Songs Of Leonard Cohen

ещё один фолк альбом для сна. я вижу в нем некую красоту и мелодичность, но это слишком скучно для меня. я не смог его дослушать до конца. я представляю, что это можно послушать за кофе или на прогулке в красивом месте, поэтому музыка очень ситуативная для меня. моя оценка: 3/5

The music is pleasant, and at times very beautiful, but ultimately this is prett boring.

Another sleepy folk rock album. Again, not bad but just too boring for me. Lyrics are nice and all but it's just not too interesting to me

Two Leonard Cohen albums down. This one was better than Songs of Love and Hate, but at least that album had "Diamonds In The Mine." Leonard, you are a goddamn chore, I'm telling you.

Songs steeped in coffee, red wine, French cigarettes, and mysterious, beguiling women, delivered in a slightly flat, dreary vocal style An important record, of course, but a stodgy listen.

Just boring

It was fine, but a little repetitive.

Achei meio sem graça, meio desinteressante, mas fiquei com vontade de dar outra chances

Listening to this was like being back in high school social studies class all over again, with Mr Dower’s monotonous monotone voice putting me to sleep during second period.

A collection of musically spoken words in front of flowing and peaceful tunes. This is a lot different from the previous Leonard Cohen album as it’s no where near as dark. Similar outcome though as this is a one and done for me.

It’s too bad he stopped in New York and recorded this album instead of making it all the way to Nashville. That way, he could’ve ruined country music instead of folk.

I know he's a great songwriter and all, but he delivers some strange lyrics. His voice sounds a bit young, feels like he's singing songs written by his dad. Overall this wasn't very good.

Не мой формат музыки, американский бард фолк какой-то, без оценки

Smooth

5,50/10 No llega a aprobar porque es aburrido. Muy tranquilo, demasiado por muchos momentos, pero no es malo. Para tener de fondo en un contexto super chill debe ir como piña, pero sino medio un bodrio

Listening session: october 14th, while getting ready in the morning Listened to before: no Thoughts: nice folk album with relaxing instrumentals, but it gets a bit boring and repetitive towards the end Favourite tracks: Suzanne, The Stranger Song & Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye

Great

Hauntingly beautiful instrumentals paired with depressing lyrics. Sounds like a Cohen album to me. Likes: Suzanne; So long Marianne; Teachers; One of us cannot be wrong

great

One of the merits of this project was introducing me to Leonard Cohen's albums (that I never listened to back to back before). Everything (lyrics, voice, guitar, arrangements...) about this one is simply amazing.

The GOAT

For an artist that has a very specific sound/look/feel, I'm surprised that Leonard Cohen has 5 albums in this book. He is awesome, but so many entries dilute his contribution and also blocks the potential for other artists to join the list (looking at you cranberries!)

2 Cohen's in 6 days! I enjoyed this one, it feels like Bob Dylan if he was actually good and wasn't obsessed with harmonicas, crossed with a bit of Simon and Garfunkel.

Youthful, poetic narrative and has excellent pacing. A grim fairytale grounded in reality Favorite tracks - "So long, Marianne" and "Teachers"

There's something about his deep voice that is enticing. I only knew a few Leonard Cohen songs before hearing this but one of them was Stranger Song which I adore. The songs are rich and deep and intense. A fun listen

I don't know if I know this album, but I love Leonard Cohen, so that bodes well for me. As expected, it's great.

Gorgeous, minimalist folk music. Similar to Tom Waits’ Closing Time as a more melodic and traditional album from an artist who frequently subverted convention.

This is a beautiful album

Good grief, this is so boring.

Very much storytelling while singing. Very calm, but not really my vibe.

All right, pal. Just take your five stars and get lost.

I grew up in a house full of public radio, not much music, but this was one of the few CDs my parents had. I didn't appreciate it at the time but 30 years later it is fun basking in the nostalgia and the beautiful songwriting.

These songs sound like a collection of home made melodies that your dad plays from muscle memory when he’s 5ft or less from a guitar

Chill and calm but flawed

Nearly a five star until his bizarre wailing at the end! Such a great collection of words with sympathetic and well produced instrumentation. But Leonard, stick to the low range

I really like Leonard Cohen, poet. His voice is so young here and without the rasp of decades of smoking. Was odd, at first.

my favorite by leonard cohen. unsurprisingly his most melodic. honestly so many albums for a man whose sound didnt change all that much through his career. 3.5

Gran poeta

I see the appeal, but this album isn’t for me. It was too boring for my taste. I had no desire to finish the album.

Genius, personified.

