Cohen’s career a love story
What we know about Leonard Cohen — with absolute certainty — is to expect the unexpected. So it is with great interest that longtime fans await the Jan. 31 release of Old Ideas, his forthcoming studio album.
Cohen treated audiences during his most recent tours to a handful of new songs, all of which were met with great interest and acclaim, setting the stage for a solid bookend to what has been one, long fascinating career.
Here are his career highlights:
Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967)
The record that put Cohen on the fast-track to stardom remains one of the definitive documents of the singer- songwriter era. Three hits included here — Suzanne, Sisters of Mercy and So Long, Marianne — have endured, big-time.
Songs of Love and Hate (1971)
Cohen branched out on his third album, and developed into both a husky-voiced singer and a more elaborate songwriter. The emotions referenced in the album’s title provided a framework for eight moving songs, including the popular Famous Blue Raincoat. Live in London (2009) The third phase of Cohen’s critical and commercial comeback was crowned with this exceptional double album, a pristine live document recorded in 2008 at London’s O2 Arena. A terrific memento of what is perhaps the best-reviewed tour of his career.
Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 (2009)
This unreleased recording — Cohen’s third career-encapsulating release to hit stores in 2009 — finds the singer and poet at his charismatic best, in 1970, during his appearance at the Isle of Wight Festival. The quality of this performance is proof positive that Cohen could commandeer an audience, a reported 600,000 strong.
Various Positions (1984) If not for the inclusion of Hallelujah, perhaps Cohen’s most identifiable song, many would surely not have Cohen’s seventh album in their collection. That said, there are a few prime cuts, to be sure — including the album opener, Dance Me to the End of Love, now one of his most oft-covered compositions.
I’m Your Man (1988) The five songs that open this masterpiece — First We Take Manhattan, Ain’t No Cure for Love, Everybody Knows, I’m Your Man, and Take This Waltz — are as good as the bulk of the catalogue of most of Cohen’s contemporaries. To say he was on a creative roll during the I’m Your man era is an understatement.
The Future (1992) Cohen has always been a writer’s writer. But after the release of The Future, his late career came to be synonymous with his tre- mendously expressive — if not divisive — voice. The once reedy instrument, sounding far more world-weary than it should on The Future, is perfectly suited to the album’s bleak nature, however. The Future ranks as a career highlight for Cohen.
Ten New Songs (2001) A standout of Cohen’s 2008-2010 world tour was In My Secret Life, the slow-burner that opens Co- hen’s first new album in nearly a decade, one that was entirely co-written with longtime backup singer, Sharon Robinson. The album title is a typically pedestrian moniker; the songs therein, however, are anything but.
Live Songs (1973) The chic cities (London, Berlin, Paris, etc.) in which this early live album were recorded add heft to this breezy affair, a solid album that is credited for introducing the world to Jennifer Warnes, Cohen’s then-backup singer and soon-to-be muse, the first of many throughout his career.
New Skin for Old Ceremony (1974) Almost orchestral in spots, Cohen’s fourth album has a much deeper subtext, one that is played out through songs that are romantic in spots and hot to the touch in others. The record’s most famous composition, Chelsea Hotel No. 2, involves a chance sexual encounter with Janis Joplin, the type of lyrical yet gripping song that has defined Cohen’s career.