Sings Leonard Cohen (Democracy) - Judy Collins

Advantages: First album by a true genius
Disadvantages: His voice gets better with time

...This review has been written to commemorate Leonard Cohens's 72nd birthday today. Happy birthday Lenny! Leonard Cohen's recording career began with the release of "The Songs of Leonard Cohen". Cohen already had a career as a poet and novelist and his career as a musician might never have taken off without the encouragement of Judy Collins. Although he had been one of "The Buckskin Boys" - a trio performing country standards - they had not come close to troubling the charts or threatening to make a career of their music. So in 1967, fresh from several years on the Greek island of Hydra, Cohen looked to expand his artistic horizons. He was, famously, on stage at a Judy Collins concert starting his performance when petrified by stage-fright he said he could not continue. A wave of empathy from the crowd carried him through... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Leonard rules
Disadvantages: Aren't you paying attention? I said Leonard rules

...Since an evening about thirty five years ago, when Judy Collins asked a shy young Canadian poet to join her on stage and sing "Suzanne", Leonard Cohen has been a cult figure. His words and music have been the inspiration for millions worldwide. He has, of course, his detractors.There have always been those who have dismissed him as being obscure and a vendor of misery. "Music to commit suicide by" was a popular '70s jibe against him. Many who have made these comments can never have really listened to the man's work. It positively bristles with humour, romance and a deep understanding of that which makes people tick. "Ten new songs" is no exception. This is his first new album since "The Future" which was released about ten years ago. During this time he became a Buddhist monk and joined a monastery. After years of a fairly spartan... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Excellent introduction to Mr Cohen
Disadvantages: Disadvantages? are you crazy?

...acclaim and was published in under the title 'Let Us Compare Mythologies'; this was then followed by two novels 'The Favourite Game' (1963) and 'Beautiful Losers' (1966). It was then that he decided to merge the two mediums of music and poetry -by writing the song 'Suzanne'which was then adopted by mid-sixties folk singer Judy Collins receiving critical and chart success. Later on in the sixties, Cohen made the charts with his own version of this now classic song. All the songs on this 'Greatest Hits' album are classics in their own right and are evocative and terse depictions of the intellectual and melancholic backdrop of 1960s American Bohemia. From the lusty 'Chelsea hotel No.2', in which Cohen describes vividly his sexual encounter with Janis Joplin in a seedy New York hotel room, to the incredibly subdued and monotonous tragi... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful