Lets talk about Leonard Cohen.

[blake]

Hes really good.

He write songs about topping yourself that are funny at the same time so good for him.

Better than Dylan? hmm not sure, but pretty bleeding good.

[crackedactor]

Way better than Dylan! He's got a biting humour that Dylan lacks and he's a better vocalist.
'Songs Of Love And Hate' is one of the best albums ever, simply because it features 'Avalanche', 'Dress Rehearsal Rag' and 'Famouse Blue Raincoat'.
Sure, his output isn't as prolific as Dylan's, but when it comes to albums, i'd rather have quality over quantity

[blake]

Nah Dylan's sense of humour is pretty decent too, in fact Dylan is funny as fuck, that sense of humour is what modern writers like Bright Eyes lack I think. The thing about Dylan is he tosses off these amazing lines and makes it look easy. You listen to Idiot Wind or It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding and its like *awe*

Songs Of Love And Hate IS maybe the best album ever, it pretty much covers all the bases emotionally.

I can't choose between Bob and Leonard! At a push Leonard cos I relate more to his words.

[enfantterrible]

yes lets talk about leonard

i love The Partisan - when he sings in French - yum

at the same time not one to listen to when depressed

[beatrycze]

'Who by fire' is one of my favs. But i love most of Cohen songs. mostly the older ones 'Chelsea hotel no 2', 'so long marianne' and so on :]

[obeseguy]

Talk about Leonard Cohen?

Oh! Oh! Let's.

I only have Songs Of Leonard Cohen. I've been assured everything else is crap, and I don't currently have the funds to find out.

I like the song about Eskimos getting freaked out by porn.

Jx

[blake]

Who ever assured you everything else is crap is bonkers.

Songs Of Love and Hate and New Skin For The Old Ceremony are even better than Songs...

Songs From A Room is a little blah though and the later synthish stuff is like marmite.

[salamandrina]

i saw i'm your man a few weeks ago and that was most fantastic. also reminds me i need to replace my copy of beautiful losers.

[blake]

I bought Death Of A Ladies Man the other day which if you don't know it's the album that was produced and co-written by erm feminist icon Phil Spector. To put that in a modern context thats a bit like Will Oldham (or Bright Eyes if you must) being produced by Xenomaina or The Neptunes. Sounds a really rubbish idea, and Leonard personally dislikes the album but I think its utterly brilliant! The lyrics are all utterly filthy and it has Bob Dylan and Allen Ginsberg on backing vocals on a song called Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On. What more do you want?

I'll end this thought with some lyrics.

The walls of this hotel are paper-thin
Last night I heard you making love to him
The struggle mouth to mouth and limb to limb
The grunt of unity when he came in

I stood there with my ear against the wall
I was not seized by jealousy at all
In fact a burden lifted from my soul
I heard that love was out of my control
A heavy burden lifted from my soul
I heard that love was out of my control

I listened to your kisses at the door
I never heard the world so clear before
You ran your bath and you began to sing
I felt so good I couldn't feel a thing

I stood there with my ear against the wall ...

And I can't wait to tell you to your face
And I can't wait for you to take my place
You are The Naked Angel In My Heart
You are The Woman With Her Legs Apart
It's written on the walls of this hotel
You go to heaven once you've been to hell

A heavy burden lifted from my soul
I heard that love was out of my control

I love Leonard more with each song I hear.

[nanya]

Can't say I'm an leonard-expert, but my parents have got a 'best of' album so I kinda grew up with some of his songs. I love 'Susan.' I can't say why but it makes an impact. After hearing it you can't think of anything else to play because it will all sound grey next to that song.

And yes, he's better than Dylan.

[blake]

Not to be pedantic but do you mean Suzanne?

[batgirl]

As an aside listening to music that may be classed as 'depressing' has never increased my sense of depression when feeling depressed.

[lltoastll]

yes Cohen! he's canadian, and antony of antony and the johnson's does a good cover of nightingale!

and Cohen's son is not bad, although I would hate to have to live up to that, is it even possible?

[nanya]

Not to be pedantic but do you mean Suzanne?

You're right.
Recently I listened to the song and thought I should share it with a classmate of me since it was more or less her own song. Her name is Susan so I guess that messed up my memory.

[angelheaded]

I'm sure it's clear from my avatar what I'm going to say, but anyway: Leonard is the ultimate in everything, ever. Not that I don't enjoy Dylan but, while he has a place in my heart, Leonard owns the whole thing. And you can always tell when a song is his: I knew nothing of Hallelujah until the Shrek soundtrack, and as we were leaving the cinema my mother and I were saying to each other 'that was a nice song. The lyrics are so Leonard'.

I knew nothing about Death of a Ladies' Man. It sounds really exciting.

[0-0]

I worship the man.

[enfantterrible]

Christ he is amazing. my mum used to sing me suzanne when i was smaller.. i got the other two albums a couple of years ago. i hardly ever play them because they tend to put a downer on my hyperactivity but god lord they are so good

[blake]

I'm bumping this because there should be a Leonard Cohen thread in the other artists forum to counter-balance all the threads about shite artists.