The two-disc retrospective The Essential Leonard Cohen traces the Canadian bard's musical maturity from poet and novelist who sang a little, to multidimensional artist whose oracular vocals and increasingly rich arrangements are every bit as compelling as his verse. Even when Cohen came to prominence through the 1960s songcraft of "Suzanne" and "Bird on a Wire", the "folksinger" tag never really fit. Later highlights ranging from the deadpan drollery of "Tower of Song" and "Everybody Knows" to the apocalyptic anthemry of "First We Take Manhattan" and "Democracy" suggest that other labels might be more appropriate: cabaret surrealist, spiritual gadfly, sensual prophet, agent provocateur.

Cohen chose the selections, drawing more than half of the 31 tracks from three landmark albums--his 1967 debut Songs of Leonard Cohen, 1988's I'm Your Man, and 1992's The Future--along with four from 2001's Ten New Songs. The collection justifies its title as deep as it goes, though it's a shame that Cohen's commercial profile couldn't justify the more elaborate box set his artistry warrants (one that would at least include lyrics and musician credits). Those who sample the consistently inspired music here might come to the conclusion that everything Cohen records is essential. --Don McLeese

Songs reminding of new attitude towards life and social problems, 20 Dec 2008
The CDs are interesting to listen, because they remind of the need to look critically towards life and social problems.

The first CD unveils songs of early period of L. Cohen. Mainly, they deal with tragic love and many allusions.

In the second CD the low voice of L. Cohen reminds of social problems and the need to change them...

Listening to these two Cds will give many insights about culture, society, love and the new approach towards social life...

Soulfood Essential, 23 Aug 2008
This is as fine an introduction to the works of Leonard Cohen as could be imagined. The track list, selected by the man himself, covers almost every period of his recorded output (Cohen is not prolific in the way, say, Bob Dylan is, or Neil Young), but I do feel some truly great stuff has been overlooked, i.e. the hushed, but haunting version of 'Story Of Isaac' from 1973's LIVE SONGS, which is one of the most profound things that anyone has ever written, the great live recordings from FIELD COMMANDER COHEN: Tour Of 1979, which admittedly was not released until after THE ESSENTIAL LEONARD COHEN appeared. Of those songs, I feel the title track is as good and epic a song as any he's recorded, and the version from NEW SKIN FOR THE OLD CEREMONY would have sufficed over e.g 'Take This Longing' which already appears on his GREATEST HITS. As for the Passenger version of 'Lover Lover Lover', what can I say? It is blistering! Likewise (from that same album) versions of 'The Window', 'The Smokey Life', 'The Stranger Song', 'The Gypsy's Wife' (long since a staple of the live act) and an unforgettable reading of 'Memories' from the unfairly-maligned DEATH OF A LADIES' MAN, are all worthy of inclusion. In fact, it's true to say that all Cohen's output is essential, but I would also have included 'Ballad Of The Absent Mare' and 'Came So Far For Beauty' from RECENT SONGS, 'The Old Revolution' from SONGS FROM A ROOM (if only for discovering it had been a minor hit in the UK: hats off to Dale Winton for pointing that out to me!), the live 'Joan Of Arc', 'One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong' and 'Hallelujah' from 1993's COHEN LIVE, 'Coming Back To You' and 'The Captain' from 1984's VARIOUS POSITIONS, but the greatest omission surely has to be the Lorca-inspired 'Take This Waltz' from the brilliant I'M YOUR MAN. I could eulogise forever. Suffice to say, if your not familiar with the man's work, this is the perfect place to start. After that, buy THE SONGS OF LEONARD COHEN, his debut (perhaps, alongside Jeff Buckley's GRACE and THE VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO, the greatest debut of all time, for my money).

It's like sipping your best brandy whilst puffing on a quality cigar, 04 May 2007
The voice is the first thing you notice. The early poetic renditions on such classics as "Suzanne", "Sisters of Mercy" and "Famous Blue Raincoat" are presented in a voice that is deadpan but not as gruff as in later years. This was at a period when he was a well kept secret and with a style and presentation that not everyone took to. Move onto disc 2 and you notice how the voice deepens and the songs become bigger. One thing that Cohen has never failed to deliver is quality songs with curious stories to tell. He has an almost hymn-like or gospel touch on a lot of his work, usually enhanced by superb backing singers and wondrous musicians and arrangements.

I move between both of his periods with equal ease, but I find the latter stuff more appealing these days. Some people could sing the contents of the telephone directory given the right voice, he is one of them. "Democracy", "Tower of Song", "First we take Manhattan" and "Hallelujah" are stand out tracks but I defy anyone not to get lost in "Closing Time". This is by far my favourite. A fun song, with so many catchy hooks it just pulls you off your seat and invites you to dance with the nearest partner. You can almost smell the smoke and alcoholic fumes as if you are drinking in the bar with him. A tremendous talent......but what great assistance from his backing singers.

This is a great selection of his work. If you are a fan, you'll want it in your collection. If you are just curious, buy it.........it's a great introduction.


A lesson for what really music is, 02 Feb 2007
There's nothing missing from this collection. Not the quality, not the deep, truthful voice, not the fully poetic and inspirational lyrics, nothing. My boyfriend bought this CD and we can't get enough of it- especially DISC 2.
Cohen is and will remain unique in this industry, mainly because he has something solid yet so delicate to say, because he is a musician, because he possesses the gift to sing stories instead of 'telling a song'. Great music, great lyrics, great singer.

Simply Blown Away.....New Convert, 27 Nov 2006
Well I cannot believe I have lived for 42 years without listening to a Cohen Album.I tried this on spec seeing the reviews and having been a big Dylan/Springsteen fan for many years.For me this album has been like meeting a soulmate in a slightly run down but all too comfortable bar and wishing you had met them much earlier in your life!!!!!
Songs like "Democracy" and "I'm Your Man" cover the dark side of politics and personal relationships superbly and the former should be essential listening for the Neo-Cons of the White House.
I will not go over everything already written but this double disc set seems a top introduction to Cohen's development and style.I have already ordered 2 more albums from his back catalogue and I feel this discovery could hit my bsank balance hard in the near future.Totally recommended.

Various Positions was Leonard Cohen's first album of the 1980s, yet was in keeping with the rest of his albums in two important respects: one, it sounded absolutely nothing like anything else anyone else was doing; two, it was a compelling reason for anyone else dealing in songs of love and its loss to wonder why they were bothering. As a lyricist, Cohen has few, if any, peers--he has never been the relentless doom-monger of popular myth, but a wise, warm and frequently very funny chronicler of heartbreak. Cohen, like very few others, has always appreciated that love is at least as much comedy as tragedy. Various Positions contains some of Cohen's best--"Dance Me To The End Of Love", "Coming Back To You" and a shortened, accusatory version of "Hallelujah", later covered to such majestic effect by Jeff Buckley. It also contains the bizarre country epic "The Captain", in which Cohen plays the part of a young officer being handed command of his unit by his dying superior. All are sung in Cohen's trademark husky drone and all are the work of a writer who, here as always, uses language like Vincent used paint. --Andrew Mueller

Songs reminding of new attitude towards life and social problems, 20 Dec 2008
The CDs are interesting to listen, because they remind of the need to look critically towards life and social problems.

The first CD unveils songs of early period of L. Cohen. Mainly, they deal with tragic love and many allusions.

In the second CD the low voice of L. Cohen reminds of social problems and the need to change them...

Listening to these two Cds will give many insights about culture, society, love and the new approach towards social life...

Soulfood Essential, 23 Aug 2008
This is as fine an introduction to the works of Leonard Cohen as could be imagined. The track list, selected by the man himself, covers almost every period of his recorded output (Cohen is not prolific in the way, say, Bob Dylan is, or Neil Young), but I do feel some truly great stuff has been overlooked, i.e. the hushed, but haunting version of 'Story Of Isaac' from 1973's LIVE SONGS, which is one of the most profound things that anyone has ever written, the great live recordings from FIELD COMMANDER COHEN: Tour Of 1979, which admittedly was not released until after THE ESSENTIAL LEONARD COHEN appeared. Of those songs, I feel the title track is as good and epic a song as any he's recorded, and the version from NEW SKIN FOR THE OLD CEREMONY would have sufficed over e.g 'Take This Longing' which already appears on his GREATEST HITS. As for the Passenger version of 'Lover Lover Lover', what can I say? It is blistering! Likewise (from that same album) versions of 'The Window', 'The Smokey Life', 'The Stranger Song', 'The Gypsy's Wife' (long since a staple of the live act) and an unforgettable reading of 'Memories' from the unfairly-maligned DEATH OF A LADIES' MAN, are all worthy of inclusion. In fact, it's true to say that all Cohen's output is essential, but I would also have included 'Ballad Of The Absent Mare' and 'Came So Far For Beauty' from RECENT SONGS, 'The Old Revolution' from SONGS FROM A ROOM (if only for discovering it had been a minor hit in the UK: hats off to Dale Winton for pointing that out to me!), the live 'Joan Of Arc', 'One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong' and 'Hallelujah' from 1993's COHEN LIVE, 'Coming Back To You' and 'The Captain' from 1984's VARIOUS POSITIONS, but the greatest omission surely has to be the Lorca-inspired 'Take This Waltz' from the brilliant I'M YOUR MAN. I could eulogise forever. Suffice to say, if your not familiar with the man's work, this is the perfect place to start. After that, buy THE SONGS OF LEONARD COHEN, his debut (perhaps, alongside Jeff Buckley's GRACE and THE VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO, the greatest debut of all time, for my money).

It's like sipping your best brandy whilst puffing on a quality cigar, 04 May 2007
The voice is the first thing you notice. The early poetic renditions on such classics as "Suzanne", "Sisters of Mercy" and "Famous Blue Raincoat" are presented in a voice that is deadpan but not as gruff as in later years. This was at a period when he was a well kept secret and with a style and presentation that not everyone took to. Move onto disc 2 and you notice how the voice deepens and the songs become bigger. One thing that Cohen has never failed to deliver is quality songs with curious stories to tell. He has an almost hymn-like or gospel touch on a lot of his work, usually enhanced by superb backing singers and wondrous musicians and arrangements.

I move between both of his periods with equal ease, but I find the latter stuff more appealing these days. Some people could sing the contents of the telephone directory given the right voice, he is one of them. "Democracy", "Tower of Song", "First we take Manhattan" and "Hallelujah" are stand out tracks but I defy anyone not to get lost in "Closing Time". This is by far my favourite. A fun song, with so many catchy hooks it just pulls you off your seat and invites you to dance with the nearest partner. You can almost smell the smoke and alcoholic fumes as if you are drinking in the bar with him. A tremendous talent......but what great assistance from his backing singers.