I find this collection of opaque mysticism, sensual melancholy, biblical allusions, shaggy dog stories, and just straight-up perving, totally intriguing. Musically, it's restrained. There are some striking moments, such as the plunge to B minor on the word "laugh" in the verse of "Stories of the Street" - but on the whole, there's just enough to sustain the poet's spell. Apparently, during recording, Cohen and producer John Simon had some fundamental disagreements about the arrangements - Cohen, perhaps unsurprisingly given that he was a poet first, wanted it very stripped back, originally stipulating vocals and guitar, some bass, and no drums at all. As a compromise, the accompaniments, such as the folk fiddle in "So Long, Marianne", or the accordion and flamenco guitar in "Stories of the Street", are often too delicate and too in thrall to Cohen's voice to be fully appreciated. Even the duet between a whistling owl and a screaming man in "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong" - a genuinely weird and unsettling moment - is kept offstage. Primarily, the music is a vehicle for Cohen's poetry, of which I understand basically nothing. It's possible that's what keeps me coming back: maybe *this time* I'll figure out what it means. Well, either that or I acknowledge this meaningless stream of consciousness just happens to sound great. Til then, lines like "you held on to my like some kind of crucifix" will continue to be lodged in the mind. And everytime I think about where my tea bags have come from, I'll think of Suzanne.

Some outstanding songs on here - Suzanne, and So Long Marianne in particular. But too much of it lacks any melodic or musical punch - just LC half talking and half singing over a meandering Spanish guitar. Not awful by any means, but just a bit meh. The lyrics often feel too wilfully obscure and pretentious - like Dylan but without the crucial humour or the equally crucial musical or vocal impact. Similarly his semi-spoken delivery often feels a bit cloying and pretentious. Remastered and through earphones exacerbates this and it almost feels creepy - might not have felt like this via 1960s audio.

too many Leonard Cohen albums on this list

I won't be listening to this album again. The music is not bad per se, but it doesn't move me, it doesn't give me any feelings at all. 2,5/5.

Really good. Love his voice and some very nice tunes.

Liker stemninga.

Har ikke hørt alt for mye på fyren, men hadde store forhåpninger her. Ble litt underhvelmet av låtene som framsto litt like. Veldig få store høydepunkter, selv om skiva jevnt over er fin. Litt streng her.

Old people music - nice though

lentos romanticos re lindos

Lovely stuff.

Very nice!

- I wrote a lot about it on another Cohen review, but tldr version: pedo (and prob a Zionist) - More than a few of his famous songs are on this debut, and they are beautiful. - The other songs can't really compete with those, though. - Throughout, I like how the instrumentation is pared down and sparse, but nicely arranged. It complements the poetic lyrics. - Even though it's emotive, I don't really find his voice super enjoyable on this album. It sounds kinda thin and nasal, and it doesn't have much range or variation.

If you can’t hear the music over the sound of yourself crying that still counts right? Haunting; beautiful.

Love this. Leonard Cohen is somewhere between a modern Certified Lover Boy and a philosopher etching his words and wisdom into stone.

The kind of music you'd hear played by a hobo beside a metal-drum campfire in the parking lot of an abandoned gas station after the fallout. Wonderfully Old Testament. Next-level background textures--always restrained and complementary and haunting--who is that female singer?

Ok 2/5

Some wonderful lyrics with a thin veil of music draped over to give it a shape. Kind of like Dylan, but not as folky. I’ll definitely listen to Leonard when I’m in a melancholy mood.

First steps into Leonard Cohen, honestly found it a bit dull. I would listen to see what else he's done but this isnt an album i'll likely be returning too. Favourite track: So Long, Marianne

Needs to cheer up

4/10 most songs are ok but they mostly just sound like songs ill hear in a church

Unexpected deliciousness. I had no idea he had this in him. Great, unique stuff!

This process has given me a love if Leonard Cohen so he is preaching to the choir here. His lyrics and imagery are top tier, his arrangement is subtle and textured and his voice is hypnotic. I enjoyed this immensely.

Legit en vitsaile kuuntelin just pari päivää ennenku tuli tånne niin tän albumi. Kuuntelin cohenia muutenkin päivällä ja aattelin tutustua tarkemmin sen tuotantoon

Lento, antiguo, grave.

It’s very calming, good for studying

Lyrically brilliant, musically dull and uninspiring

I love it!

Natuurlijk prachtig

So ein schönes Album, tolles Songs, mit viel musikalischer und textlicher Tiefe. Man muss mit beiden Ohren dabei sein!

Heard before?:✔️ Will listen again?:✔️ 4.5

Excellent debut album, deserves 5 stars just for Suzanne

Quite liked it

This really hit the spot. It felt brilliantly spiritually tinged and relaxed.

