Leonard Cohen - Ten New Songs
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Free Music Notes for Ten New Songs
Free Music Review: Winter light
Hit: 5 Stars
Make no mistake, this is a masterful album, but it is Leonard Cohen with a difference. He has pared away a great deal, including a great deal that his fans have always loved: most of the lush and startling imagery, the intense eroticism, the smoldering anger at the world's ingrained injustice, most of the irony, and the artistic ethic which had always prized unslakable longing as the compass directing us to what is beautiful and sacred.Those things are largely incompatible with serious Zen practice, and this album makes it clear that Cohen's practice has been serious. There's a phrase for people who throw themselves into meditation and come out with a taste of enlightenment and a jargon-heavy religious vocabulary; the roshis say that they have "the stench of Zen." There's none of that neophyte heavy handedness here. When Cohen wryly observes "I fought against the bottle, but I had to do it drunk," he is offering a classic koan about the impossible job of Buddhism - using our unenlightened desire for enlightenment to eliminate desire itself. When he continues, "I took my diamond to the pawnshop, but that don't make it junk," it's a reference to a major Mahayana scripture, the Diamond Sutra. His unpretentious images get it all across effortlessly, whether the listener is familiar with such esoterica or not.
I'm glad there's no stench of Zen. What I miss here is the "stench of Leonard." But the man has moved on. He has achieved a kind of peace with himself, one which seems bleak on one listening and comforting on another. These ten new songs exhibit a relentless honesty, in a voice that speaks to us from the other side of a vast gulf we feel we too may have to cross. Again and again, they manage the trick of both renouncing all the highs and lows of life and accepting them.
My favorites are 'Love Itself', a journey past the edge of the universe and back; 'By the Rivers Dark', a harrowing sequel to the 137th psalm; and two songs that, if you'll pardon the oxymoron, are heartbreaking in their objectivity: 'Here It Is' and 'Leaving Alexandra.' But ask me again after the next two dozen plays.
Free Music Review: hypnotic and beautiful
Hit: 5 Stars
I have only recently been exposed to Leonard Cohen, and this is the first album in full of his that I have ever listened to...and repeatedly at that. I had always felt he had a rather boring voice---Perry Como with poetry...before I really listened to him. From the funky groove of "boogie street" with the lyric "so my friends, be not afraid, we are so lightly here. it's not in love that we are made, in love we disappear." OMG!
The prequel, if you will, is "A thousand kisses deep" about a man exploring his life...a little sedate-but more like a very sexy man whispering in your ear confiding in you about his life---men may not get the appeal--but women will.
"Here it is" has a reggae groove and lyrics that I don't think I fully understand...but it works--it has a sexy slinky beat. While the lyrics of "Alexandra Leaving" are haunting and sad, the execution doesn't really work--a little too spare for me. And "In my secret life" is also very good. "You have loved enough" builds to a passionate slow dance of song. "By the rivers dark" is a like a ritual ceremony, set to a tribal beat---about a part of a mans spiritual journey-- a man being struck by experience and plunged into awareness of his dark side.
6 totally great tracks, 2 not bad, 1, I didn't care for.
Until I read the others reviews, I hadn't even noticed the synth background. And while I think it would have been much better with real music...I am surprised I hadn't noticed it--normally I really hate it.
This is so well executed, the harmonies, melodies, lyrics--and compositions are, while not using great instruments, so beautifully composed---it can be totally forgiven. It certainly helps feature his beautiful lyrics and both his and Sharon Robinson's voices perfectly...which in some cases are so exquisitely beautiful that you just shake your head--harmonies where neither are actually singing the melody but the both of them together create the melody---really beautiful.
Overall, this is a great album and I am here right now looking for more Leonard Cohen to buy....thought I would stop by and share.
Free Music Review: hypnotic and beautiful
Hit: 5 Stars
I have only recently been exposed to Leonard Cohen, and this is the first album in full of his that I have ever listened to...and repeatedly at that. I had always felt he had a rather boring voice---Perry Como with poetry...before I really listened to him. From the funky groove of "boogie street" with the lyric "so my friends, be not afraid, we are so lightly here. it's not in love that we are made, in love we disappear." OMG!
The prequel, if you will, is "A thousand kisses deep" about a man exploring his life...a little sedate-but more like a very sexy man whispering in your ear confiding in you about his life---men may not get the appeal--but women will.