This is a great selection of his work. If you are a fan, you'll want it in your collection. If you are just curious, buy it.........it's a great introduction.


A lesson for what really music is, 02 Feb 2007
There's nothing missing from this collection. Not the quality, not the deep, truthful voice, not the fully poetic and inspirational lyrics, nothing. My boyfriend bought this CD and we can't get enough of it- especially DISC 2.
Cohen is and will remain unique in this industry, mainly because he has something solid yet so delicate to say, because he is a musician, because he possesses the gift to sing stories instead of 'telling a song'. Great music, great lyrics, great singer.

Simply Blown Away.....New Convert, 27 Nov 2006
Well I cannot believe I have lived for 42 years without listening to a Cohen Album.I tried this on spec seeing the reviews and having been a big Dylan/Springsteen fan for many years.For me this album has been like meeting a soulmate in a slightly run down but all too comfortable bar and wishing you had met them much earlier in your life!!!!!
Songs like "Democracy" and "I'm Your Man" cover the dark side of politics and personal relationships superbly and the former should be essential listening for the Neo-Cons of the White House.
I will not go over everything already written but this double disc set seems a top introduction to Cohen's development and style.I have already ordered 2 more albums from his back catalogue and I feel this discovery could hit my bsank balance hard in the near future.Totally recommended.

HALLELUJAH LAUGHING LENNYS LAST LAUGH, 24 Dec 2008
For those who don't know there are three versions of "Hallelujah"in the uk top forty,an awful soulless version at number one.the brilliant Jeff Buckley at two and Cohens version at Thirty three,and the amazing thing is it is not Cohens best song on this marvelous album,the master of melancholy has stuffed this album with classic songs "The law""Night comes on""The captain""Hunters Lullaby" and "If it be your will" are just as good.
This album was ignored when issued in 1994,and it is only with the success of H"hallelujah" that it is being recognised,ignore it anymore!!
A few years ago there was an excellent film called "The edukators",which featured Jeff Buckleys version of "hallelujah" on the closing credits,absolutely beautiful,but the original is still the best.
Three versions of the same song in the charts?, looks like Len has had the last laugh.

leonard cohen the legend!!, 12 Nov 2008
this album is fab hallialuah made me buy it but the whole album is fab buy it the story about hallialuah on radio2 thats how i got to hear of him he deserves much more regonition why hasant he? bob dylan does and i think leonard cohen is much better and his voice is better too!! alson get songs of leonard cohen from the 60s and songs of love and hate!! buy them you wont regret it ive also just recieved richard hawleys ladys bridge album fabalous too!!

TIMELESS, 01 Nov 2008
A great CD and well worth the 4 pounds I spent on it, after seeking high and low in every store here in Germany for it. It was the only CD missing in my Leonard Cohen collection and I regret not having gotten it earlier. Together with Jennifer Warnes and a fairly minimal orchestration Cohen proves once again he doesn't need a WALL OF SOUND to make a great CD.

The Other Side Of Sorrow And Despair, 09 Sep 2007
Cohen made three classic albums with John Lissaeur at the helm: 1974's New Skin For The Old Ceremony, 1979's Recent Songs, but at the apex of these achievements stands 1984's Various Positions, in that it paved the way for a new audience to discover Leonard Cohen afresh. This wasn't done by just adding the odd synthesised drone here and there, for there is the same continuity of themes and musical genres threaded consistently through the works (compare New Skin's 'Why Don't You Try?' or 'I Tried To Leave You' alongside Recent Songs' 'Came So Far For Beauty' or 'The Smokey Life', i.e., and you'll find they sit naturally next to tracks like 'Hallelujah' or 'Coming Back To You', whereas 'Night Comes On' and 'If It Be Your Will' would not have sounded out of place on Songs From A Room). What appears so much different about Various Positions is more to do with Cohen as an artist: he sounds rejuvenated and almost ready to make that protean leap towards making that one true classic that would positively redefine him for generations to come. I refer, of course, to I'm Your Man. I was recently tickled to read of a conversation around this time between Leonard and Bob Dylan, where Leonard asked Bob how long it took him to write 'I And I' from the album Infidels. "About ten minutes," was the forthright reply Bob gave. "How long did it take you to write 'Hallelujah'?" "Three or four years," deadpanned Cohen, later explaining: "it really took about five years, but I didn't want to look like I was dragging my heels or anything." The point being: you can appreciate the precision and care that Cohen took in recording certain tracks on Various Positions. 'Hallelujah', apparently, was whittled down from dozens of seperate verses, all presumably containing a unique rhyme such as 'do ya', 'overthrew ya', 'fool ya' (you get the picture), just as similarly 'Democracy' from The Future was whittled down from hundreds of different verses. This is craft of a higher order.
Elsewhere, we are treated to such gems as Dance Me To The End Of Love, one of those definitive mission statements that Cohen seems to throw out effortlessly, even though we know this can't possibly be the case. 'Coming Back To You' returns to Leonard's country roots with classic ambiguous imagery: is it literal, or devotional, or both? 'The Law' has a slight reggae lilt, and 'Night Comes On' is a masterpiece of darkness and shade. Side Two of the original kicks off with the masterful 'Hallelujah' and ends with the anthemic and positively hymnal 'If It Be Your Will', taking in faux-country ('The Captain'), dark nursery-rhyme ('Hunter's Lullaby'), and the celebratory 'Heart With No Companion' along the way. The whole proceedings presaged a huge seismic shift in the perception of Leonard Cohen as some doom-laden troubadour. Had he not gone on to record the collossal I'm Your Man, I feel many would have regarded this as his best by a long chalk since the first album. As it stands, Various Positions, remains Leonard's transitional masterpiece, and you can do lots worse than shell-out a fiver or less to have this in your collection.

Leonard Cohen at his best, 08 Feb 2005
This is one of my favourite Cohen CDs, as it has no tracks I tend to skip past. As usual it is Cohen's strong lyrics (more poetry really) and the quality of his voice that holds the simple backing tunes together. Being exposed to country music as a child by my father I particularly like, well love actually, 'The Captain' (he even gently mocks the format in the lyrics) but there other strong songs in there as well you may prefer, like 'The Law' or 'The night comes in' or 'Hallelujah' [yes, the fantastic song from Shrek written by LC & sung by Neil Diamond]. However I do find the superb track 'The night comes in' rather sad and uncomfortable listening [even more than 'The story of Isaac' on Songs from a room] - although music that's powerful enough to move you certainly can't be considered a bad thing. Cohen's words are often interestingly cryptic, moving and deeply reflective, rather than being outrightly political or 'protest'. If you are new to Leonard Cohen I'd also get the later 'I'm your man', plus perhaps 'The Future' and 'Songs from a room'. The recording quality of all these re-released Cohen CD's is very good, and this one is no exception. They are also great value when offered for under a fiver.

Even the production, laden with synthesized strings and cooing female choruses, is wry on I'm Your Man, a definitive Leonard Cohen album. Though still touched with the tragic ("Take This Waltz," based on a Garcia Lorca poem), the album often achieves its high points by combining Cohen's world-weariness with black-humoured evocations of social and romantic ills and artistic quandaries. "I was born like this, I had no choice," the gravelly Cohen intimates at disc's end. "I was born with the gift of a golden voice." ---Rickey Wright I'm Your Man appeared at a fortuitous moment for Cohen. The previous year, Jennifer Warnes had scored a major hit with Famous Blue Raincoat--an album of Cohen's songs. Possibly enthused by the idea of a large, primed and expectant audience, the 54-year-old Cohen delivered--in I'm Your Man--arguably the finest album of his illustrious career. The music here is never the baleful acoustic strumming Cohen is still popularly associated with: rather, he opted for a peculiarly sparse electronic style that often sounded as if it was being played on a variety of toys. This tack might have been disastrous--and indeed is, on "Jazz Police", the album's only clunker--but is redeemed by Cohen's gloomy, portentous voice, mixed well to the fore, and what might well be the finest collection of lyrics ever bestowed upon a rock & roll album. From the terrific opening line ("They sentenced me to 20 years of boredom/For trying to change the system from within", from "First We Take Manhattan") the words on I'm Your Man are relentlessly wise, rueful and hilarious, and capped splendidly by the climactic "Tower Of Song". This track, which has since been covered by James, the Jesus & Mary Chain, the Fatima Mansions and Nick Cave, among others, is the definitive statement of the magnificent absurdity of the rock & roll singer: "I said to Hank Williams... how lonely does it get?". Genius. --Andrew Mueller

Songs reminding of new attitude towards life and social problems, 20 Dec 2008
The CDs are interesting to listen, because they remind of the need to look critically towards life and social problems.

The first CD unveils songs of early period of L. Cohen. Mainly, they deal with tragic love and many allusions.

In the second CD the low voice of L. Cohen reminds of social problems and the need to change them...

Listening to these two Cds will give many insights about culture, society, love and the new approach towards social life...

Soulfood Essential, 23 Aug 2008
This is as fine an introduction to the works of Leonard Cohen as could be imagined. The track list, selected by the man himself, covers almost every period of his recorded output (Cohen is not prolific in the way, say, Bob Dylan is, or Neil Young), but I do feel some truly great stuff has been overlooked, i.e. the hushed, but haunting version of 'Story Of Isaac' from 1973's LIVE SONGS, which is one of the most profound things that anyone has ever written, the great live recordings from FIELD COMMANDER COHEN: Tour Of 1979, which admittedly was not released until after THE ESSENTIAL LEONARD COHEN appeared. Of those songs, I feel the title track is as good and epic a song as any he's recorded, and the version from NEW SKIN FOR THE OLD CEREMONY would have sufficed over e.g 'Take This Longing' which already appears on his GREATEST HITS. As for the Passenger version of 'Lover Lover Lover', what can I say? It is blistering! Likewise (from that same album) versions of 'The Window', 'The Smokey Life', 'The Stranger Song', 'The Gypsy's Wife' (long since a staple of the live act) and an unforgettable reading of 'Memories' from the unfairly-maligned DEATH OF A LADIES' MAN, are all worthy of inclusion. In fact, it's true to say that all Cohen's output is essential, but I would also have included 'Ballad Of The Absent Mare' and 'Came So Far For Beauty' from RECENT SONGS, 'The Old Revolution' from SONGS FROM A ROOM (if only for discovering it had been a minor hit in the UK: hats off to Dale Winton for pointing that out to me!), the live 'Joan Of Arc', 'One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong' and 'Hallelujah' from 1993's COHEN LIVE, 'Coming Back To You' and 'The Captain' from 1984's VARIOUS POSITIONS, but the greatest omission surely has to be the Lorca-inspired 'Take This Waltz' from the brilliant I'M YOUR MAN. I could eulogise forever. Suffice to say, if your not familiar with the man's work, this is the perfect place to start. After that, buy THE SONGS OF LEONARD COHEN, his debut (perhaps, alongside Jeff Buckley's GRACE and THE VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO, the greatest debut of all time, for my money).

