5FPAR7ass
― Week of Wonders (Ross), Friday, 6 October 2017 03:27 (six years ago) link
indeed
― niels, Friday, 6 October 2017 07:14 (six years ago) link
What's wrong with Jazz Police? It's eccentric and likeable.
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 6 October 2017 11:07 (six years ago) link
it's a bit noisy
― niels, Friday, 6 October 2017 11:31 (six years ago) link
"Jazz Police" and "Boogie Street" are two rare duds for me.
― Eazy, Friday, 6 October 2017 14:25 (six years ago) link