Leonard Cohen - Ten New Songs - Music & Performance - CD

Leonard Cohen's debut album, " the Songs of Leonar d Cohen, was released on Columbia Records on Decem ber 27, 1967. Since that time, Cohen has recorded eight additional studio albums. Over the course of his career has sold more than 11 million albums worldwide.

"I'm back on Boogie Street," declares Leonard Cohen on two different songs in this collection, titled with characteristic understatement Ten New Songs. (Previous album titles have included Songs of Leonard Cohen, Songs from a Room, and Recent Songs.) More poet than musician, Cohen has, since his early albums, tended to rely on collaborations with musicians to put together his music: John Lissauer on 1974's New Skin for the Old Ceremony, Henry Lewy on 1979's Recent Songs, and, notoriously, Phil Spector on 1977's Death of a Ladies' Man. On Ten New Songs, his partner is former backup singer Sharon Robinson, who co-wrote "Everybody Knows" on 1988's I'm Your Man and earns co-writing credit on all the material here. She has also conjured the musical backgrounds ("All tracks arranged, programmed, and performed by Sharon Robinson," reads the credit), and she harmonizes with Cohen throughout. But all collaborators (even Spector) are in the service of Cohen's poetic vision, which remains the dominant element on this elegiac set. After a restatement of purpose on "In My Secret Life," he turns in a moody set of reflections on decline, even alluding to fellow poet Robert Frost's famous "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" in "A Thousand Kisses Deep": "And maybe I had miles to drive/And promises to keep/You ditch it all to stay alive/A thousand kisses deep." The songs are full of leave-taking, with titles like "Alexandra Leaving" and "You Have Loved Enough" accurately describing the tone, concluding with the prayer-like valedictory "The Land of Plenty," which gently remonstrates with the consumer society the poet has always engaged and rejected: "May the lights in the land of plenty/Shine on the truth some day." Even in the quietude of Cohen's catalog, the result seems like a coda. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi

Performer	Leonard Cohen
Music genre	Folk Music
Music subgenre	POP ROCK
Media format	CD
Original release date	2001-10-09
Edition	Standard Edition
Language	English
Is collectible	Y
Number of tracks	10
Has parental advisory label	N
Number of discs	1
Series title	Leonard Cohen - Ten New Songs COMPACT DISCS
Track listing	In My Secret Life, A Thousand Kisses Deep, That Don't Make It Junk, Here It Is, Love Itself, By the Rivers Dark, Alexandra Leaving, You Have Loved Enough, Boogie Street, The Land of Plenty
Record label	Sony
Target audience	Adult
Composer	Leonard Cohen
Songwriter	Leonard Cohen
Music producer	Leonard Cohen
Number in series	10
Occasion	All Occasion
Track name	In My Secret Life, A Thousand Kisses Deep, That Don't Make It Junk, Here It Is, Love Itself, By The Rivers Dark, Alexandra Leaving, You Have Loved Enough, Boogie Street, Ten New Songs
Duration	52 min
Digital audio file format	Aac|Protected AAC
Music media format	CD
Is edited	N
Is enhanced	N