Jump to content

Recommended Posts

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

 

Deadicated came out that year also. It's funny - I don't care for Leonard Cohen, but Joe Cocker's take on Bird On A Wire is one of my favorite songs.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 1 year later...

Just starting to get into Leonard. A little overdue for an 18 year old, but what can you do. Where is a good place to start? Which record is his masterpiece? (I'm assuming more than one..)

 

I would have to say start right at the beginning with "Songs of Leonard Cohen." I mean, holy shit, how many great songs are on that record: "Suzanne," "Sisters of Mercy," "So Long, Marianne," "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye".... Such a great record. After that I'd go with "Songs from a Room" and "Song's of Love and Hate."

Link to post
Share on other sites

songs of leonard cohen

songs of love and hate

new skin for the old ceremony

 

those are his masterpieces. after that it gets a bit spotty, to be honest. plenty of great songs but youll have to wade through a whole lot of questionable production choices to appreciate them. songs from a room is good but easily the weakest of his acoustic period. i'm personally a fan of his phil spector album, but many people hate it, and i can understand why. i have a hard time getting into his more recent stuff, which is well written but too heavy on really boring arrangements. the 80s albums had some of his best songs, but a lot of cheesy synth sounds as well. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Just starting to get into Leonard. A little overdue for an 18 year old, but what can you do. Where is a good place to start? Which record is his masterpiece? (I'm assuming more than one..)

Jump ahead and watch "Live in London" and then go back to the begining. The performance of "Live in London" should be enough to hook you.

Link to post
Share on other sites

While it is always dicey to suggest best of collections, the Columbia two disk "The Essential" is actually a great comp of his best work, both early and late. I would pop for a used copy of that and then get the first three albums.

 

LouieB

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 3 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...