It's like sipping your best brandy whilst puffing on a quality cigar, 04 May 2007
The voice is the first thing you notice. The early poetic renditions on such classics as "Suzanne", "Sisters of Mercy" and "Famous Blue Raincoat" are presented in a voice that is deadpan but not as gruff as in later years. This was at a period when he was a well kept secret and with a style and presentation that not everyone took to. Move onto disc 2 and you notice how the voice deepens and the songs become bigger. One thing that Cohen has never failed to deliver is quality songs with curious stories to tell. He has an almost hymn-like or gospel touch on a lot of his work, usually enhanced by superb backing singers and wondrous musicians and arrangements.

I move between both of his periods with equal ease, but I find the latter stuff more appealing these days. Some people could sing the contents of the telephone directory given the right voice, he is one of them. "Democracy", "Tower of Song", "First we take Manhattan" and "Hallelujah" are stand out tracks but I defy anyone not to get lost in "Closing Time". This is by far my favourite. A fun song, with so many catchy hooks it just pulls you off your seat and invites you to dance with the nearest partner. You can almost smell the smoke and alcoholic fumes as if you are drinking in the bar with him. A tremendous talent......but what great assistance from his backing singers.

This is a great selection of his work. If you are a fan, you'll want it in your collection. If you are just curious, buy it.........it's a great introduction.


A lesson for what really music is, 02 Feb 2007
There's nothing missing from this collection. Not the quality, not the deep, truthful voice, not the fully poetic and inspirational lyrics, nothing. My boyfriend bought this CD and we can't get enough of it- especially DISC 2.
Cohen is and will remain unique in this industry, mainly because he has something solid yet so delicate to say, because he is a musician, because he possesses the gift to sing stories instead of 'telling a song'. Great music, great lyrics, great singer.

Simply Blown Away.....New Convert, 27 Nov 2006
Well I cannot believe I have lived for 42 years without listening to a Cohen Album.I tried this on spec seeing the reviews and having been a big Dylan/Springsteen fan for many years.For me this album has been like meeting a soulmate in a slightly run down but all too comfortable bar and wishing you had met them much earlier in your life!!!!!
Songs like "Democracy" and "I'm Your Man" cover the dark side of politics and personal relationships superbly and the former should be essential listening for the Neo-Cons of the White House.
I will not go over everything already written but this double disc set seems a top introduction to Cohen's development and style.I have already ordered 2 more albums from his back catalogue and I feel this discovery could hit my bsank balance hard in the near future.Totally recommended.

HALLELUJAH LAUGHING LENNYS LAST LAUGH, 24 Dec 2008
For those who don't know there are three versions of "Hallelujah"in the uk top forty,an awful soulless version at number one.the brilliant Jeff Buckley at two and Cohens version at Thirty three,and the amazing thing is it is not Cohens best song on this marvelous album,the master of melancholy has stuffed this album with classic songs "The law""Night comes on""The captain""Hunters Lullaby" and "If it be your will" are just as good.
This album was ignored when issued in 1994,and it is only with the success of H"hallelujah" that it is being recognised,ignore it anymore!!
A few years ago there was an excellent film called "The edukators",which featured Jeff Buckleys version of "hallelujah" on the closing credits,absolutely beautiful,but the original is still the best.
Three versions of the same song in the charts?, looks like Len has had the last laugh.

leonard cohen the legend!!, 12 Nov 2008
this album is fab hallialuah made me buy it but the whole album is fab buy it the story about hallialuah on radio2 thats how i got to hear of him he deserves much more regonition why hasant he? bob dylan does and i think leonard cohen is much better and his voice is better too!! alson get songs of leonard cohen from the 60s and songs of love and hate!! buy them you wont regret it ive also just recieved richard hawleys ladys bridge album fabalous too!!

TIMELESS, 01 Nov 2008
A great CD and well worth the 4 pounds I spent on it, after seeking high and low in every store here in Germany for it. It was the only CD missing in my Leonard Cohen collection and I regret not having gotten it earlier. Together with Jennifer Warnes and a fairly minimal orchestration Cohen proves once again he doesn't need a WALL OF SOUND to make a great CD.

The Other Side Of Sorrow And Despair, 09 Sep 2007
Cohen made three classic albums with John Lissaeur at the helm: 1974's New Skin For The Old Ceremony, 1979's Recent Songs, but at the apex of these achievements stands 1984's Various Positions, in that it paved the way for a new audience to discover Leonard Cohen afresh. This wasn't done by just adding the odd synthesised drone here and there, for there is the same continuity of themes and musical genres threaded consistently through the works (compare New Skin's 'Why Don't You Try?' or 'I Tried To Leave You' alongside Recent Songs' 'Came So Far For Beauty' or 'The Smokey Life', i.e., and you'll find they sit naturally next to tracks like 'Hallelujah' or 'Coming Back To You', whereas 'Night Comes On' and 'If It Be Your Will' would not have sounded out of place on Songs From A Room). What appears so much different about Various Positions is more to do with Cohen as an artist: he sounds rejuvenated and almost ready to make that protean leap towards making that one true classic that would positively redefine him for generations to come. I refer, of course, to I'm Your Man. I was recently tickled to read of a conversation around this time between Leonard and Bob Dylan, where Leonard asked Bob how long it took him to write 'I And I' from the album Infidels. "About ten minutes," was the forthright reply Bob gave. "How long did it take you to write 'Hallelujah'?" "Three or four years," deadpanned Cohen, later explaining: "it really took about five years, but I didn't want to look like I was dragging my heels or anything." The point being: you can appreciate the precision and care that Cohen took in recording certain tracks on Various Positions. 'Hallelujah', apparently, was whittled down from dozens of seperate verses, all presumably containing a unique rhyme such as 'do ya', 'overthrew ya', 'fool ya' (you get the picture), just as similarly 'Democracy' from The Future was whittled down from hundreds of different verses. This is craft of a higher order.
Elsewhere, we are treated to such gems as Dance Me To The End Of Love, one of those definitive mission statements that Cohen seems to throw out effortlessly, even though we know this can't possibly be the case. 'Coming Back To You' returns to Leonard's country roots with classic ambiguous imagery: is it literal, or devotional, or both? 'The Law' has a slight reggae lilt, and 'Night Comes On' is a masterpiece of darkness and shade. Side Two of the original kicks off with the masterful 'Hallelujah' and ends with the anthemic and positively hymnal 'If It Be Your Will', taking in faux-country ('The Captain'), dark nursery-rhyme ('Hunter's Lullaby'), and the celebratory 'Heart With No Companion' along the way. The whole proceedings presaged a huge seismic shift in the perception of Leonard Cohen as some doom-laden troubadour. Had he not gone on to record the collossal I'm Your Man, I feel many would have regarded this as his best by a long chalk since the first album. As it stands, Various Positions, remains Leonard's transitional masterpiece, and you can do lots worse than shell-out a fiver or less to have this in your collection.

Leonard Cohen at his best, 08 Feb 2005
This is one of my favourite Cohen CDs, as it has no tracks I tend to skip past. As usual it is Cohen's strong lyrics (more poetry really) and the quality of his voice that holds the simple backing tunes together. Being exposed to country music as a child by my father I particularly like, well love actually, 'The Captain' (he even gently mocks the format in the lyrics) but there other strong songs in there as well you may prefer, like 'The Law' or 'The night comes in' or 'Hallelujah' [yes, the fantastic song from Shrek written by LC & sung by Neil Diamond]. However I do find the superb track 'The night comes in' rather sad and uncomfortable listening [even more than 'The story of Isaac' on Songs from a room] - although music that's powerful enough to move you certainly can't be considered a bad thing. Cohen's words are often interestingly cryptic, moving and deeply reflective, rather than being outrightly political or 'protest'. If you are new to Leonard Cohen I'd also get the later 'I'm your man', plus perhaps 'The Future' and 'Songs from a room'. The recording quality of all these re-released Cohen CD's is very good, and this one is no exception. They are also great value when offered for under a fiver.

AN ALBUM YOU CAN'T GO WRONG WITH, 03 Nov 2008
but that applies to all of Leonard Cohen's albums. "I'm your Man" features his perhaps most famous - or certainly one of his most famous - tracks of all time, FIRST WE TAKE MANHATTAN which is my favorite from this album and has been covered many times, but never has been performed as good as here. This certainly marks a change in Leonard Cohen's music, now not as minimalistic as before, but still as great as ever.

A majestic collection of songs of the highest quality., 01 Aug 2008
As an album that you hear when your parents play it and come back to later to realise it's simply amazing, you can't get much better than this. Leonard Cohen is an amazing man, who has created an amazing number of amazing songs over the year. For me, though, this is his essential album. Partly it's because my parents played it over and over when it first came out, and when I was too young to understand music like this for all its depth. I came back to it about five years ago to find that not only does it contain breathtaking songs, but I didn't have to wait a while to gain familiarity with them.

There isn't really time or space to go into detail about why each song is great, but suffice it to say that from the brooding Everybody Knows, to the wonderful 3/4 timed Take This Waltz, to the majestic closer Tower of Song, and everything in between, these are songs for all occasions. It'll take a bit of time - you'll need that familiarity that my parents bred into me before you fully appreciate this - and you'll at times have to look past the rather 80s synthetic instruments and the incredible blip of mediocre that is Jazz Police, but this album is magical.

Cohen's voice, his lyrics, and over all the craftsmanship and scale of his songs make this a truly excellent album. And one I can't rate highly enough!



