Artist – Album: Leonard Cohen – Songs from a Room
Released: 7th
April 1968
Sounds Like: The idol is boxed in a room
What a hero Leonard Cohen is. Poet, novelist and one of the
most acclaimed and influential singer songwriters of the last five decades, he
operates on a higher literary plane than the majority of his folky contemporaries.
Not stopping there, Cohen is also an inductee of the American Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of
Fame, and a Companion of the Order of Canada. He’s a practising Jew with an
interest in Buddhism, and he’s had a long standing association with Budhhist
monk and teacher Kyozan Joshu Sasaki up at the brilliantly named Mount Baldy
Zen Centre. Plus, a friend of a friend of a friend knows him, and apparently he
seems like a nice guy.
With such a grand list of achievements it can be easy to
forget that at times his music can be hushed and humble. Here, on his second
album, it’s even hesitant. With Cohen’s admittedly limited vocals, and the absence
of much ornament besides his trusty acoustic guitar, his work is reliant on the
quiet confidence he tends to bring, be it on his stunningly realised debut or
his later 80s experiments with synths. Here he seems a little constricted, as
though he doubts whether the material is worthy of following his first Songs from
Leonard Cohen. Perversely, for that very reason, this isn’t his best effort.
On the other hand, it’s still good. Songs like ‘Story of Isaac’, the conversion of a French
poem ‘The Partisan’ and the
bittersweet romance of ‘You Know Who I Am’
are exceptional works of art, whilst ‘Bird
on a Wire’ - not really my favourite, it’s a bit boring – nevertheless
seems to be a bit of a headline draw for the fans.
Not Leonard Cohen at his best, but even when the legend isn’t
quite at 100% he’s still better than most of his peers.
Albumaday... rating:
7/10
1. Bird
on a Wire – 3:28
2. Story
of Isaac – 3:38
3. A
Bunch of Lonesome Heroes – 3:18
4. The
Partisan – 3:29
5. Seems
So Long Ago, Nancy – 3:41
6. The
Old Revolution – 4:50
7. The
Butcher – 3:22
8. You
Know Who I Am – 3:32
9. Lady
Midnight – 3:01
10. Tonight
Will Be Fine – 3:53
Listen to ‘You Know
Who I Am’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPkUyPU6nw4
Also released on the 7th April:
2003: Athlete – Vehicles & Animals
|
Also released on the 7th April:
2004: Jens Lekman – When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog
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