Тихий, камерный и меланхоличный альбом, в котором мрачная лирика постоянно уравновешивается теплом, мягкостью и едва заметным ощущением света.

snooze music. made me feel sad in the bones - it gets a 4 for being able to affect me so deeply even though it was quite unpleasant. undeniably poetry though.

Goddam right!

I’m not a fan of Folk, so take that into account. Am I likely to listen to this again - no, I can confidently say I won’t. Was it good? I did listen to the whole work. It’s not my jam, but I can say it was ok. Master Song was quite nice, I liked the arrangement. Stranger Song - this one was also nicely done. In Sisters of Mercy, I can visualize the band of minstrels moving across the stage. Cool stereo effect. So Long Marianne is the most catchy song on the album to this point. It’s actually quite good. I’m just going to offer this up - a cover of this album by The Cure would be really, really cool. I think that would be a neat little project. Ok, back to the album - Stories of the Street is a neat, little tune. The minor chords are quite evocative. Teachers is somewhat reminiscent of a Dire Straights tune. Excellent guitar work here. The songs I didn’t specifically comment on didn’t really move me much. Overall, this album exceeded my expectations - but my expectations were quite low. But I can honestly say this is the best Folk album I have listened to so far on this project. But I still stand by my “won’t listen to again”

Love that dude's songs

Melancholic vocals. Great lyrics. Sound musicianship. Love this album.

This is like the soundtrack to The Graduate. It's just as sparse and follows a template to Songs From A Room with some melodies like "So Long, Marianne". Though they follow a repetitive pattern in line with verse-chorus-verse format.

This really, truly is one of the best singer-songwriter albums of all time. It feels so ghostly and haunted with its subtle incorporation of choirs and strings, while still remaining firmly grounded by Leonard's voice and guitar. A masterclass in how to write contemporary folk songs.

I just can’t do it. There is nothing musically interesting about any of the four Leonard Cohen albums I’ve been subjected to on this list. Certainly nothing worthy of having five albums in the damn book. There’s no real change in style among any of them. Maybe an exception or two in there, but most of the songs are extremely similar: half singing/half talking while barely audible, extremely minimalistic music plays in the background. Leonard Cohen could be the second coming of Shakespeare in his lyrical content, but it doesn’t matter because the music behind the lyrics is so clearly an afterthought, and nearly every song is so incredibly dull to listen to because of it. Is he a good songwriter or just a good lyric writer? I don’t know because I have yet to be interested enough in one of his songs to look up what he’s saying. I’m not even sure what feeling his songs supposed to invoke because I feel nothing but rage at Robert Dimery wasting my time with another Leonard Cohen album. The album cover for this one is appropriate because it’s the same face I make whenever I see that I have to endure another of his albums.

Fitting title for what might be the most minimalistic Leonard Cohen album, but while his voice does have an ethereal quality that undeniably lends itself to this style, I personally find more enjoyment when he has some production behind him. Standouts: Sisters of Mercy • So Long, Marianne • One of Us Cannot Be Wrong

Was conflicted about how to rate this but it was my first Leonard Cohen album, so fuck it. This is as accessible as he gets! If you don't like this one you probably don't like the others. He actually has more than minimal instrumentation and there is some really impressive guitar fingerpicking on it as well. He starts right off with an absolute tour de force in Suzanne. Teacher could be Bob Dylan at his peak. So Long, Marianne? Incredible. Sisters of Mercy named themselves after a song on this album!!! If i would say one critique, it's that this slackens slightly near the end, but there's a lot here to enjoy if you have ears to hear it.

Classic. Some great hits. Quick listen. A true poet.

Not really my vibe

Lindas baladas. Me es imposible pensar en lo repetitivos que son todos los temas entre ellos, pero le doy un par de puntos por la habilidad que creo que requiere tocar así la guitarra y cantar a la vez. Las letras también son bonitas. 2 estrellas y media.

I’d listened to this album before, and when I did I put down in my notes that it was boring and gave it a 2 stars. Yesterday when I got it I thought that it was actually not that bad - just more lyric driven than anything else. As it went on, however, I did somewhat see why I’d thought it was boring on my initial listen.

95

Couple of belters for sure

Very L. Cihen!

I respect his work, but I think his early work was anchored in that era. It doesn't resonate with me.

so sweet 4.5

I enjoyed it more than I expected to, though it still wasn't particularly thrilling.

Lovely acoustic.

An interesting collection. Not my favorite Cohen songs. "So Long, Marianne" is memorable.

None of the songs are going to be added to any of my playlists, but there is a certain vibe that I quite enjoyed. 4/5

An amazing album that never grows old, simply superb.

1/5

Perfectly good and nice, just not really my style tbh. Incredible longevity on this album though