Are you a Leonard Cohen fan?

I am -- several years ago, I saw a documentary/tribute concert, Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man, and I realized I'd been listening to his songs for years (and not just the excruciatingly over-covered Hallelujah) but didn't know they were his. The more I listened, the more I felt him to be one of the great poet-songwriters of our time.

He has just released a new album, Old Ideas. It's been playing at my house ever since -- first streamed from NPR, and then a purchased one after the NPR stream was no longer available. Which I understand, but I was sad because there were people I wanted to share it with.

Today, I found The Guardian also had a stream and reviews. If you like Leonard Cohen, or if you've been curious about him, you need to take a listen. All of his albums have been reflections of particular stages of his life, and Old Ideas is, to me, and exquisite coming to peace with himself and the world ... without losing his dark humor.

Guardian article about the upcoming release

Pre-Release Review in The Guardian

Old Ideas - brief article with complete album stream

I just bought it, haven't yet listened. I agree with you about everything except Hallelujah...Tim Buckley's version is one of the most moving renditions of any song, anywhere. I'm glad he covered it.

I'll be back after I've had a good listen.

There is a vinyl edition available. It is about twice the price of Amazon's CD of Old Ideas.

Tim Buckley was one of the first though, wasn't he? I heard his and k.d. lang's versions first.

It's a great song, but I really do feel it has been over-covered since then. When Susan Boyle recorded it as a Christmas song, changing the words to make it more "Christian," at that point it wore out for me.

But there's so much more great stuff he's done beyond Hallelujah. I'm really looking forward to hearing what you think of his new one.

Wow, where's he been hiding? The sound gets me where I live. I'll be out buying his stuff now.

I'm a longtime fan of LC he's wonderful poet who succesfully remained one after adding singer/songwriter to his repertoire. I figured Dear Heather would be his last one. My day got brighter when I heard he was putting out a new album and my world got brighter when I received it. After months of anticipation it didn't disappoint.

I like Buckley's interpretation of LC's 2nd version of Hallelujah (Cohen Live 1994) but the song pales compared to the original version (Various Positions 1984). Cohen said he wrote new stanza's for Hallelujah because he didn't "feel" the original version anymore but didn't want to stop performing it. I find the original to be much tighter and more intriguing then the latter. I suspect because the latter version was either culled from the rejects of the first version or he wrote something completely new to fit the music, which I heard him say is backwards for him. Here's the original version



You can find the original lyrics here. All that remains in the 2nd version is the final stanza & the hallelujah chorus.

I'll send you a picture!

Leonard Cohen is God.

And by that, I don't mean he's a really good musician. I mean he's "the little Jew who wrote the Bible."

Ahhhh. Pure, distilled essence of Cohen: prayerful, worldly, full of grace.

I love his voice with Jennifer Warnes'. She sings on "Show Me the Place" here, and on a couple of songs on I'm Your Man that I like.

Got me some -- "The Essential LC"

I got the vinyl edition of Old Ideas Friday and am playing it today. It is a powerful album. I find myself having to stop myself from thinking that this is Cohen's final album. It has all those overtones.

Speaking of overtones, Cohen has a complex voice. I believe, as I am wont to believe, that vinyl is more capable than CD or DVD of capturing that voice in its full complexity.

A neat thing is that the vinyl edition comes with a CD, permitting you to compare the two formats on the same equipment. My CD will go into my car's system, probably next to Jeff Buckley's Grace.

That struck me also, Tolland. If it turns out to be, it would be a fitting finale, but I do hope we hear more from him.

But you're right -- it is powerful, and has really grabbed me. Cool that the vinyl also came with a CD.

I've got the CD on order, arriving first of the month or so. My only remaining turntable is one of those self-contained things that my wife got me about 8 years ago, looks a lot like the below. Not really worthy of the cost of vinyl.



But I can't wait for the arrival.