Cohen: Man For All Seasons, 11 Aug 2007
There really are not words enough to describe the sweep and grandeur of Leonard's 1988 masterpiece. Age cannot wither, nor custom stale its infinite variety. There are many common misperceptions of Mr.Cohen, but none more frustrating to a lifelong fan than that of suicidal, morbid folk-singer. My own personal vision is of the ultimate caberet crooner, the last-dance, last-chance, end-of-the-night performer, dispensing gems of wisdom sometimes with an urbane humour, but always with love and a song in his heart: a mixture of Aznavour, Brel, and Noel Coward, with a little Brecht thrown in for good measure. This album answers perfectly that call, most seductively and gorgeously in LC's reading of Lorca's 'Little Viennese Waltz' (here recast as TAKE THIS WALTZ): "There's a concert hall in Vienna/ Where your mouth had a thousand reviews/ There's a bar where the boys have stopped talking/ They've been sentenced to death by the blues/ Ah! but who is it climbs to your picture/ With a garland of freshly-cut tears?/ Ay! Ay ay ay!/ Take this waltz/ Take this waltz/ Take this waltz, it's been dying for years." Monumental and crumbling, like Vienna itself, evoking grand balls of old, laughter, dancing, now fading with time like the Venice Byron and Shelley discovered. Make no mistake, this is writing of a grand scale, and anyone with a knowledge of Lorca's poetry will know how much fresh material Cohen has rendered from the original. Likewise, on First We Take Manhattan, Everybody Knows, I'm Your Man, Tower Of Song, Cohen is very much relishing his role as bandleader and showman, never once taking himself too seriously, always underpinning every commentary with his much under-appreciated and very jewish wit: "If you want to sleep a moment on the road/ I will steer for you/ If you want to work the street alone/ I'll disappear for you..." Most songs that even try to be funny usually pull up short somewhere. Here, in the title track, Leonard could give Noel coward a run for his money, in that it's hard to know if he's being achingly self-deprecating or deadly serious, such is the play of his word-craft. Similarly, on the oft-quoted "born with the gift of a golden voice" line from TOWER OF SONG, I recall how it raised a mass titter from a packed Albert Hall in 1988, yet I've always been of the opinion that LC wrote that line in earnestness: he is not so much mocking the flat drone of his singing voice, but saying that what emanates from that organ is golden and beautiful and beyond his control. In other words: he couldn't help it if he tried. Just as the most simple of melodies and statements such as AIN'T NO CURE FOR LOVE sprung from a conversation about AIDS he'd had with Jennifer Warnes, he can't help but fill it with the loveliest of details: "I see you on the subway/ I see you on the bus/ I see you lying down with me/ And I see you waking up/ I see your hand/ I see your hair/ Your bracelets and your brush/ And I call to you/ I call to you/ But I don't call soft enough..." Or, in FIRST WE TAKE MANHATTAN: "Remember me, I used to live for music/ Remember me, I brought your groceries in/ Well, it's Father's Day and everybody's wounded..." Could I also be the first to defend the inclusion of JAZZ POLICE, here, replete with dry, jewish, masculine humour: "Let me be somebody I admire/ Let me be that muscle down the street/ Stick another turtle on the fire/ Guys like me are mad for turtle meat..." It's rare indeed, to find such a wealth of poetry anywhere, let alone an album of popular song. As for those who abhor the sub-eighties production going on here, I have to say I've never found it dating as it only enhances and underpins the naked, honest phrasing of Mr.Cohen. For my money, this ranks as highly as SONGS OF LOVE AND HATE and only loses out to THE SONGS OF LEONARD COHEN because that album is chock-full of bonafide classics like SUZANNE and SO LONG, MARIANNE and others just too lovely for words.....



Lorca and more, 15 May 2007
The singalong melodies of Manhattan, Aint No Cure and Everybody Knows contrast well with Cohen's trademark preoccupation with romantic despair and judeo-christian imagery as in: "It's written in the scriptures, it's written there in blood ..." or "everybody's got this broken feeling/Like their father or their dog just died."

John Bilezikjian's oud adds a special dimension to Everybody Knows. The elegant Take This Waltz is a lilting song that brings the Vienna of Federico Garcia Lorca to life in a series of vivid images driven by a fervent longing for the beloved. The brilliant arrangement is enhanced by Raffi Hakopian's violin and the voice of Jennifer Warnes.

The wistful I Can't Forget has been covered by The Pixies, while Tower of Song has been interpreted by artists as diverse as Marianne Faithfull, Robert Forster and Nick Cave and lent its title to the 1995 tribute album. I'm not crazy about either the experimental Jazz Police or the title track, but I am evidently wrong since I'm Your Man has been covered by Elton John and Bill Pritchard.


Be careful, 20 Oct 2006
Be careful with this album, played too often and Cohen will steal your soul. And you'll want to be stolen.

Songs reminding of new attitude towards life and social problems, 20 Dec 2008
The CDs are interesting to listen, because they remind of the need to look critically towards life and social problems.

The first CD unveils songs of early period of L. Cohen. Mainly, they deal with tragic love and many allusions.

In the second CD the low voice of L. Cohen reminds of social problems and the need to change them...

Listening to these two Cds will give many insights about culture, society, love and the new approach towards social life...

Soulfood Essential, 23 Aug 2008
This is as fine an introduction to the works of Leonard Cohen as could be imagined. The track list, selected by the man himself, covers almost every period of his recorded output (Cohen is not prolific in the way, say, Bob Dylan is, or Neil Young), but I do feel some truly great stuff has been overlooked, i.e. the hushed, but haunting version of 'Story Of Isaac' from 1973's LIVE SONGS, which is one of the most profound things that anyone has ever written, the great live recordings from FIELD COMMANDER COHEN: Tour Of 1979, which admittedly was not released until after THE ESSENTIAL LEONARD COHEN appeared. Of those songs, I feel the title track is as good and epic a song as any he's recorded, and the version from NEW SKIN FOR THE OLD CEREMONY would have sufficed over e.g 'Take This Longing' which already appears on his GREATEST HITS. As for the Passenger version of 'Lover Lover Lover', what can I say? It is blistering! Likewise (from that same album) versions of 'The Window', 'The Smokey Life', 'The Stranger Song', 'The Gypsy's Wife' (long since a staple of the live act) and an unforgettable reading of 'Memories' from the unfairly-maligned DEATH OF A LADIES' MAN, are all worthy of inclusion. In fact, it's true to say that all Cohen's output is essential, but I would also have included 'Ballad Of The Absent Mare' and 'Came So Far For Beauty' from RECENT SONGS, 'The Old Revolution' from SONGS FROM A ROOM (if only for discovering it had been a minor hit in the UK: hats off to Dale Winton for pointing that out to me!), the live 'Joan Of Arc', 'One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong' and 'Hallelujah' from 1993's COHEN LIVE, 'Coming Back To You' and 'The Captain' from 1984's VARIOUS POSITIONS, but the greatest omission surely has to be the Lorca-inspired 'Take This Waltz' from the brilliant I'M YOUR MAN. I could eulogise forever. Suffice to say, if your not familiar with the man's work, this is the perfect place to start. After that, buy THE SONGS OF LEONARD COHEN, his debut (perhaps, alongside Jeff Buckley's GRACE and THE VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO, the greatest debut of all time, for my money).

It's like sipping your best brandy whilst puffing on a quality cigar, 04 May 2007
The voice is the first thing you notice. The early poetic renditions on such classics as "Suzanne", "Sisters of Mercy" and "Famous Blue Raincoat" are presented in a voice that is deadpan but not as gruff as in later years. This was at a period when he was a well kept secret and with a style and presentation that not everyone took to. Move onto disc 2 and you notice how the voice deepens and the songs become bigger. One thing that Cohen has never failed to deliver is quality songs with curious stories to tell. He has an almost hymn-like or gospel touch on a lot of his work, usually enhanced by superb backing singers and wondrous musicians and arrangements.

I move between both of his periods with equal ease, but I find the latter stuff more appealing these days. Some people could sing the contents of the telephone directory given the right voice, he is one of them. "Democracy", "Tower of Song", "First we take Manhattan" and "Hallelujah" are stand out tracks but I defy anyone not to get lost in "Closing Time". This is by far my favourite. A fun song, with so many catchy hooks it just pulls you off your seat and invites you to dance with the nearest partner. You can almost smell the smoke and alcoholic fumes as if you are drinking in the bar with him. A tremendous talent......but what great assistance from his backing singers.

This is a great selection of his work. If you are a fan, you'll want it in your collection. If you are just curious, buy it.........it's a great introduction.


A lesson for what really music is, 02 Feb 2007
There's nothing missing from this collection. Not the quality, not the deep, truthful voice, not the fully poetic and inspirational lyrics, nothing. My boyfriend bought this CD and we can't get enough of it- especially DISC 2.
Cohen is and will remain unique in this industry, mainly because he has something solid yet so delicate to say, because he is a musician, because he possesses the gift to sing stories instead of 'telling a song'. Great music, great lyrics, great singer.

Simply Blown Away.....New Convert, 27 Nov 2006
Well I cannot believe I have lived for 42 years without listening to a Cohen Album.I tried this on spec seeing the reviews and having been a big Dylan/Springsteen fan for many years.For me this album has been like meeting a soulmate in a slightly run down but all too comfortable bar and wishing you had met them much earlier in your life!!!!!
Songs like "Democracy" and "I'm Your Man" cover the dark side of politics and personal relationships superbly and the former should be essential listening for the Neo-Cons of the White House.
I will not go over everything already written but this double disc set seems a top introduction to Cohen's development and style.I have already ordered 2 more albums from his back catalogue and I feel this discovery could hit my bsank balance hard in the near future.Totally recommended.

HALLELUJAH LAUGHING LENNYS LAST LAUGH, 24 Dec 2008
For those who don't know there are three versions of "Hallelujah"in the uk top forty,an awful soulless version at number one.the brilliant Jeff Buckley at two and Cohens version at Thirty three,and the amazing thing is it is not Cohens best song on this marvelous album,the master of melancholy has stuffed this album with classic songs "The law""Night comes on""The captain""Hunters Lullaby" and "If it be your will" are just as good.
This album was ignored when issued in 1994,and it is only with the success of H"hallelujah" that it is being recognised,ignore it anymore!!
A few years ago there was an excellent film called "The edukators",which featured Jeff Buckleys version of "hallelujah" on the closing credits,absolutely beautiful,but the original is still the best.
Three versions of the same song in the charts?, looks like Len has had the last laugh.

leonard cohen the legend!!, 12 Nov 2008
this album is fab hallialuah made me buy it but the whole album is fab buy it the story about hallialuah on radio2 thats how i got to hear of him he deserves much more regonition why hasant he? bob dylan does and i think leonard cohen is much better and his voice is better too!! alson get songs of leonard cohen from the 60s and songs of love and hate!! buy them you wont regret it ive also just recieved richard hawleys ladys bridge album fabalous too!!

TIMELESS, 01 Nov 2008
A great CD and well worth the 4 pounds I spent on it, after seeking high and low in every store here in Germany for it. It was the only CD missing in my Leonard Cohen collection and I regret not having gotten it earlier. Together with Jennifer Warnes and a fairly minimal orchestration Cohen proves once again he doesn't need a WALL OF SOUND to make a great CD.

