Essential Leonard Cohen

Great selection of Leonard Cohen tunes

This is a good compiled list of hits by Leonard. I watched his documentary, Hallelujah , and fell in love with Leonard. Was not really familiar with any of his music. So I purchased 2 albums and am very happy with both. He was a very unique individual.

Absolutely gorgeous songs! Leonard Cohen is a miracle who can sing very well! Great songs-and he wrote them ALL!

This is one good CD. Heard him being discussed on a local PBS station, so decided to give it a spin, Glad I did

Excellent recordings. Since I got it I have listened to it daily.

I find listening to these recordings to be emotionally satisfying and well worth my time and not just something to provide background noise while I'm focused on other things. Leonard Cohen was truly a master of song.

Everything you want to hear from Leonard.....and more.

OMG !!! Love it !! Listen every day to at least one of his albums. Have a few....

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fabuleux, j'aime

Di Cohen avevo solo due live (strepitosi), in studio non possedevo nulla per cui ho deciso di prendere questa raccolta che andrò ad integrare a breve con gli ultimi due lavori sempre in studio del Nostro... ebbene i due CD sono fantastici, le canzoni dopo un po' si impossessano del corpo e della mente e non si riesce a smettere di ascoltarle... semplicemente meraviglioso. Artista Immenso!

En este viene todo lo bueno del señor Cohen, a mi parecer no le faltó nada. Uno de mis reproductores no lo tocó. Pero con otro sí se pudo.

I like wordsmiths: Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Lennon and McCartney, Bob Dylan. .. so it's strange that it has taken me so long to finally get around to Leonard Cohen. I have been aware of a handful of his most famous songs: Hallelujah, Tower Of Song, First We Take Manhattan, and the sublime You Want It Darker, but his reputation of making "Music to slash your wrists to" had stuck with me. Upon finally succumbing to this Essential collection that's a hugely unfair slur, with many gems revealing themselves gradually. With a track listing chosen by the man himself much of CD1 is simply Leonard accompanied by his own acoustic guitar, with the simple settings belying the complexity of the lyrics whilst making them stand out, such as on Suzanne, Bird On A Wire, Famous Blue Raincoat and Chelsea Hotel #2 - all tracks I'd heard of but never actually heard. What I've found is a master of poetry who clearly spent hours making certain every word counts, every line resonates. Probably his most famous song Hallelujah was whittled down from 80 verses, showing clearly why it's such a highly regarded song with only the very best making the cut. Much concerns relationships in all its forms: love and loss are common themes; but politics and the Holocaust are just as likely to crop up. These are songs crafted with every bit of care and attention that a master painter would afford his canvas, everything is placed with attention to detail, polished and honed for maximum effect. Covering the best from his first 10 albums from 1967's debut "Songs Of Leonard Cohen" to 2001's "Ten New Songs" in a simple chronological progression, Cohen's voice gets deeper around the time of 1988's "I'm Your Man" due to the ravages of whisky and cigarettes, with his speak-singing benefitting from that change and being framed by always carefully selected, delicately phrased instrumentation. Major find of the collection for me is the simply beautiful live version of Dance Me To The End Of Love, but as the songs reveal themselves with growing familiarity there's much here to satisfy. This is undoubtedly a master craftsman at work. Above all these are poems sympathetically set to let those words shine out. A great introduction to a wordsmith extraordinaire.