RIP Leonard Cohen

It sounds a bit daft....but i've nearly bought a Leonard Cohen cd many times, but for some reason I could never decide if it was better to buy his more recent offerings or the early stuff....

Can anyone make a recommendation? Is their one stand out album, or possibly a number of standout albums, ps  I'm not keen on greatest hits albums...

I am not familiar with all his earlier albums but I would definitely recommend last month's release 'You Want It Darker' plus 'Ten New Songs' from 2001; very much the album that relaunched his career. Hopefully someone else can point you in the direction of all his earlier catalogue (we have a Greatest Hits from 1975 that is perfectly OK but I generally agree with you on these albums)

Bruce

wenger2015 posted:

It sounds a bit daft....but i've nearly bought a Leonard Cohen cd many times, but for some reason I could never decide if it was better to buy his more recent offerings or the early stuff....

Can anyone make a recommendation? Is their one stand out album, or possibly a number of standout albums, ps  I'm not keen on greatest hits albums...

This excellent CD box set should cover it...Currently £23 on the river.

However I also think his latest 'You Want It Darker'  is one of his best..

Graham.

Like Bowie he was doing some of his finest work while near the end. Influenced many and considered a true poet. RIP.

Bruce Woodhouse posted:

I am not familiar with all his earlier albums but I would definitely recommend last month's release 'You Want It Darker' plus 'Ten New Songs' from 2001; very much the album that relaunched his career. Hopefully someone else can point you in the direction of all his earlier catalogue (we have a Greatest Hits from 1975 that is perfectly OK but I generally agree with you on these albums)

Bruce

Many thanks for the recommendation.. 

Quad 33 posted:

wenger2015 posted:

It sounds a bit daft....but i've nearly bought a Leonard Cohen cd many times, but for some reason I could never decide if it was better to buy his more recent offerings or the early stuff....

Can anyone make a recommendation? Is their one stand out album, or possibly a number of standout albums, ps  I'm not keen on greatest hits albums...

This excellent CD box set should cover it...Currently £23 on the river.

However I also think his latest 'You Want It Darker'  is one of his best..

Graham.

Many thanks for the recommendation,  that's a 2nd thumbs up for ' you want it darker ' ....

As an aside from old Len his mainstay back up for a good few years more recently has been the excellent Sharon Robinson. This is a great album that's mostly very similar in quality and arrangement.

Popular Problems would be my stand out recommendation.

TOBYJUG posted:

As an aside from old Len his mainstay back up for a good few years more recently has been the excellent Sharon Robinson. This is a great album that's mostly very similar in quality and arrangement.

Popular Problems would be my stand out recommendation.

Interesting, I've never heard of Sharon Robinson... will have to check her out....thanks for the album recommendation , I think that's a relatively recent album, the cover looks familiar.... 

This cover of the album always reminds me of..

Montreal has lost one of its greatest son. Mr Cohen, as his neighbourgs were calling him in the Milles-End quater, was a discreet, very polite and friendly man. 

He has sung Montreal like no others. Marianne and Suzanne were real Montrealers. He has sung the diversilty of our city: multi languages, multi culturals, multi religions. And example in our quite dark times.

So Long Mr Cohen...

Manu posted:

Montreal has lost one of its greatest son. Mr Cohen, as his neighbourgs were calling him in the Milles-End quater, was a discreet, very polite and friendly man. 

He has sung Montreal like no others. Marianne and Suzanne were real Montrealers. He has sung the diversilty of our city: multi languages, multi culturals, multi religions. And example in our quite dark times.

So Long Mr Cohen...

+1

Very sad that he has finally left us. He was proud after years of study and seclusion to be ordained as a Rinzai Zen Buddhist monk some twenty years ago. So, farewell to Jikan, his dharma name meaning silence.

wenger2015 posted:

It sounds a bit daft....but i've nearly bought a Leonard Cohen cd many times, but for some reason I could never decide if it was better to buy his more recent offerings or the early stuff....

Can anyone make a recommendation? Is their one stand out album, or possibly a number of standout albums, ps  I'm not keen on greatest hits albums...

@ wenger 2015...His final three studio albums are as essential as his first releases in the 1960s. He poured his life into his songs  his failures in love, his battles with depression, his embrace of Buddhism, the embezzlement of his savings by his manager, his triumphant return to the live arena.

ATB Graham

It is now next to impossible to listen to this parched, stripped-bare song “You Want It Darker”one of the very last LC recorded, without divining in its lyrics a presentiment of death. “Hineni,” he sings (the Hebrew word for “Here I am”), before continuing: “I’m ready, my lord.”

wenger2015 posted:

It sounds a bit daft....but i've nearly bought a Leonard Cohen cd many times, but for some reason I could never decide if it was better to buy his more recent offerings or the early stuff....

Can anyone make a recommendation? Is their one stand out album, or possibly a number of standout albums, ps  I'm not keen on greatest hits albums...

I would recommend you should listen to "Songs of" from his early period (60s), "I'm your man" from the late 80s and possibly "Popular problems" from 2014. These will give you a good mix of his early and later stuff.

I personally very much prefer his voice on the later albums, but there are lots of stand-out songs on the early albums as well, even if his voice was much less powerful in the early days.

One longshot might be for you to have a listen to the cover album "Famous Blue Raincoat" by Jennifer Warnes, who was also one of Cohen's backing singers on many of his albums and tours. I think this is a marvellous album, and Jennifer Warnes' interpretation of his songs is wonderful as a contrast to the originals themselves. 

This CD used to be a regular at most Hi-Fi shows back in the late 80s, which is where I came across it. I don't normally like cover albums, but I love this one. 

What a really wonderful and inspiring figure of a man. Outlived and outclassed the Serge G..

Hmack posted:

wenger2015 posted:

It sounds a bit daft....but i've nearly bought a Leonard Cohen cd many times, but for some reason I could never decide if it was better to buy his more recent offerings or the early stuff....

Can anyone make a recommendation? Is their one stand out album, or possibly a number of standout albums, ps  I'm not keen on greatest hits albums...

I would recommend you should listen to "Songs of" from his early period (60s), "I'm your man" from the late 80s and possibly "Popular problems" from 2014. These will give you a good mix of his early and later stuff.

I personally very much prefer his voice on the later albums, but there are lots of stand-out songs on the early albums as well, even if his voice was much less powerful in the early days.

One longshot might be for you to have a listen to the cover album "Famous Blue Raincoat" by Jennifer Warnes, who was also one of Cohen's backing singers on many of his albums and tours. I think this is a marvellous album, and Jennifer Warnes' interpretation of his songs is wonderful as a contrast to the originals themselves. 

This CD used to be a regular at most Hi-Fi shows back in the late 80s, which is where I came across it. I don't normally like cover albums, but I love this one. 

Hmack, many thanks for the recommendations...will certainly check out Jennifer Warnes ...

Started listening to Leonard Cohen whilst I was still at school. The first album is so good. I bought a used vinyl copy and it had a skip on So Long Marianne and it wasn't until I bought the CD many years later that I heard it without the skip. My favourite track is Famous Blue Raincoat from Songs of Love and Hate. The last 3 albums are not my favourites - perhaps the earlier albums are too engrained in my memory. Despite being a fan for so long, I never got to see him - a big regret. The first tme he toured after coming out of retirement I thought that I was actually going to see him but the birthday present turned out to be a ticket to see England at Wembley.