Death of a Ladies' Man
| Death of a Ladies' Man | ||||
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| Studio album by Leonard Cohen | ||||
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Publication |
November 1977 |
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| Label (s) | Warner Communications / Columbia Records | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD |
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Title (number) |
8th |
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running time |
42:31 minutes |
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Studio (s) |
los Angeles |
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Death of a Ladies' Man is the fifth studio album by the Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen , released in November 1977 . It is his most controversial album due to Cohen's differences with producer Phil Spector .
Emergence
For this album Cohen collaborated with the well-known producer Phil Spector. Within three weeks they wrote 15 songs together, Cohen the lyrics, Spector the music. Of two tracks, Iodine (then still called Guerrero ) and Don't Go Home with Your Hard-on , there were early versions as early as 1975, which Cohen played live with music from his previous producer John Lissauer . In the end, only eight of these pieces were used on the album.
Spector is known for his style of Wall of Sound , while Cohen has always tended to be more reserved arrangements on his previous albums. So it came to an argument between the two, Cohen strongly condemned Spector's mix . Thereupon Spector no longer let him into the studio and finished the album according to his ideas. Cohen later described it as a failed experiment and his worst album.
The instrumental line-up on the album was much larger than that of its predecessors, several dozen musicians were involved. In addition to the female background singers who are typical of Cohen, the greats Bob Dylan and Allen Ginsberg joined for the piece Don't Go Home with your Hard-on .
Style and content
In terms of content, the album is primarily about love and sexuality, Cohen self-ironically regards his role as Ladies' Man (womanizer). The lyrics are often more explicit than on previous albums. Musically, Cohen had already taken the path to more extensive arrangements on New Skin for the Old Ceremony , but the new album exceeded this by far. It's hard to call it folk , the influences from jazz , rock and funk are strong.
Success and aftermath
The album disappointed the majority of Cohen's classic fans who, like himself, believed that Spector's arrangements did not do justice to Cohen's lyrics and vocals. Nevertheless, some of the criticism received it quite well. In Great Britain it reached number 35 on the charts. Since Cohen himself rejected the album, he rarely performed pieces from it live. On his great world tour in 1979/1980 he played Memories and Iodine.
There are, however, a number of cover versions of songs on this album. Two of them can be found on the highly acclaimed tribute album I'm Your Fan from 1991: David McComb and Peter Astor covered Don't Go Home With Your Hard-on and the New Zealand band Dead Famous People True Love Leaves No Traces .
Track list
A side
- True Love Leaves No Traces (4:22)
- Iodine (5:00)
- Paper Thin Hotel (5:38)
- Memories (5:54)
B side
- I Left a Woman Waiting (3:24)
- Don't Go Home with Your Hard-on (5:32)
- Fingerprints (2:54)
- Death of a Ladies' Man (9:17)
Web links
- Song lyrics
- Death of a Ladies' Man on Allmusic (English)