Customer Reviews

Leonard Cohen - Greatest Hits

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This is a wonderful collection of Cohen's now legendary early work. Drawn from his classic albums Songs Of Leonard Cohen, Songs From A Room, Songs Of Love And Hate and New Skin For The Old Ceremony, these timeless songs have become part of the serious poetic heritage of the English language. The tracks unique to Live Songs (1973), like Please Don't Pass Me By, are perhaps too anguished so have never found a place on any compilation.

I have no favorites here because each and every track is sublime, from the wistful Suzanne to the aching Take This Longing. From the album Songs Of Love and Hate I would have chosen Joan Of Arc, though, instead of Last Year's Man and would also have included The Old Revolution and Tonight Will Be Fine from Songs From A Room. Perhaps the most impressive version of Joan of Arc is the Jennifer Warnes duet with Cohen on the Famous Blue Raincoat tribute.

The impact of these timeless songs on popular culture is proved by the many cover versions, of which a few of the best include Rita Coolidge's Bird On A Wire plus The Lilac Time's and the Neville Brothers' version of the same song, Sting & The Chieftains' Sisters Of Mercy, James' cover of So Long Marianne, Geoffrey Oryema, Judy Collins and Nina Simone's very different interpretations of Suzanne, and Peter Astor's Take This Longing.

Cohen completists would also be interested in Essential Leonard Cohen, but note that album does not include Lady Midnight or Last Year's Man. What I found especially impressive on listening to this album again, were the brilliant arrangements and especially the siren-like quality of the female vocals so perfectly framing Cohen's voice. These songs just sound better and better as the decades pass.

I am a great fan of gold CDs, for although they have sometimes been criticized as over-priced, their superior sound quality and increased durability make them well worth it for those favorite albums you want to experience as fully as possible. As a long-time Leonard Cohen fanatic, I am delighted to have finally found one of his albums as a gold disc. It was worth the wait, too, since in this instance the remaster is especially good, even for an audiophile disc. This initial hits collection is also a good choice, although any Cohen disc would be worthy of being preserved in this way. Highly recommended!

in this album, you can find the simple and unforgetable cohen. his music fly away in the eternity

great CD...Leonard Cohen is an outstanding singer and songwriter, member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame of both Canada and the U.S.A.