New Skin for the Old Ceremony
| New Skin for the Old Ceremony | ||||
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| Studio album by Leonard Cohen | ||||
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Publication |
August 1974 |
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| Label (s) | Columbia Records | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD |
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Title (number) |
11 |
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running time |
37 min 7s |
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Leonard Cohen, John Lissauer |
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Studio (s) |
Sound Ideas Studio , New York |
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New Skin for the Old Ceremony is the fourth studio album (and, after Live Songs from 1973, fifth album) by the Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen , released in August 1974 . It represents a first turn away from Cohen's sparsely orchestrated early work towards more extensive arrangements.
Emergence
After two albums with Bob Johnston , Cohen brought in John Lissauer this time as a producer and is also a co-producer himself. The album was created in February 1974 at the Sound Ideas Studio in New York. While the previous albums only had strings as instrumentation, this album had an extensive line-up: Cohen himself played the guitar as usual, Lissauer played the keyboard and woodwinds, Gerald Chamberlain trombone, Lewis Furey viola, Ralph Gibson guitar, Jeff Layton banjo, mandolin, guitar and trumpet, John Miller and Don Payne bass, Barry Lazarowitz, Roy Markowitz and Armen Halburian drums. Backup singers were Emily Bindiger , Erin Dickins, Janis Ian and Gail Kantor.
There was controversy over the track Chelsea Hotel # 2 : Ron Cornelius , who worked on the previous albums, later requested to be performed for his involvement in writing the melody, and # 2 in the title is said to have been added to exclude him to be able to. However, there is also a slightly different version that was only performed live and is referred to as # 1.
The album is the first Cohen that does not have the word songs in the title. The cover image is also different: for the first time, there is not a portrait of Cohen on display, but a depiction of naked, winged figures from the alchemical work Rosarium philosophorum . In the USA this was sometimes felt to be offensive and was replaced by a Cohen photograph.
Style and content
New Skin has the greatest diversity of the individual pieces of Cohen's early albums. What they have in common is primarily the more extensive instrumentation, which, however, still clearly serves as a background for Cohen's lyrics. These continue to be very poetic with extensive metaphors and word paintings.
Chelsea Hotel # 2 tells about a well-known New York artist hotel and Cohen's relationship with Janis Joplin . With Field Commander Cohen , who mixes love topics with a grotesque secret service setting, and A Singer must die , which tells of an imaginary trial against a singer (Cohen himself) for songs that are too offensive and libertarian, the album contains Cohen's most humorous and socially critical to date Songs.
Who by Fire is based on the Jewish prayer Unetaneh tokef and is therefore Cohen's clearest reference to his Jewish origin. Lover Lover Lover seems to be a love song at first sight, but tells of the conflict between man and God. Leaving Green Sleeves is an adaptation of the traditional song Greensleeves .
Success and aftermath
In Great Britain the album only reached number 24 after the top 10 positions of its two predecessors. Lover Lover Lover was Cohen's only top 10 hit in Germany thanks to its catchy refrain. The pieces on this album have rarely been covered by Cohen's standards.
Cohen himself often played Chelsea Hotel # 2 at concerts, making explicit that it refers to Joplin. In 1994 he confessed in a BBC interview that this was indiscreet and that he would like to apologize to Joplin's ghost. He often used I Tried to Leave You in greatly extended versions to introduce his concert bands.
In September and October 1974 Cohen presented the songs on his third European tour and in November 1974 on his first US tour.
Track list
- Is This What You Wanted - 4:13
- Chelsea Hotel # 2 - 3:02
- Lover Lover Lover - 3:17
- Field Commander Cohen - 4:02
- Why Don't You Try - 3:53
- There Is a War - 3:01
- A Singer Must Die - 3:20
- I Tried to Leave You - 2:42
- Who by Fire - 2:29
- Take This Longing - 4:05
- Leaving Green Sleeves - 2:37