"Here it is" has a reggae groove and lyrics that I don't think I fully understand...but it works--it has a sexy slinky beat. While the lyrics of "Alexandra Leaving" are haunting and sad, the execution doesn't really work--a little too spare for me. And "In my secret life" is also very good. "You have loved enough" builds to a passionate slow dance of song. "By the rivers dark" is a like a ritual ceremony, set to a tribal beat---about a part of a mans spiritual journey-- a man being struck by experience and plunged into awareness of his dark side.
6 totally great tracks, 2 not bad, 1, I didn't care for.
Until I read the others reviews, I hadn't even noticed the synth background. And while I think it would have been much better with real music...I am surprised I hadn't noticed it--normally I really hate it.
This is so well executed, the harmonies, melodies, lyrics--and compositions are, while not using great instruments, so beautifully composed---it can be totally forgiven. It certainly helps feature his beautiful lyrics and both his and Sharon Robinson's voices perfectly...which in some cases are so exquisitely beautiful that you just shake your head--harmonies where neither are actually singing the melody but the both of them together create the melody---really beautiful.
Overall, this is a great album and I am here right now looking for more Leonard Cohen to buy....thought I would stop by and share.
Free Music Review: A jarring note that I need
Hit: 5 Stars
My other favorite Leonard Cohen record is The Death of A Ladies Man, which is a very different cd in every way. Or at least in every way but the one that really matters, which is Leonard Cohen's plain spoken voice singing those startling words with such rich melodies.This cd is as simple and stripped down sounding as any contemporary cd I own. It might as well have been an acoustic guitar solo record but instead Cohen chose the cheapest , most obvious Radio Shack keyboard sound you can imagine. And I'm sure this will put some people off this cd but I believe the reason he did it was to speak in the most mundane, common language while speaking in the most elevated, trancendental language.
Throughout the cd, his voice is echoed by Sharon Robinson, his producer, who adds a dry, simple harmonic richness that rubs up against Cohen's typical dry rasp. I find this perfect, though I'm sure there will be those who don't. It is reminiscent to me of The Death of A Ladies Man in the bold simplicity of the production, though 10 New Songs is much more of a stripped down feeling.
You will never hear songs from anyone else like By the Rivers Dark or, especially, Alexandra Leaving. I don't know how to do a comparison here, because I don't believe anyone else has written songs that are even similar. How many artists can you say that about?
Finally, the album ends with what strikes a jarring note in our current atmosphere of patriotism, and I'm very sure that he meant it to. The last song, The Land of Plenty, is like a prayer for truth in an atmosphere of propaganda. "May the lights in the land of plenty shine on the truth someday." I don't even know that I agree with this, but I do know that no one else is really saying anything like it with sincerity and genuine hope. And thats why I need to hear Leonard Cohen's not so perfect voice.
Free Music Review: Another entry into the Land of Plenty
Hit: 5 Stars
Leonard Cohen's prior release, 1992's "The Future", is one of my favorite albums, so I had extremely high expectations for this. I was not disappointed. The lyrics resonate with new simplicity and clarity. It is as if Cohen stripped away everything hindering communication between him and us. The music, too, has turned inward. Long-time collaborator Sharon Robinson's arrangements are sparse, leaving plenty of room for the words to breathe. The synth-drenched songs give an extreme intimacy, as they are rarely more than undercurrents for voice. Some are reminiscent of spoken word poetry with light baroque music in the background. This fits the songs in its way, but I will be the first to say that a lot of the electronic percussion is rather annoying at times. There are occasional beats and things that simply do not belong on a Cohen album, but it works well for the most part. It's certainly different than before but in a way gives the words even more prominence than they have always had. It can be a bit of surprise at first, as the album starts with electronic ambiance and percussion, Robinson's voice, and, finally, the grave, grave voice of Cohen himself, deeper than ever. This is Cohen's most solipsistic album. As always with him, all tracks are beyond worthwhile, and there are some truly great ones. The opening "In My Secret Life" is an instant classic; "A Thousand Kisses Deep" is a profound tonal poem; "Alexandra Leaving" is perhaps the standout, a brooding masterpiece on which Robinson's voice works wonders along with Cohen's; and closing track "The Land of Plenty" is near-spiritual, a truly immaculate song. Fans will truly appreciate this album. It is another great work, another incredible addition to his ouvere, which might indeed be called The Land of Plenty.