The Other Side Of Sorrow And Despair, 09 Sep 2007
Cohen made three classic albums with John Lissaeur at the helm: 1974's New Skin For The Old Ceremony, 1979's Recent Songs, but at the apex of these achievements stands 1984's Various Positions, in that it paved the way for a new audience to discover Leonard Cohen afresh. This wasn't done by just adding the odd synthesised drone here and there, for there is the same continuity of themes and musical genres threaded consistently through the works (compare New Skin's 'Why Don't You Try?' or 'I Tried To Leave You' alongside Recent Songs' 'Came So Far For Beauty' or 'The Smokey Life', i.e., and you'll find they sit naturally next to tracks like 'Hallelujah' or 'Coming Back To You', whereas 'Night Comes On' and 'If It Be Your Will' would not have sounded out of place on Songs From A Room). What appears so much different about Various Positions is more to do with Cohen as an artist: he sounds rejuvenated and almost ready to make that protean leap towards making that one true classic that would positively redefine him for generations to come. I refer, of course, to I'm Your Man. I was recently tickled to read of a conversation around this time between Leonard and Bob Dylan, where Leonard asked Bob how long it took him to write 'I And I' from the album Infidels. "About ten minutes," was the forthright reply Bob gave. "How long did it take you to write 'Hallelujah'?" "Three or four years," deadpanned Cohen, later explaining: "it really took about five years, but I didn't want to look like I was dragging my heels or anything." The point being: you can appreciate the precision and care that Cohen took in recording certain tracks on Various Positions. 'Hallelujah', apparently, was whittled down from dozens of seperate verses, all presumably containing a unique rhyme such as 'do ya', 'overthrew ya', 'fool ya' (you get the picture), just as similarly 'Democracy' from The Future was whittled down from hundreds of different verses. This is craft of a higher order.
Elsewhere, we are treated to such gems as Dance Me To The End Of Love, one of those definitive mission statements that Cohen seems to throw out effortlessly, even though we know this can't possibly be the case. 'Coming Back To You' returns to Leonard's country roots with classic ambiguous imagery: is it literal, or devotional, or both? 'The Law' has a slight reggae lilt, and 'Night Comes On' is a masterpiece of darkness and shade. Side Two of the original kicks off with the masterful 'Hallelujah' and ends with the anthemic and positively hymnal 'If It Be Your Will', taking in faux-country ('The Captain'), dark nursery-rhyme ('Hunter's Lullaby'), and the celebratory 'Heart With No Companion' along the way. The whole proceedings presaged a huge seismic shift in the perception of Leonard Cohen as some doom-laden troubadour. Had he not gone on to record the collossal I'm Your Man, I feel many would have regarded this as his best by a long chalk since the first album. As it stands, Various Positions, remains Leonard's transitional masterpiece, and you can do lots worse than shell-out a fiver or less to have this in your collection.

Leonard Cohen at his best, 08 Feb 2005
This is one of my favourite Cohen CDs, as it has no tracks I tend to skip past. As usual it is Cohen's strong lyrics (more poetry really) and the quality of his voice that holds the simple backing tunes together. Being exposed to country music as a child by my father I particularly like, well love actually, 'The Captain' (he even gently mocks the format in the lyrics) but there other strong songs in there as well you may prefer, like 'The Law' or 'The night comes in' or 'Hallelujah' [yes, the fantastic song from Shrek written by LC & sung by Neil Diamond]. However I do find the superb track 'The night comes in' rather sad and uncomfortable listening [even more than 'The story of Isaac' on Songs from a room] - although music that's powerful enough to move you certainly can't be considered a bad thing. Cohen's words are often interestingly cryptic, moving and deeply reflective, rather than being outrightly political or 'protest'. If you are new to Leonard Cohen I'd also get the later 'I'm your man', plus perhaps 'The Future' and 'Songs from a room'. The recording quality of all these re-released Cohen CD's is very good, and this one is no exception. They are also great value when offered for under a fiver.

AN ALBUM YOU CAN'T GO WRONG WITH, 03 Nov 2008
but that applies to all of Leonard Cohen's albums. "I'm your Man" features his perhaps most famous - or certainly one of his most famous - tracks of all time, FIRST WE TAKE MANHATTAN which is my favorite from this album and has been covered many times, but never has been performed as good as here. This certainly marks a change in Leonard Cohen's music, now not as minimalistic as before, but still as great as ever.

A majestic collection of songs of the highest quality., 01 Aug 2008
As an album that you hear when your parents play it and come back to later to realise it's simply amazing, you can't get much better than this. Leonard Cohen is an amazing man, who has created an amazing number of amazing songs over the year. For me, though, this is his essential album. Partly it's because my parents played it over and over when it first came out, and when I was too young to understand music like this for all its depth. I came back to it about five years ago to find that not only does it contain breathtaking songs, but I didn't have to wait a while to gain familiarity with them.

There isn't really time or space to go into detail about why each song is great, but suffice it to say that from the brooding Everybody Knows, to the wonderful 3/4 timed Take This Waltz, to the majestic closer Tower of Song, and everything in between, these are songs for all occasions. It'll take a bit of time - you'll need that familiarity that my parents bred into me before you fully appreciate this - and you'll at times have to look past the rather 80s synthetic instruments and the incredible blip of mediocre that is Jazz Police, but this album is magical.

Cohen's voice, his lyrics, and over all the craftsmanship and scale of his songs make this a truly excellent album. And one I can't rate highly enough!



Cohen: Man For All Seasons, 11 Aug 2007
There really are not words enough to describe the sweep and grandeur of Leonard's 1988 masterpiece. Age cannot wither, nor custom stale its infinite variety. There are many common misperceptions of Mr.Cohen, but none more frustrating to a lifelong fan than that of suicidal, morbid folk-singer. My own personal vision is of the ultimate caberet crooner, the last-dance, last-chance, end-of-the-night performer, dispensing gems of wisdom sometimes with an urbane humour, but always with love and a song in his heart: a mixture of Aznavour, Brel, and Noel Coward, with a little Brecht thrown in for good measure. This album answers perfectly that call, most seductively and gorgeously in LC's reading of Lorca's 'Little Viennese Waltz' (here recast as TAKE THIS WALTZ): "There's a concert hall in Vienna/ Where your mouth had a thousand reviews/ There's a bar where the boys have stopped talking/ They've been sentenced to death by the blues/ Ah! but who is it climbs to your picture/ With a garland of freshly-cut tears?/ Ay! Ay ay ay!/ Take this waltz/ Take this waltz/ Take this waltz, it's been dying for years." Monumental and crumbling, like Vienna itself, evoking grand balls of old, laughter, dancing, now fading with time like the Venice Byron and Shelley discovered. Make no mistake, this is writing of a grand scale, and anyone with a knowledge of Lorca's poetry will know how much fresh material Cohen has rendered from the original. Likewise, on First We Take Manhattan, Everybody Knows, I'm Your Man, Tower Of Song, Cohen is very much relishing his role as bandleader and showman, never once taking himself too seriously, always underpinning every commentary with his much under-appreciated and very jewish wit: "If you want to sleep a moment on the road/ I will steer for you/ If you want to work the street alone/ I'll disappear for you..." Most songs that even try to be funny usually pull up short somewhere. Here, in the title track, Leonard could give Noel coward a run for his money, in that it's hard to know if he's being achingly self-deprecating or deadly serious, such is the play of his word-craft. Similarly, on the oft-quoted "born with the gift of a golden voice" line from TOWER OF SONG, I recall how it raised a mass titter from a packed Albert Hall in 1988, yet I've always been of the opinion that LC wrote that line in earnestness: he is not so much mocking the flat drone of his singing voice, but saying that what emanates from that organ is golden and beautiful and beyond his control. In other words: he couldn't help it if he tried. Just as the most simple of melodies and statements such as AIN'T NO CURE FOR LOVE sprung from a conversation about AIDS he'd had with Jennifer Warnes, he can't help but fill it with the loveliest of details: "I see you on the subway/ I see you on the bus/ I see you lying down with me/ And I see you waking up/ I see your hand/ I see your hair/ Your bracelets and your brush/ And I call to you/ I call to you/ But I don't call soft enough..." Or, in FIRST WE TAKE MANHATTAN: "Remember me, I used to live for music/ Remember me, I brought your groceries in/ Well, it's Father's Day and everybody's wounded..." Could I also be the first to defend the inclusion of JAZZ POLICE, here, replete with dry, jewish, masculine humour: "Let me be somebody I admire/ Let me be that muscle down the street/ Stick another turtle on the fire/ Guys like me are mad for turtle meat..." It's rare indeed, to find such a wealth of poetry anywhere, let alone an album of popular song. As for those who abhor the sub-eighties production going on here, I have to say I've never found it dating as it only enhances and underpins the naked, honest phrasing of Mr.Cohen. For my money, this ranks as highly as SONGS OF LOVE AND HATE and only loses out to THE SONGS OF LEONARD COHEN because that album is chock-full of bonafide classics like SUZANNE and SO LONG, MARIANNE and others just too lovely for words.....



Lorca and more, 15 May 2007
The singalong melodies of Manhattan, Aint No Cure and Everybody Knows contrast well with Cohen's trademark preoccupation with romantic despair and judeo-christian imagery as in: "It's written in the scriptures, it's written there in blood ..." or "everybody's got this broken feeling/Like their father or their dog just died."

John Bilezikjian's oud adds a special dimension to Everybody Knows. The elegant Take This Waltz is a lilting song that brings the Vienna of Federico Garcia Lorca to life in a series of vivid images driven by a fervent longing for the beloved. The brilliant arrangement is enhanced by Raffi Hakopian's violin and the voice of Jennifer Warnes.

The wistful I Can't Forget has been covered by The Pixies, while Tower of Song has been interpreted by artists as diverse as Marianne Faithfull, Robert Forster and Nick Cave and lent its title to the 1995 tribute album. I'm not crazy about either the experimental Jazz Police or the title track, but I am evidently wrong since I'm Your Man has been covered by Elton John and Bill Pritchard.


Be careful, 20 Oct 2006
Be careful with this album, played too often and Cohen will steal your soul. And you'll want to be stolen.

L Cohen live, 04 Jan 2009
Bought this as I like Hallelujah . CD is good all the tracks a have a meaning. Nice to listen to and drift away.

Listen to the Original.., 21 Dec 2008
With all of the current "X-Factor" interest in a particular song now seems as good a time as any to review this CD. I hope the show will encourage people to look more deeply into the work of the man who wrote the song..

I first heard Leonard Cohen courtesy of a girlfriend's sister about a year after his first album was released. It's therefore fair to say I've been a fan for a good while...

Live albums are often a disappointment - this one isn't.. Over an hour of sublime performances, beautifully recorded at various venues with some of the best backing musicians anywhere..

The track "If It Be Your Will" alone is worth the absurd £2.98 being asked here. As a bonus you get about 10 others and a much more honest version of "Halleluja" than the one we're hearing a lot at present...

Heartrendingly beautiful, 24 Oct 2003
I've been a Cohen fan as far back as I can remember. I had a feeling I wouldn't be disappointed by this album, since Cohen's live backup singers are legendary, and I was right. These are without a doubt the most beautiful and emotional versions of the songs ever recorded, and I find it impossible to listen to the album as mere background music; as soon as the music starts playing, I can't help but close my eyes and just let the music envelop me completely.

