Songs of Leonard Cohen

Songs of Leonard Cohen
Studio album by Leonard Cohen
Publication (s)	December 27, 1967
admission	August 1967
Label (s)	Columbia Records
Format (s)	LP , CD
Genre (s)	Folk
Title (number)	10
running time	41:18
occupation	Leonard Cohen - vocals , guitar Jimmy Lovelace - drums (Track 6) Nancy Priddy - backing vocals Willy Ruff - Bass (Tracks 6.8) Chester Crill, Chris Darrow, Solomon Feldt House, David Lindley - flute , mandolin , mouth harp , violin , percussion
production	John Simon
chronology - Songs of Leonard Cohen Songs from a Room

Songs of Leonard Cohen is the debut album by the Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen , released in December 1967 . It is considered one of the most influential albums of the time.

Emergence

After Cohen had already achieved a certain fame as a writer, he decided at the age of 33 to start a career as a singer. Some of the songs that appeared on the album had already been written by him a few years earlier and successfully interpreted by Judy Collins . In 1967, Cohen performed with Collins at the Newport Folk Festival . The Columbia producer John Hammond became aware of him and signed a record deal with him. However, due to Hammond's health problems, John Simon took over final production. Sometimes he had different ideas about the instrumentation than Cohen, in particular he wanted drums, but ultimately he gave Cohen a free hand.

The cover of the album shows, like most Cohens, a picture by the artist, here in sepia .

Style and content

Songs of Leonard Cohen is musically kept rather sparse, it is assigned to the genre of folk . Most of the time you only hear Cohen's voice and the guitar, the background band Kaleidoscope stays in the background. The female background voices, which later become typical for Cohen, are only partially announced, in So long, Marianne , however, the female voice in the background is already a defining component. Cohen's voice is not as deep as on later releases, but it already has its unique character.

In terms of content, the album stands out thanks to Cohen's career as a writer and poet with poetic, profound texts. Cohen expresses moods of uncertainty and alienation from the world, but the overall impression is not yet as gloomy as on later albums. In the best-known piece on the album, Suzanne , his later often recurring theme of dealing with religion appears for the first time in the form of a Jesus stanza.

Success and aftermath

source	rating
Allmusic
Laut.de
Pitchfork Media

The album only reached number 83 on the Billboard charts in the US and only reached gold status in 1989 . In Canada and Europe it sold much better, in Great Britain it reached number 13 on the charts.

Already with this album Cohen was able to establish himself as one of the most important interpreters of the singer-songwriter guild alongside Bob Dylan , his style is considered formative for many subsequent musicians, so that many critics consider it one of the most important and best albums of the late 1960s. Among other things, it was ranked 51st of a selection of the 100 most important albums by the German Rolling Stone editorial team and appears on the best lists of the magazines The Jam (Italy) and Telerama (France).

The New Musical Express chose it as number 232 of the 500 best albums of all time. Pitchfork Media lists Songs of Leonard Cohen at number 11 on the 200 best albums of the 1960s.

For Cohen himself, the pieces on the album at his live concerts formed the backbone of his program for a long time. His style changed over the decades, but was always measured against the debut.

As with many other songs by Cohen, countless cover versions of those on the first album were also released by famous artists, such as Suzanne by Peter Gabriel , Joan Baez and Tori Amos . The music group The Sisters of Mercy named themselves after a song on the album.

Track list

All songs are penned by Leonard Cohen .

1. Suzanne - 3:48
2. Master Song - 5:55
3. Winter Lady - 2:15
4. The Stranger Song - 5:00
5. Sisters of Mercy - 3:32
6. So Long, Marianne - 5:37
7. Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye - 2:54
8. Stories of the Street - 4:35
9. Teachers - 3:01
10. One of Us Cannot Be Wrong - 4:27

Bonus tracks on the 2007 release

1. "Store Room" - 5:06
2. "Blessed Is the Memory" - 3:03

Web links

• Lyrics and sample listening
• Songs of Leonard Cohen on Allmusic (English)
• Article about Marianne Ihlen and Leonard Cohen ( So long, Marianne )

References

1. ↑ Stephanie P. Ledgin: Discovering Folk Music. Praeger, Santa Barbara 2010, p. 67
2. ↑ Review by Mark Deming on allmusic.com (accessed April 8, 2018)
3. ↑ Review by Giuliano Benassi on allmusic.com (accessed April 8, 2018)
4. ↑ Review by Brian Howe on pitchfork.com (accessed April 8, 2018)
5. ↑ Rolling Stone Top100 according to Karl Bruckmaier: Sound *****. The 101 most important records in pop history , Bremen 2000, p. 162
6. ↑ Important album after The Jam : Archived copy ( Memento of the original from October 24, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ↑ Important album after Telerama : http://pub37.bravenet.com/forum/3172289350/show/338026
8. ↑ The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time: 300-201 on nme.com (accessed April 8, 2018)
9. ↑ The 200 Best Albums of the 1960s on pitchfork.com (accessed April 8, 2018)