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191 of 198 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not a perfect collection, but will do till that comes along, May 3, 2003
Hopefully this won't be the last attempt at the "essential" Leonard Cohen, but this will serve as a superb interim introduction. I have been a big Leonard Cohen fan for years, ever since hearing "Suzanne" on the radio and then hearing a bevy of his songs in the superb and profoundly underrated Robert Altman film McCABE AND MRS. MILLER, which uses several of his songs on the soundtrack (back when songs were included to enhance the movie rather than provide an excuse for a soundtrack album). I have striven over the years to introduce Cohen to as many of my friends as possible, and early on played him to my daughter. Happily most (including my daughter) have become fans as well.For some friends, I would make compilation tapes, and here is where one becomes aware of the problem with Cohen. Apart, perhaps, for his first album, Cohen is not at all well served by albums. He is far more of a singles artist, and some of his best individual songs can be found on otherwise miserable albums. A compilation can, in addition, mask how many really bad songs Cohen has recorded over the years. Luckily, at his best, he is very, very good. An anthology, therefore, is by far the best way to present Cohen's work, in comparison to other performers like The Clash or Van Morrison, who are better discovered in their original albums. It is even true of artists sometimes compared to Cohen, like Nick Cave. So, how does this anthology rate? Actually, pretty good. In the compilations I have made either for myself or for friends, this contains nearly every song that I have found most essential. The only significant omission that I can find is "Joan of Arc," which I dearly wish had been included. I would have liked to have seen the live version of that song, featuring Jennifer Warnes singing the part of the "Joan" lines with Leonard singing the "Fire" ones. But any Cohen fan will find a song or two that they would like to have seen included in lieu of one of the ones that made the final cut. What is striking is how few of my own got left off. Nonetheless, we really need a good, deluxe box set of Leonard Cohen's work, with detailed information about the musicians, which would be especially interesting on much of the earlier work. A disc of outtakes and rarities would be great, if for no other reason than to confirm my suspicion that Cohen has already placed his best work in the public eye. My gut feeling is that Cohen is a careful crafter of a few good songs, instead of a prolific writer of a spate like Bob Dylan. But I would at least like to see what there is in the way of alternate takes and unreleased songs. Anyone wanting to learn about Leonard Cohen could hardly do better than this album. In fact, only the hardest of diehard fans will want to go very far beyond this disc. Anyone discovering that they really loved this music would be best served next by digging up a copy of Jennifer Warnes's (who has often appeared as a back up singer on Cohen albums) extraordinary album of Leonard Cohen covers, FAMOUS BLUE RAINCOAT. But I can't imagine many music fans not being stunned by this collection. Cohen isn't a prolific writer, but he has produced a small but spectacular collection of songs that need to be in the music library of any serious music fan.
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89 of 93 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Is There Such a Thing as Non-Essential Leonard Cohen?, April 5, 2003
LC, I'm your fan. Have been since I first heard Suzanne going on four decades ago. I used to sing it walking down Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley; it was a phenomenal song then and it still is. This 31 song double CD covers Cohen's career from Suzanne taking your hand and leading to the river to Alexandra leaving with her lord. There is nothing that should not be on this collection, unlike many so-called Essential collections when there is almost always one or more "what the heck is THAT song doing here" moment. My only complaint is that it could easily have had 7 or 8 more cuts; Songs from a Room is badly underrepresented -- where is the unbelievably sad Seems So Long Ago, Nancy and the Hours-like Tonight Will Be Fine, with its lyric that captured Cohen then and does now as well, "I choose the rooms I live in with care/the windows are small and the walls almost bare?" And while I'm mighty happy to have Cohen's version of Famous Blue Raincoat, why not his definitive Joan of Arc? Oh, well, enough carping. Those who have most or all of Cohen's work may not need this -- although popped into the CD player it is a magnificant overview of how consistently strong his work has been for decades, none of the Dylan peaks and valleys. But for those who have only a couple of the albums or are looking to get introduced, this CD is definitive and, oh, yes, essential.
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48 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
He never said he made music for parties, February 22, 2006
The electronic drum is set slow. The synthesizer is a dirge. And the singer's voice --- imagine a three-pack-a-day man at four in the morning with his dog recently dead. His voice is a whispered croak, a tragic monotone.
Well, Leonard Cohen never said he made music for parties. He did say --- not in so many words, but this was the implicit promise --- that he'd stare the mirror down and make his secret life public. That he'd go "a thousand kisses deep" and report back. That, for the women who are his most passionate admirers, "I'm your man."
It's easy to see through Leonard Cohen --- at least that's what his critics say. To them, he's "the poet laureate of pessimism," "the grocer of despair," "the godfather of gloom," "the prince of bummers." His songs: "music to slit your wrists to."
His fans know different. I have been one since 1968, when I read his two novels, The Favorite Game and Beautiful Losers, and heard his first record. That album was like no other. It took itself seriously. And it took you seriously. That was the heart of the transaction --- a search for truth in a world where "even damnation is poisoned with rainbows" and God is always both present and mystifyingly silent.
That world view sounds off-putting. Dark. Unrewarding. In fact, Cohen is --- for some of us --- immensely musical. Even inspiring. But that's hidden. He's sardonic: "I was born like this, I had no choice/I was born with the gift of a golden voice." The quest is the thing, always: "Like a bird on a wire/ Like a drunk in a midnight choir/ I have tried, in my way, to be free."
Early on, that quest led him to Zen Buddhism, the ideal choice for smarties who need to be quiet and listen. Cohen went further. He sought his teachers' advice on his music:
"Roshi came to the studio one night when I was recording 'New Skin for the Old Ceremony.' That was in the seventies. In those days I was being written off as a morbid old depressive drone peddling suicide notes. (Still am, in some circles). Roshi slept through most, but not all, of the session. The next morning I asked him what he thought. He said, 'Leonard, you should sing more sad.' That was the best advice I ever got. Took a while to put it into practice."
In recent years, that quest has taken him deeper --- he spent a decade in a Buddhist monastery, serving his teacher. He emerged in 2001 with Ten New Songs. Of his recent work, it's a standout --- every song takes you under, wrings you out, shows you something new. And for a guy who has sometime been content to stand on two or three chords, it's musically rich. Sadder? Hard to say.
If you are unfamiliar with Cohen and want to make a smart start --- well, that's a problem. Maybe, although I generally oppose anthologies, The Essential Leonard Cohen.
Why is Cohen such a talisman for me? Because of the remarkable consistency of his vision. Others have detoured into politics, been fooled by chimera. Cohen, from the beginning, insisted on love as his topic. We're made in love. We disappear into love. We fail, often and gloriously. But the aspiration alone, however doomed, is triumphant. "There's a blaze of light/In every word."
Cohen is not the voice of acceptance. He does better: Hallelujah. But of course. "The holy or the broken Hallelujah" --- they're the same. In our imperfection lies our glory: "There's a crack in the world. That's how the light gets in."
Wherever you look, Cohen's been there. And moved on. To a place that looks almost exactly like the old one. Just a bit...lighter. Which, though odd, seems correct --- the king of bummers brightens the world.
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