I think I picked the perfect times to listen to this, first in the afternoon after work, then on a slow Friday. These songs were very easy to mellow out with, and I got to appreciate the lyricism here (the real highlight of the album) since I didn't need to focus as much on other things at the time. I am conflicted on how to score this though, these really only just pass as music, rather than poetry readings on audible. Cohen's voice is not unpleasant but you can tell he is not exactly trying to wow anyone with his singing and is letting the writing do the work for him. The only songs where I find he comes to closest to really singing are Teachers and So Long, Marianne (coincidentally, two of the better songs on here 😲) Similarly, the instrumentals are very basic and feel like they are only there to justify all of this being an album. But these simple tunes work because they don't overshadow the draw of the album, Cohen's writing. Highlights Master Song, Sisters of Mercy, So Long Marianne