The songs "Bird on a Wire" and "Sisters of Mercy" are worthy of special mention. The tempo is lower, the saxophone sexier and the vocals deeper and more intense than ever before, and the result defies description. I would have gladly paid in blood to be at the show where they were recorded.

I heartily recommend this album to all, it is beyond fantastic.

The best live album ever?, 06 Nov 2001
I'm not usually a fan of live albums. They often contain little more than badly recorded, inferior versions of tracks you probably already own. So this live collection comes as a welcome exception to the rule.

Simply put, this album is stunning. It contains many of Leonard Cohen's best loved songs, all played to perfection by world-class musicians and recorded with pin-drop clarity. The songs were recorded on various tours during the 80s and early 90s but the album hangs together as if they were all recorded on the same night.

Particularly effective are the understated but arresting guitars, and the backing vocals providing a silky counterpoint to Cohen's world-weary tones.

This was the album that introduced me to Leonard Cohen and I have to say, I haven't found a better version of any of these songs anywhere. This is, for me, the best live album ever made, and one of my all time top five albums, period.

Songs reminding of new attitude towards life and social problems, 20 Dec 2008
The CDs are interesting to listen, because they remind of the need to look critically towards life and social problems.

The first CD unveils songs of early period of L. Cohen. Mainly, they deal with tragic love and many allusions.

In the second CD the low voice of L. Cohen reminds of social problems and the need to change them...

Listening to these two Cds will give many insights about culture, society, love and the new approach towards social life...

Soulfood Essential, 23 Aug 2008
This is as fine an introduction to the works of Leonard Cohen as could be imagined. The track list, selected by the man himself, covers almost every period of his recorded output (Cohen is not prolific in the way, say, Bob Dylan is, or Neil Young), but I do feel some truly great stuff has been overlooked, i.e. the hushed, but haunting version of 'Story Of Isaac' from 1973's LIVE SONGS, which is one of the most profound things that anyone has ever written, the great live recordings from FIELD COMMANDER COHEN: Tour Of 1979, which admittedly was not released until after THE ESSENTIAL LEONARD COHEN appeared. Of those songs, I feel the title track is as good and epic a song as any he's recorded, and the version from NEW SKIN FOR THE OLD CEREMONY would have sufficed over e.g 'Take This Longing' which already appears on his GREATEST HITS. As for the Passenger version of 'Lover Lover Lover', what can I say? It is blistering! Likewise (from that same album) versions of 'The Window', 'The Smokey Life', 'The Stranger Song', 'The Gypsy's Wife' (long since a staple of the live act) and an unforgettable reading of 'Memories' from the unfairly-maligned DEATH OF A LADIES' MAN, are all worthy of inclusion. In fact, it's true to say that all Cohen's output is essential, but I would also have included 'Ballad Of The Absent Mare' and 'Came So Far For Beauty' from RECENT SONGS, 'The Old Revolution' from SONGS FROM A ROOM (if only for discovering it had been a minor hit in the UK: hats off to Dale Winton for pointing that out to me!), the live 'Joan Of Arc', 'One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong' and 'Hallelujah' from 1993's COHEN LIVE, 'Coming Back To You' and 'The Captain' from 1984's VARIOUS POSITIONS, but the greatest omission surely has to be the Lorca-inspired 'Take This Waltz' from the brilliant I'M YOUR MAN. I could eulogise forever. Suffice to say, if your not familiar with the man's work, this is the perfect place to start. After that, buy THE SONGS OF LEONARD COHEN, his debut (perhaps, alongside Jeff Buckley's GRACE and THE VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO, the greatest debut of all time, for my money).

It's like sipping your best brandy whilst puffing on a quality cigar, 04 May 2007
The voice is the first thing you notice. The early poetic renditions on such classics as "Suzanne", "Sisters of Mercy" and "Famous Blue Raincoat" are presented in a voice that is deadpan but not as gruff as in later years. This was at a period when he was a well kept secret and with a style and presentation that not everyone took to. Move onto disc 2 and you notice how the voice deepens and the songs become bigger. One thing that Cohen has never failed to deliver is quality songs with curious stories to tell. He has an almost hymn-like or gospel touch on a lot of his work, usually enhanced by superb backing singers and wondrous musicians and arrangements.

I move between both of his periods with equal ease, but I find the latter stuff more appealing these days. Some people could sing the contents of the telephone directory given the right voice, he is one of them. "Democracy", "Tower of Song", "First we take Manhattan" and "Hallelujah" are stand out tracks but I defy anyone not to get lost in "Closing Time". This is by far my favourite. A fun song, with so many catchy hooks it just pulls you off your seat and invites you to dance with the nearest partner. You can almost smell the smoke and alcoholic fumes as if you are drinking in the bar with him. A tremendous talent......but what great assistance from his backing singers.

This is a great selection of his work. If you are a fan, you'll want it in your collection. If you are just curious, buy it.........it's a great introduction.


A lesson for what really music is, 02 Feb 2007
There's nothing missing from this collection. Not the quality, not the deep, truthful voice, not the fully poetic and inspirational lyrics, nothing. My boyfriend bought this CD and we can't get enough of it- especially DISC 2.
Cohen is and will remain unique in this industry, mainly because he has something solid yet so delicate to say, because he is a musician, because he possesses the gift to sing stories instead of 'telling a song'. Great music, great lyrics, great singer.

Simply Blown Away.....New Convert, 27 Nov 2006
Well I cannot believe I have lived for 42 years without listening to a Cohen Album.I tried this on spec seeing the reviews and having been a big Dylan/Springsteen fan for many years.For me this album has been like meeting a soulmate in a slightly run down but all too comfortable bar and wishing you had met them much earlier in your life!!!!!
Songs like "Democracy" and "I'm Your Man" cover the dark side of politics and personal relationships superbly and the former should be essential listening for the Neo-Cons of the White House.
I will not go over everything already written but this double disc set seems a top introduction to Cohen's development and style.I have already ordered 2 more albums from his back catalogue and I feel this discovery could hit my bsank balance hard in the near future.Totally recommended.

HALLELUJAH LAUGHING LENNYS LAST LAUGH, 24 Dec 2008
For those who don't know there are three versions of "Hallelujah"in the uk top forty,an awful soulless version at number one.the brilliant Jeff Buckley at two and Cohens version at Thirty three,and the amazing thing is it is not Cohens best song on this marvelous album,the master of melancholy has stuffed this album with classic songs "The law""Night comes on""The captain""Hunters Lullaby" and "If it be your will" are just as good.
This album was ignored when issued in 1994,and it is only with the success of H"hallelujah" that it is being recognised,ignore it anymore!!
A few years ago there was an excellent film called "The edukators",which featured Jeff Buckleys version of "hallelujah" on the closing credits,absolutely beautiful,but the original is still the best.
Three versions of the same song in the charts?, looks like Len has had the last laugh.

leonard cohen the legend!!, 12 Nov 2008
this album is fab hallialuah made me buy it but the whole album is fab buy it the story about hallialuah on radio2 thats how i got to hear of him he deserves much more regonition why hasant he? bob dylan does and i think leonard cohen is much better and his voice is better too!! alson get songs of leonard cohen from the 60s and songs of love and hate!! buy them you wont regret it ive also just recieved richard hawleys ladys bridge album fabalous too!!

TIMELESS, 01 Nov 2008
A great CD and well worth the 4 pounds I spent on it, after seeking high and low in every store here in Germany for it. It was the only CD missing in my Leonard Cohen collection and I regret not having gotten it earlier. Together with Jennifer Warnes and a fairly minimal orchestration Cohen proves once again he doesn't need a WALL OF SOUND to make a great CD.

The Other Side Of Sorrow And Despair, 09 Sep 2007
Cohen made three classic albums with John Lissaeur at the helm: 1974's New Skin For The Old Ceremony, 1979's Recent Songs, but at the apex of these achievements stands 1984's Various Positions, in that it paved the way for a new audience to discover Leonard Cohen afresh. This wasn't done by just adding the odd synthesised drone here and there, for there is the same continuity of themes and musical genres threaded consistently through the works (compare New Skin's 'Why Don't You Try?' or 'I Tried To Leave You' alongside Recent Songs' 'Came So Far For Beauty' or 'The Smokey Life', i.e., and you'll find they sit naturally next to tracks like 'Hallelujah' or 'Coming Back To You', whereas 'Night Comes On' and 'If It Be Your Will' would not have sounded out of place on Songs From A Room). What appears so much different about Various Positions is more to do with Cohen as an artist: he sounds rejuvenated and almost ready to make that protean leap towards making that one true classic that would positively redefine him for generations to come. I refer, of course, to I'm Your Man. I was recently tickled to read of a conversation around this time between Leonard and Bob Dylan, where Leonard asked Bob how long it took him to write 'I And I' from the album Infidels. "About ten minutes," was the forthright reply Bob gave. "How long did it take you to write 'Hallelujah'?" "Three or four years," deadpanned Cohen, later explaining: "it really took about five years, but I didn't want to look like I was dragging my heels or anything." The point being: you can appreciate the precision and care that Cohen took in recording certain tracks on Various Positions. 'Hallelujah', apparently, was whittled down from dozens of seperate verses, all presumably containing a unique rhyme such as 'do ya', 'overthrew ya', 'fool ya' (you get the picture), just as similarly 'Democracy' from The Future was whittled down from hundreds of different verses. This is craft of a higher order.
Elsewhere, we are treated to such gems as Dance Me To The End Of Love, one of those definitive mission statements that Cohen seems to throw out effortlessly, even though we know this can't possibly be the case. 'Coming Back To You' returns to Leonard's country roots with classic ambiguous imagery: is it literal, or devotional, or both? 'The Law' has a slight reggae lilt, and 'Night Comes On' is a masterpiece of darkness and shade. Side Two of the original kicks off with the masterful 'Hallelujah' and ends with the anthemic and positively hymnal 'If It Be Your Will', taking in faux-country ('The Captain'), dark nursery-rhyme ('Hunter's Lullaby'), and the celebratory 'Heart With No Companion' along the way. The whole proceedings presaged a huge seismic shift in the perception of Leonard Cohen as some doom-laden troubadour. Had he not gone on to record the collossal I'm Your Man, I feel many would have regarded this as his best by a long chalk since the first album. As it stands, Various Positions, remains Leonard's transitional masterpiece, and you can do lots worse than shell-out a fiver or less to have this in your collection.

