The Essential Leonard Cohen (Rm) (2CD)
Artist(s):
Leonard Cohen
Label: Sony Music Canada Inc.
Publisher(s):
Sony Music Canada Inc.
Studio: Sony Music Canada Inc.
Manufacturer: Sony Music Canada Inc.
Binding: Audio CD
Format(s): Original recording remastered
List Price: CDN$ 26.99
Our Price: CDN$ 17.99
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Track Listing
Number of discs: 2
1.
Suzanne
2.
Sisters of Mercy
3.
The Stranger Song
4.
Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye
5.
Master Song
6.
Bird on a Wire
7.
The Partisan
8.
Famous Blue Raincoat
9.
Chelsea Hotel No. 2
10.
Take This Longing
11.
Who by Fire
12.
The Guests
13.
Hallelujah
14.
If It Be Your Will
15.
Night Comes On
16.
I'm Your Man
17.
Everybody Knows
18.
Tower of Song
19.
Ain't No Cure for Love
20.
Take This Waltz
21.
First We Take Manhattan
22.
Dance Me to the End of Love (live)
23.
The Future
24.
Democracy
25.
Waiting for the Miricle
26.
Closing Time
27.
Anthem
28.
In My Secret Life
29.
Alexandra Leaving
30.
A Thousand Kisses Deep
31.
Love Itself
Editorial Reviews
From Amazon.com
This two-disc retrospective traces the Canadian bard's musical maturity from poet and novelist who sang a little to multidimensional artist whose oracular vocals and increasingly rich arrangements are every bit as compelling as his verse. Even when Cohen came to prominence through the 1960s songcraft of "Suzanne" and "Bird on a Wire," the "folksinger" tag never really fit. Later highlights ranging from the deadpan drollery of "Tower of Song" and "Everybody Knows" to the apocalyptic anthemry of "First We Take Manhattan" and "Democracy" suggest that other labels might be more appropriate: cabaret surrealist, spiritual gadfly, sensual prophet, agent provocateur. Cohen chose the selections, drawing more than half of the 31 tracks from three landmark albums--his 1967 debut Songs of Leonard Cohen, 1988's I'm Your Man, and 1992's The Future--along with four from 2001's Ten New Songs. The collection justifies its title as deep as it goes, though it's a shame that Cohen's commercial profile couldn't justify the more elaborate box set his artistry warrants (one that would at least include lyrics and musician credits). Those who sample the consistently inspired music here might come to the conclusion that everything Cohen records is essential. --Don McLeese
Customer Reviews
The Essential Leonard Cohen [LIMITED EDITION] [ORIGINAL RECO
The Essential Leonard Cohen [LIMITED EDITION] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]~ Leonard Cohen is an amazing collection of cohens awesome tallent for lyric writing and his scrappy but loveable vocals. He is a serious man: yet it is never pretentious or boring. Which often happens with other vocalists of his God given tallent.
cheatin' and stuff
Leonard Cohen is the one man I would cheat on my husband with. Yes, ma'am.
Potrait of An Artist As Both A Sage and Sinner
The beauty of Leonard Cohen is he has always followed his own eccentric path and I see no duality between Cohen, the young romantic rake who ages into the embittered sensualist. It was always clear that Field Commander L. Cohen was going to dance us to the end of love, regardless of the consequences. Wheter it's the young revolutionary partisan, or the world weary cynic railing against the excesses of "democracy", Cohen has never been satisfied with the political or moral status quo. His career is based on dissatisfaction with the things as they are. For Cohen, redemption is impossible without wallowing in the mire. I can't imagine living the last 35 years of my life without the music of L. Cohen. It is the autobiography of a man unafraid to be both master and slave to desire. There is no contradiction between Cohen the folk singer and Cohen the post-modern electronic poet, just as it's difficult to draw distinctions between Dylan the folk singer and Dylan the rock and roll star. Two sides of the same man that coexist as complimentary halves of the same man.
Cohen may well be the most poetic songwriter of his generation. Well before he ever released "Songs of Leonard Cohen", he was a published poet and a literary icon in Canada. His more recent appeal among younger Bohemians for his existential honesty, differs from first generation hippies who celebrated Cohen as the embodiment of Eros and free love. His minmalist musical approach is a stark counterpoint to his poetic text which is lush with imagery, double meanings and ambivalent wordplay. "Sisters of Mercy" can be read as either a celebration of the good works of, either nuns or prostitutes depending on your viewpoint. "Hallelujah" makes a holy sacrament of uninhibited sexuality. Cohen always challenged the notion of duality in his themes by equating the sacred with the profane. His life's mission his been afflict discomfort on those who see the world in mutally exlusive terms of moral postivism.
Cohen was the reckless romantic who spent several years in a Bhuddist monastary and now he has returned as an aging Siddartha to challenge our conventional wisdom about life, love and morality. "The Essential Leonard Cohen" is the journey of a seeker of the truth beginning with a potrait of an artist as a young man, and ending with jaded musings of a sage and sinner who discovers the more he learns about life, the less he really knows. This is Cohen the zen-master who has nothing left to prove. We are wiser people for Cohen's long jouney into the heart of darkness and if you want the unadulterated truth about love and life, Leonard Cohen will be the first to step forward and fearlessly proclaim, "I'm your man."
A Suitable Primer
The name Leonard Cohen first came to my attention way back in the day when Suzanne was released. It was a fairly popular and much-covered song, but it never occurred to me to actually buy the album. I was into much musically heavier things at the time and so my awareness of Cohen gradually receded into distant memory.
Nowadays, my musical interests are much wider and my pockets deeper, so I took a chance on Cohen's CD Ten New Songs when it was released several years ago. It took a while to get into, but I liked some of the songs immediately. My rule with music is that if I like a CD I've purchased by an unfamiliar artist, I buy something else by that artist also in order to give myself a broader enjoyment and understanding of their work. And so it went with Cohen. I picked up several more CDs and liked them enough to feel confident that I would be pleased with The Essential Leonard Cohen.
I have read all the reviews posted here, both positive and negative, and observe that its a given with any compilation that one will always feel that some songs were included that shouldn't have been and some obvious winners omitted. My candidate for ejection is Alexandra Leaving. I would have much preferred to see Boogie Street included or possibly Joan of Arc in its stead.
I think the CD is nicely divided into two periods because as several reviewers have noted, Cohen seems to have two voices. A lot of songs on the first CD one might classify as neo-folk, for lack of a better term. On this, I like Suzanne, The Partisan, Hallelujah, and I'm Your Man best.
On the second CD, the music is more in the direction of soul tinged rock with the occasional nod to country. And Cohen's deepening voice on the second CD imbues the music with more mystery and even occasional menace. I prefer the second disc with its apocalyptic renderings of First We Take Manhattan and The Future. Cohen's blood-chilling delivery on the latter combined with its scathing lyrics should give everyone a lot to think about. Closing Time wouldn't be out of place in any country dancehall and could probably be an alt-country radio hit. A Thousand Kisses Deep is evocative of the work of Michael Franks during his Objects of Desire period. But next to The Future, you might find the live recording of the dreamy and romantic Dance Me To The End of Love to be the surprise best cut. It is really tremendous. Juxtaposed with the former, it shows Cohen to be a man of huge talent who can literately express the gamut of human emotion through song.
This CD is not really for those who have all of Leonard Cohen's recordings already, but it is a suitable primer for anyone who wants an overview of this underrated musician's work.
Thank God for Leonard Cohen
This is a must for any Leonard Cohen complete-ist's collection! I have every CD he's ever put out and yet I find myself frequently choosing this set in order to conveniently listen to favorites from a variety of Leonard's previous CDs. A fabulous collection from an amazing artist!
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