HungryHippo Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 did a quick search and couldn't find a thread dedicated solely to Mr. Cohen and his vast brilliance. anyway, this year not only saw a new live album, Songs From The Road, but Leonard's 1974 documentary of his 1972 tour entitled, Bird On A Wire was released. on a side note, I have been lucky enough to track down a few of Leonard's out-of-print volumes of poetry. the guy is quite the writer, can't believe I've overlooked him for this long. any other LC fans on the board? anyone catch him and his band on tour recently? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Shakespeare In The Alley Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 Love him. One of my biggest musical regrets is not catching him when he toured last year. I wasn't yet a huge fan, but now he's up there with my very favorites for me and I really wish I'd taken the chance to see him live. I'll check that documentary out. I've watched the one on Cohen done in 65 or something, before his music career started. He is a fascinating man. His non musical writing is great too. Read either of his novels? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HungryHippo Posted October 26, 2010 Author Share Posted October 26, 2010 Love him. One of my biggest musical regrets is not catching him when he toured last year. I wasn't yet a huge fan, but now he's up there with my very favorites for me and I really wish I'd taken the chance to see him live. I'll check that documentary out. I've watched the one on Cohen done in 65 or something, before his music career started. He is a fascinating man. His non musical writing is great too. Read either of his novels?don't feel bad, I missed seeing him on tour recently as well. had only listened to 2 of his albums at the time and liked them a lot but I didn't go. like you, he's now one of my favorites never heard of that '65 documentary. do you remember the name of it? I'm almost finished with Beautiful Losers and think its a great read. that book reminds me a lot of Henry Miller. as for his poetry books, I've been stuck in The Energy of Slaves. can't seem to put that one down. how much of his music have you checked out? just listened to Death of a Ladies' Man last night and may have a little trouble getting into that one, but I've found Recent Songs to be a wonderful album (not to mention his first 4 albums.) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Shakespeare In The Alley Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 I've got Songs of Leonard Cohen, Room, Love and Hate, New Skin, Ladies Man, and Various Positions. I'd probably rank them in that order, switching Room and Love/Hate. New Skin is a bit underrated, I think. It's not as folky as the first three, but it's a terrific record. Ladies Man is definitely a bit out there. I don't listen to it as much, but it has some really great songs. I need to get around to all the others. I got really into Cohen last year, and I haven't had much luck finding his other albums since then. I'll look harder though. I actually just (maybe) turned a friend of mine on to Leonard the past few days, so this thread is well timed. The '65 documentary is called Ladies and Gentleman, Mr. Leonard Cohen, or something like that. I actually watched it on Pitchfork last year. It was a brief stream, but it was worth watching if you can find it. Hearing the man talk is otherworldly. I've read both novels. They're pretty crazy stuff, but I loved them. I forget which poetry books I've read, but I own Book of Longing, and I got a few of his earliest ones from my school's library last year. I think there's one or two poetry books I've yet to read. But I love his writing. His whole world view is fascinating. Even when he's talking about depression, he has this ridiculous sense of humor. And he has this undeniable charm in everything he says. I just...believe him, you know? He has the aura of a man of great intelligence. You might have seen this, but I love this story, about Cohen and Dylan talking about songwriting: He said, 'I like this song you wrote called Hallelujah.' In fact, he started doing it in concert. He said, 'How long did that take you to write?' And I said, 'Oh, the best part of two years.' He said, 'Two years?' Kinda shocked. And then we started talking about a song of his called I And I from Infidels. I said, 'How long did you take to write that.' He said, 'Ohh, 15 minutes.' I almost fell off my chair. Bob just laughed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HungryHippo Posted October 26, 2010 Author Share Posted October 26, 2010 both Songs of Leonard Cohen and New Skin won me over upon first listen. his other albums I've listened to have taken me a while to get into. I'm actually listening to Death Of A Ladies' Man now and it really doesn't sound all that bad. kind of reminds me of Ten New Songs. if you can just peel back some of that production/ music, you can get to the good stuff. he really is a charming and sincere man. during a show in Tel Aviv, from the Bird On A Wire doc, Leonard isn't feeling the music and refuses to play as he feels that he's cheating the audience by not giving his all. he walks off stage and returns a little later to the audience who is chanting a prayer(?) in Hebrew. this causes Leonard to tear-up midway through the song so he leaves again and weeps backstage with his band. granted, he did ingest LSD beforehand, it was still a very moving moment. he's just a great man. ha, love that exchange between BD and LC. I'm surprised the world did not explode when those two got together. btw, read recently that Dylan was a pretty big fan of Beautiful Losers. wonder if the two ever bumped into one another in the Chelsea Hotel? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Shakespeare In The Alley Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 An acoustic Death Of A Ladies' Man would be VERY interesting. As is, it's a questionable detour for Leonard, albeit a well written one. Those first three are pretty hard not to love. Those first few notes, musical and vocal, of Suzanne are just hypnotic beyond belief. Whoa, that's cool. I need to watch this doc. Is it online anywhere? He seems like that rare musician with ridiculous acclaim all over the world and a level head. In a couple live clips I've seen, he does a little intro for the song, and they're often as beautiful as the songs themselves. There's a good live version of Dress Rehearsal Rag on youtube, and he prefaces it with a story about how he'll only sing that song when the landscape is bright enough to support the despair he's about to inject. He handles the topic of depression so gracefully. He handles many topics gracefully, but I've always been particularly struck by how he can frankly discuss pretty low moments of his life, but do it in such beautiful style and humor. It's shocking, in the best way possible. Dylan and Cohen are both pretty fond of each other, from all I've seen. I read a story about Dylan inviting Cohen to perform at one of the Canadian Rolling Thunder dates, but Cohen didn't want to draw attention to himself, so he watched from backstage. Dylan and Cohen on stage at once... I'm not sure if Cohen's ever covered Dylan, but I can only imagine the power he could squeeze out of Dylan's lines. Speaking of Chelsea Hotel, another example of Cohen's class. I'm sure you've read one of his apologies to Janis Joplin/anyone else for writing that line? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HungryHippo Posted October 26, 2010 Author Share Posted October 26, 2010 I was reading last night that Leonard Cohen had started working on an album called Songs For Rebecca after releasing New Skin, but scrapped it when he met up with Phil Spector and they collaborated on what came to be known as DOALM. wonder how that album would have sounded? and yes, an acoustic DOALM would be excellent! your descriptions of Cohen are exactly why I love him so much. he just seems to have such a deep understanding of life. yes, he's struggled with depression but he doesn't let it weigh him down. while many in his position would, and have, succumbed to these emotions, he lets his faith and ideals carry him through without incident. here's a quote from Leonard regarding his unrequited love for Nico which shows just how accepting he was/is: The 32-year-old Cohen liked variety. He befriended Lou Reed, who introduced him to the decade's most enigmatic blonde, Nico. And his frustrated attempts to snare her would also prove inspiration for a song called 'Take This Longing'. 'She was great,' he recalls. 'The first time I saw her she was singing in a little club in the East Village, called the Dom. It had been decorated by Warhol with aluminum foil all over the walls. She had this beautiful deep monotone and I just drew closer and closer to her. And, erm, she was not remotely interested in me. But we became great friends over the years, although there were many more attractive men that she had her eye on. I remember going to one of Jim Morrison's first concerts in America. It was very early on in their career, and I went with her. She asked me to leave without her because she wanted to stay behind. But I was a tough old bird by then. I was used to it.' wow, wonder what song(s) Dylan and Cohen would have played that evening? for some reason, I can picture Leonard doing a great cover of Simple Twist of Fate with female back-up singers. then again, can picture a Nashville Skyline era Dylan doing Tonight Will Be Fine. regarding the Janis/ Chelsea story, I gather that Cohen regrets exposing her as the character in the song. at least he did so in such a way that the listener would not be compelled to deem the two as serious lovers. as for that Bird On A Wire film, I've seen a couple of dodgy clips on youtube but not the film itself. here's a clip from that show in Tel Aviv where Cohen refuses to play: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMhgQOdMdJ4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 I am also a big fan of Leonard Cohen and have been for years. (Since Judy Collins sang his songs actually.) I have not read his novels, but have read some of his poetry. Also missed his recent tour. Seemed like a ton of money, but I hear the shows were very good. There are several live albums available from different perods which are interesting. Death of a Ladies Man may be his weakest album. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GtrPlyr Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 Another big Cohen fan here. Inspired by this thread I've searched out the "Bird on a Wire" doc and found it was just released on DVD in mid-September. Ordering it now . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Magnetized Posted October 27, 2010 Share Posted October 27, 2010 Nobody has mentioned yet the tribute documentary released in 2006, "I'm Your Man." It's very good, and so is the soundtrack album. The clip is from a tribute concert in 2005, interspersed with interview segments with Leonard and some of the artists featured in the concert. Some of the people involved were Rufus and Martha Wainwright, Nick Cave, The Handsome Family, Teddy Thompson, the McGarrigles and many more. I'd recommend renting or buying it, but you can watch the whole thing online here. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GtrPlyr Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 Watched "Bird on a Wire" last night. It's a pretty revealling look at Leonard's '72 tour of Europe with lots of great concert and backstage footage. The Tel Aviv show where he refuses to continue with the show is a particularly great moment. I don't think there's many artists that would allow such honest moments to be revealled to the public. I guess this is a testament to Leonard's openness and artistic sensibilities. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HungryHippo Posted October 29, 2010 Author Share Posted October 29, 2010 Watched "Bird on a Wire" last night. It's a pretty revealling look at Leonard's '72 tour of Europe with lots of great concert and backstage footage. The Tel Aviv show where he refuses to continue with the show is a particularly great moment. I don't think there's many artists that would allow such honest moments to be revealled to the public. I guess this is a testament to Leonard's openness and artistic sensibilities.I actually watched this scene with my lady friend last night and she was totally captivated by it. although I think she was only interested in the fact that he was tripping. while she doesn't seem to care much for his music, I had Ten New Songs playing really low in my car as we were going out to eat last night and she inquired about it. +1 for the Cohen Army Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GtrPlyr Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 although I think she was only interested in the fact that he was tripping.Apparently Leonard saw the crowd unite into the image of "the Ancient of Days" in the Old Testament during the show. And had a vision of Marianne appear before him during "So Long, Marianne" which got the tears flowing. I wonder what the rest of the band saw, apparently all were given a tab of acid. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HungryHippo Posted October 29, 2010 Author Share Posted October 29, 2010 Apparently Leonard saw the crowd unite into the image of "the Ancient of Days" in the Old Testament during the show. And had a vision of Marianne appear before him during "So Long, Marianne" which got the tears flowing. I wonder what the rest of the band saw, apparently all were given a tab of acid.that's amazing. I wonder why he and Marianne chose not to stay with one another? I read an interview she gave a few years ago and it seems as though she still thinks of him quite often. personally, I feel as though these little annotations to an artist's life gives their art so much more depth. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Skian Posted October 30, 2010 Share Posted October 30, 2010 People, get off the computer and go out and get the DVD or CD or however else you entertain yourself with Leonard Cohen - "Live in London"Its fanatstic! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HungryHippo Posted October 30, 2010 Author Share Posted October 30, 2010 People, get off the computer and go out and get the DVD or CD or however else you entertain yourself with Leonard Cohen - "Live in London"Its fanatstic!that spoken word piece, Recitation (A Thousand Kisses Deep,) is one of the most loveliest things I've ever heard. and Mr. Cohen's back-up singers, The Webb Sisters, are the loveliest girls I've ever seen also, the Isle of Wight performance from '70 is a great show as well. the audience was on the verge of rioting, boo'd Kris Kristofferson off stage and was quite unruly, yet did a complete 360 when Leonard and The Army took the stage. that version of Sing Another Song, Boys off of Songs of Love and Hate comes from this show. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HungryHippo Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 Leonard Cohen's new album, Old Ideas, has been streaming on various sites for over a week now. Has anyone on here had the chance to check it out? Without a doubt, it is much, much stronger than his last album, Dear Heather, and just as strong as Ten New Songs (I love that album despite the synths. It's a grower.) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Can't wait to get his hew one. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GtrPlyr Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Can't wait to get his hew one. LouieBDitto on that. I'm hoping the cheesy sounding keyboards that have plagued some of his recent records are nowhere to be seen on this one. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mr. Heartbreak Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Rolling Stone gave it the lead spot in its Album Reviews section and a 4.5 out of 5 stars. (Cue the "Rolling Stone sucks and is irrelevant" trolls.) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
KramkonG Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Nobody has mentioned yet the tribute documentary released in 2006, "I'm Your Man." It's very good, and so is the soundtrack album. The clip is from a tribute concert in 2005, interspersed with interview segments with Leonard and some of the artists featured in the concert. Some of the people involved were Rufus and Martha Wainwright, Nick Cave, The Handsome Family, Teddy Thompson, the McGarrigles and many more. I'd recommend renting or buying it, but you can watch the whole thing online here. After watching this I became a fan. I've been gobbling up all things LC since. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SarahC Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 rhett miller did a cover of Tower Of Song: apparently there's a Cohen covers record coming out sometime soon. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 apparently there's a Cohen covers record coming out sometime soon.As mentioned many times here, the older covers CD called "I'm Your Fan" is excellent, with John Cale's kick ass version of Hallelujah on it (which started the entire Hallelujah craze.) Also Jennifer Warnes (she was his back-up singer for many years) Famous Blue Raincoat is also worth tracking down. Cohen was one of the most covered artists of the folk era, back in the day anyway. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
you ever seen a ghost? Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 plus R.E.M. doing "First We Take Manhattan." -justin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 plus R.E.M. doing "First We Take Manhattan." -justinYea, it is one of the best tribute comps of its day and perhaps any day. It also was an early entry in a genre that has ground down to nothing anymore. Many of the bands are no longer known, but most versions of the songs were quite good. But do look for Famous Blue Raincoat if you don't have it. Fantastic versions and arranging. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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