Leonard Cohen at his best, 08 Feb 2005
This is one of my favourite Cohen CDs, as it has no tracks I tend to skip past. As usual it is Cohen's strong lyrics (more poetry really) and the quality of his voice that holds the simple backing tunes together. Being exposed to country music as a child by my father I particularly like, well love actually, 'The Captain' (he even gently mocks the format in the lyrics) but there other strong songs in there as well you may prefer, like 'The Law' or 'The night comes in' or 'Hallelujah' [yes, the fantastic song from Shrek written by LC & sung by Neil Diamond]. However I do find the superb track 'The night comes in' rather sad and uncomfortable listening [even more than 'The story of Isaac' on Songs from a room] - although music that's powerful enough to move you certainly can't be considered a bad thing. Cohen's words are often interestingly cryptic, moving and deeply reflective, rather than being outrightly political or 'protest'. If you are new to Leonard Cohen I'd also get the later 'I'm your man', plus perhaps 'The Future' and 'Songs from a room'. The recording quality of all these re-released Cohen CD's is very good, and this one is no exception. They are also great value when offered for under a fiver.

AN ALBUM YOU CAN'T GO WRONG WITH, 03 Nov 2008
but that applies to all of Leonard Cohen's albums. "I'm your Man" features his perhaps most famous - or certainly one of his most famous - tracks of all time, FIRST WE TAKE MANHATTAN which is my favorite from this album and has been covered many times, but never has been performed as good as here. This certainly marks a change in Leonard Cohen's music, now not as minimalistic as before, but still as great as ever.

A majestic collection of songs of the highest quality., 01 Aug 2008
As an album that you hear when your parents play it and come back to later to realise it's simply amazing, you can't get much better than this. Leonard Cohen is an amazing man, who has created an amazing number of amazing songs over the year. For me, though, this is his essential album. Partly it's because my parents played it over and over when it first came out, and when I was too young to understand music like this for all its depth. I came back to it about five years ago to find that not only does it contain breathtaking songs, but I didn't have to wait a while to gain familiarity with them.

There isn't really time or space to go into detail about why each song is great, but suffice it to say that from the brooding Everybody Knows, to the wonderful 3/4 timed Take This Waltz, to the majestic closer Tower of Song, and everything in between, these are songs for all occasions. It'll take a bit of time - you'll need that familiarity that my parents bred into me before you fully appreciate this - and you'll at times have to look past the rather 80s synthetic instruments and the incredible blip of mediocre that is Jazz Police, but this album is magical.

Cohen's voice, his lyrics, and over all the craftsmanship and scale of his songs make this a truly excellent album. And one I can't rate highly enough!



Cohen: Man For All Seasons, 11 Aug 2007
There really are not words enough to describe the sweep and grandeur of Leonard's 1988 masterpiece. Age cannot wither, nor custom stale its infinite variety. There are many common misperceptions of Mr.Cohen, but none more frustrating to a lifelong fan than that of suicidal, morbid folk-singer. My own personal vision is of the ultimate caberet crooner, the last-dance, last-chance, end-of-the-night performer, dispensing gems of wisdom sometimes with an urbane humour, but always with love and a song in his heart: a mixture of Aznavour, Brel, and Noel Coward, with a little Brecht thrown in for good measure. This album answers perfectly that call, most seductively and gorgeously in LC's reading of Lorca's 'Little Viennese Waltz' (here recast as TAKE THIS WALTZ): "There's a concert hall in Vienna/ Where your mouth had a thousand reviews/ There's a bar where the boys have stopped talking/ They've been sentenced to death by the blues/ Ah! but who is it climbs to your picture/ With a garland of freshly-cut tears?/ Ay! Ay ay ay!/ Take this waltz/ Take this waltz/ Take this waltz, it's been dying for years." Monumental and crumbling, like Vienna itself, evoking grand balls of old, laughter, dancing, now fading with time like the Venice Byron and Shelley discovered. Make no mistake, this is writing of a grand scale, and anyone with a knowledge of Lorca's poetry will know how much fresh material Cohen has rendered from the original. Likewise, on First We Take Manhattan, Everybody Knows, I'm Your Man, Tower Of Song, Cohen is very much relishing his role as bandleader and showman, never once taking himself too seriously, always underpinning every commentary with his much under-appreciated and very jewish wit: "If you want to sleep a moment on the road/ I will steer for you/ If you want to work the street alone/ I'll disappear for you..." Most songs that even try to be funny usually pull up short somewhere. Here, in the title track, Leonard could give Noel coward a run for his money, in that it's hard to know if he's being achingly self-deprecating or deadly serious, such is the play of his word-craft. Similarly, on the oft-quoted "born with the gift of a golden voice" line from TOWER OF SONG, I recall how it raised a mass titter from a packed Albert Hall in 1988, yet I've always been of the opinion that LC wrote that line in earnestness: he is not so much mocking the flat drone of his singing voice, but saying that what emanates from that organ is golden and beautiful and beyond his control. In other words: he couldn't help it if he tried. Just as the most simple of melodies and statements such as AIN'T NO CURE FOR LOVE sprung from a conversation about AIDS he'd had with Jennifer Warnes, he can't help but fill it with the loveliest of details: "I see you on the subway/ I see you on the bus/ I see you lying down with me/ And I see you waking up/ I see your hand/ I see your hair/ Your bracelets and your brush/ And I call to you/ I call to you/ But I don't call soft enough..." Or, in FIRST WE TAKE MANHATTAN: "Remember me, I used to live for music/ Remember me, I brought your groceries in/ Well, it's Father's Day and everybody's wounded..." Could I also be the first to defend the inclusion of JAZZ POLICE, here, replete with dry, jewish, masculine humour: "Let me be somebody I admire/ Let me be that muscle down the street/ Stick another turtle on the fire/ Guys like me are mad for turtle meat..." It's rare indeed, to find such a wealth of poetry anywhere, let alone an album of popular song. As for those who abhor the sub-eighties production going on here, I have to say I've never found it dating as it only enhances and underpins the naked, honest phrasing of Mr.Cohen. For my money, this ranks as highly as SONGS OF LOVE AND HATE and only loses out to THE SONGS OF LEONARD COHEN because that album is chock-full of bonafide classics like SUZANNE and SO LONG, MARIANNE and others just too lovely for words.....



Lorca and more, 15 May 2007
The singalong melodies of Manhattan, Aint No Cure and Everybody Knows contrast well with Cohen's trademark preoccupation with romantic despair and judeo-christian imagery as in: "It's written in the scriptures, it's written there in blood ..." or "everybody's got this broken feeling/Like their father or their dog just died."

John Bilezikjian's oud adds a special dimension to Everybody Knows. The elegant Take This Waltz is a lilting song that brings the Vienna of Federico Garcia Lorca to life in a series of vivid images driven by a fervent longing for the beloved. The brilliant arrangement is enhanced by Raffi Hakopian's violin and the voice of Jennifer Warnes.

The wistful I Can't Forget has been covered by The Pixies, while Tower of Song has been interpreted by artists as diverse as Marianne Faithfull, Robert Forster and Nick Cave and lent its title to the 1995 tribute album. I'm not crazy about either the experimental Jazz Police or the title track, but I am evidently wrong since I'm Your Man has been covered by Elton John and Bill Pritchard.


Be careful, 20 Oct 2006
Be careful with this album, played too often and Cohen will steal your soul. And you'll want to be stolen.

L Cohen live, 04 Jan 2009
Bought this as I like Hallelujah . CD is good all the tracks a have a meaning. Nice to listen to and drift away.

Listen to the Original.., 21 Dec 2008
With all of the current "X-Factor" interest in a particular song now seems as good a time as any to review this CD. I hope the show will encourage people to look more deeply into the work of the man who wrote the song..

I first heard Leonard Cohen courtesy of a girlfriend's sister about a year after his first album was released. It's therefore fair to say I've been a fan for a good while...

Live albums are often a disappointment - this one isn't.. Over an hour of sublime performances, beautifully recorded at various venues with some of the best backing musicians anywhere..

The track "If It Be Your Will" alone is worth the absurd £2.98 being asked here. As a bonus you get about 10 others and a much more honest version of "Halleluja" than the one we're hearing a lot at present...

Heartrendingly beautiful, 24 Oct 2003
I've been a Cohen fan as far back as I can remember. I had a feeling I wouldn't be disappointed by this album, since Cohen's live backup singers are legendary, and I was right. These are without a doubt the most beautiful and emotional versions of the songs ever recorded, and I find it impossible to listen to the album as mere background music; as soon as the music starts playing, I can't help but close my eyes and just let the music envelop me completely.

The songs "Bird on a Wire" and "Sisters of Mercy" are worthy of special mention. The tempo is lower, the saxophone sexier and the vocals deeper and more intense than ever before, and the result defies description. I would have gladly paid in blood to be at the show where they were recorded.

I heartily recommend this album to all, it is beyond fantastic.

The best live album ever?, 06 Nov 2001
I'm not usually a fan of live albums. They often contain little more than badly recorded, inferior versions of tracks you probably already own. So this live collection comes as a welcome exception to the rule.

Simply put, this album is stunning. It contains many of Leonard Cohen's best loved songs, all played to perfection by world-class musicians and recorded with pin-drop clarity. The songs were recorded on various tours during the 80s and early 90s but the album hangs together as if they were all recorded on the same night.

Particularly effective are the understated but arresting guitars, and the backing vocals providing a silky counterpoint to Cohen's world-weary tones.

This was the album that introduced me to Leonard Cohen and I have to say, I haven't found a better version of any of these songs anywhere. This is, for me, the best live album ever made, and one of my all time top five albums, period.

Gorgeous, 03 May 2008
I've just been listening to my (previous release) copy of this album and it's excellent!. It gave me the opportunity to compare House Carpenter with Joan Baez (and Sweeney's Men) and it stands up magnificently. You have 6 days left to download their performance on Later via BBC iPlayer!

A Must Have For Folk Fans., 01 Jul 2007
Now I'm not your average folk fan, I mainly listen to Hard Rock and Metal, you see. But Pentangle along with Fairport Convention turned me into a Folk fan. This album simply put is stunning, it's experimental and original without ever sounding forced or betraying the bands Folk roots. As previous reviewers have mentioning Pentangle mixed Folk, Jazz, Blues and Pop music effortlessly with rarely less than amazing results. The versatility on display on this record is quite frankly astounding ranging from jazzy pop on 'Light Flight' to a the sinister medieval 'Lyke Wake Dirge'.

It almost goes without saying that the level of musicianship in Pentangle is Phenomenal, Bert and John are absolutely astounding guitarists (the Glen and KK of Folk! Bet no ones ever said that before!) and provide stunning interplay throughout without ever descending into pointless noodling. Jacqui McShee sings lead vocals with a beautiful high range and shares vocal duties with Bert Jansch to provide interesting contrast.
Furthermore the song writing is exceptional with absolutely no weak tracks. However 'Light Flight', 'Lyke Wake Dirge', 'Hunting Song' and 'House Carpenter' are favourites of mine.

So in conclusion if you are interesting in progressive Folk or perhaps new to Folk this is defiantly a good starting point. Easily one of the best records of the 60's.
10/10 flawless.

Exquisite, 11 Mar 2007
This is an extraordinary album - probably the best acoustic music I've ever heard. Every member of the group is a master of their instrument, and the music they produce is spine-tingling.

It's difficult to categorise, but the band take folk music as their starting point, and then expand it to include jazz and rock elements. The sense of communication between the musicians is a delight to hear. It's a real shame that the current music industry doesn't seem to acknowledge sheer musical talent of the kind that's abundantly on display here.

Probably the best British folk/rock/jazz album ever made., 04 Mar 2007
There was a time when, browsing the racks at your favourite record shop, if the label said Transatlantic you were pretty much guaranteed that the contents would be worth your money. You could invest, safe in the knowledge that you'd be likely to be impressed by the album when you got it home.
Basket Of Light put a stop to that.
After this, even the provenance of the Transatlantic label was not enough. Once you had found and bought this album, there were simply not going to be many future occasions upon which a new acquisition would impress you as much as this one.
This one got there first, did it best, and took no prisoners.
One of the ten best albums ever made. But then, that's just my opinion. I've got thousands of the things, but this is one of the very few I regularly come back to. I can hum any of these songs under my breath even when I haven't played it for months.
You already know pretty much what kind of music this is, or you wouldn't be reading this. All I can say is, believe the hype, this band were in a league of their own, and this is some of their best material. Awesome.

Simply the Best of British, so buy it.!, 23 Mar 2006
This album has got to be the best British Folk album ever recorded. This is because every single song is excellent (no filler here!). The band inject a contemporary feel to the folk idiom. The album's title is perfect, as it fits the music.

As you begin listening, a few thing may kick in. The acoustic musicianship is sublime. The tunes are tunesome. You feel good as you hum and tap your feet. Later on, you might begin to wonder what the point of amplified electrical music ever was. As the late sixties vibes groove into you, you might imagine yourself a flower-child in a basket of light...

Unlike some rather 'quaint' folk albums I've heard, this folk album is emotionally authentic, and the mood is also very uplifting in it's sparkly jazziness. Past becomes fused with the future. The production is also very bright and crisp for the time. Innovative musical arrangements refresh, with influences from India to the U.S.A., and from the 12th century (Lake-Wyke Dirge) to the 20th, so there is never a dulltime. Most covers are from the Scottish Folk tradition. Original songs, such as 'Night Flight' are just as good. The band are essentially Scottish, but with an English rhythm section, making them a truly 'British' band. The album itself has a bit of a 'rock' feel to it, so if you like rock music, and are looking for something a little different, then I would recommend this album to you without hesitation.

Pentangle can be contrasted with the other great British Folk band of the time, Fairport Convention. Pentangle's playing often has a bright and breezy 'jazzy' feel to it, whereas Fairport are rooted more firmly in a 'bluesy' feel.

Finally, Jacqui McShee can sing Aretha Franklin under the table. (Why don't we British ever hype up our own greats?). Bert Jansch and John Renbourn are superb guitar players. Danny Thompson's fretless acoustic bass playing is another musical treat.

If you have to buy just one folk album in your life, then buy this one. Buy it. Dig it. Love it.

Proclaiming his intentions with "Are You Ready for the Country?", Young detoured briefly to the Nashville mainstream. On this 1972 album, even the singer's acquired-taste voice comes across smooth and beautiful--the smash "Heart of Gold", with steel guitars and Linda Ronstadt's backup vocals, is by far Young's most commercial-sounding song. His usual dissonant touches, like the otherworldly guitar in "Out on the Weekend", are less spooky in this new context. The last two tracks, the deceptively gentle "The Needle and the Damage Done" and the hypnotic rocker "Words (Between the Lines of Age)", predict "Tonight's the Night", Young's haunted 1975 classic. --Steve Knopper

Songs reminding of new attitude towards life and social problems, 20 Dec 2008
The CDs are interesting to listen, because they remind of the need to look critically towards life and social problems.

The first CD unveils songs of early period of L. Cohen. Mainly, they deal with tragic love and many allusions.

In the second CD the low voice of L. Cohen reminds of social problems and the need to change them...

Listening to these two Cds will give many insights about culture, society, love and the new approach towards social life...

Soulfood Essential, 23 Aug 2008
This is as fine an introduction to the works of Leonard Cohen as could be imagined. The track list, selected by the man himself, covers almost every period of his recorded output (Cohen is not prolific in the way, say, Bob Dylan is, or Neil Young), but I do feel some truly great stuff has been overlooked, i.e. the hushed, but haunting version of 'Story Of Isaac' from 1973's LIVE SONGS, which is one of the most profound things that anyone has ever written, the great live recordings from FIELD COMMANDER COHEN: Tour Of 1979, which admittedly was not released until after THE ESSENTIAL LEONARD COHEN appeared. Of those songs, I feel the title track is as good and epic a song as any he's recorded, and the version from NEW SKIN FOR THE OLD CEREMONY would have sufficed over e.g 'Take This Longing' which already appears on his GREATEST HITS. As for the Passenger version of 'Lover Lover Lover', what can I say? It is blistering! Likewise (from that same album) versions of 'The Window', 'The Smokey Life', 'The Stranger Song', 'The Gypsy's Wife' (long since a staple of the live act) and an unforgettable reading of 'Memories' from the unfairly-maligned DEATH OF A LADIES' MAN, are all worthy of inclusion. In fact, it's true to say that all Cohen's output is essential, but I would also have included 'Ballad Of The Absent Mare' and 'Came So Far For Beauty' from RECENT SONGS, 'The Old Revolution' from SONGS FROM A ROOM (if only for discovering it had been a minor hit in the UK: hats off to Dale Winton for pointing that out to me!), the live 'Joan Of Arc', 'One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong' and 'Hallelujah' from 1993's COHEN LIVE, 'Coming Back To You' and 'The Captain' from 1984's VARIOUS POSITIONS, but the greatest omission surely has to be the Lorca-inspired 'Take This Waltz' from the brilliant I'M YOUR MAN. I could eulogise forever. Suffice to say, if your not familiar with the man's work, this is the perfect place to start. After that, buy THE SONGS OF LEONARD COHEN, his debut (perhaps, alongside Jeff Buckley's GRACE and THE VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO, the greatest debut of all time, for my money).

It's like sipping your best brandy whilst puffing on a quality cigar, 04 May 2007
The voice is the first thing you notice. The early poetic renditions on such classics as "Suzanne", "Sisters of Mercy" and "Famous Blue Raincoat" are presented in a voice that is deadpan but not as gruff as in later years. This was at a period when he was a well kept secret and with a style and presentation that not everyone took to. Move onto disc 2 and you notice how the voice deepens and the songs become bigger. One thing that Cohen has never failed to deliver is quality songs with curious stories to tell. He has an almost hymn-like or gospel touch on a lot of his work, usually enhanced by superb backing singers and wondrous musicians and arrangements.

I move between both of his periods with equal ease, but I find the latter stuff more appealing these days. Some people could sing the contents of the telephone directory given the right voice, he is one of them. "Democracy", "Tower of Song", "First we take Manhattan" and "Hallelujah" are stand out tracks but I defy anyone not to get lost in "Closing Time". This is by far my favourite. A fun song, with so many catchy hooks it just pulls you off your seat and invites you to dance with the nearest partner. You can almost smell the smoke and alcoholic fumes as if you are drinking in the bar with him. A tremendous talent......but what great assistance from his backing singers.

This is a great selection of his work. If you are a fan, you'll want it in your collection. If you are just curious, buy it.........it's a great introduction.


A lesson for what really music is, 02 Feb 2007
There's nothing missing from this collection. Not the quality, not the deep, truthful voice, not the fully poetic and inspirational lyrics, nothing. My boyfriend bought this CD and we can't get enough of it- especially DISC 2.
Cohen is and will remain unique in this industry, mainly because he has something solid yet so delicate to say, because he is a musician, because he possesses the gift to sing stories instead of 'telling a song'. Great music, great lyrics, great singer.

Simply Blown Away.....New Convert, 27 Nov 2006
Well I cannot believe I have lived for 42 years without listening to a Cohen Album.I tried this on spec seeing the reviews and having been a big Dylan/Springsteen fan for many years.For me this album has been like meeting a soulmate in a slightly run down but all too comfortable bar and wishing you had met them much earlier in your life!!!!!
Songs like "Democracy" and "I'm Your Man" cover the dark side of politics and personal relationships superbly and the former should be essential listening for the Neo-Cons of the White House.
I will not go over everything already written but this double disc set seems a top introduction to Cohen's development and style.I have already ordered 2 more albums from his back catalogue and I feel this discovery could hit my bsank balance hard in the near future.Totally recommended.

HALLELUJAH LAUGHING LENNYS LAST LAUGH, 24 Dec 2008
For those who don't know there are three versions of "Hallelujah"in the uk top forty,an awful soulless version at number one.the brilliant Jeff Buckley at two and Cohens version at Thirty three,and the amazing thing is it is not Cohens best song on this marvelous album,the master of melancholy has stuffed this album with classic songs "The law""Night comes on""The captain""Hunters Lullaby" and "If it be your will" are just as good.
This album was ignored when issued in 1994,and it is only with the success of H"hallelujah" that it is being recognised,ignore it anymore!!
A few years ago there was an excellent film called "The edukators",which featured Jeff Buckleys version of "hallelujah" on the closing credits,absolutely beautiful,but the original is still the best.
Three versions of the same song in the charts?, looks like Len has had the last laugh.

leonard cohen the legend!!, 12 Nov 2008
this album is fab hallialuah made me buy it but the whole album is fab buy it the story about hallialuah on radio2 thats how i got to hear of him he deserves much more regonition why hasant he? bob dylan does and i think leonard cohen is much better and his voice is better too!! alson get songs of leonard cohen from the 60s and songs of love and hate!! buy them you wont regret it ive also just recieved richard hawleys ladys bridge album fabalous too!!

TIMELESS, 01 Nov 2008
A great CD and well worth the 4 pounds I spent on it, after seeking high and low in every store here in Germany for it. It was the only CD missing in my Leonard Cohen collection and I regret not having gotten it earlier. Together with Jennifer Warnes and a fairly minimal orchestration Cohen proves once again he doesn't need a WALL OF SOUND to make a great CD.

The Other Side Of Sorrow And Despair, 09 Sep 2007
Cohen made three classic albums with John Lissaeur at the helm: 1974's New Skin For The Old Ceremony, 1979's Recent Songs, but at the apex of these achievements stands 1984's Various Positions, in that it paved the way for a new audience to discover Leonard Cohen afresh. This wasn't done by just adding the odd synthesised drone here and there, for there is the same continuity of themes and musical genres threaded consistently through the works (compare New Skin's 'Why Don't You Try?' o