The Essential Leonard Cohen

About the Company: Great service! The product was delivered on time and in perfect condition. Additionally, I had the luxury of the Amazon cloud player, so that I could listen to most of the tracks in mp3 format while waiting for my purchase to arrive. The CD quality is better than the mp3's (due to audio compression and data loss in mp3 format), and there are two additional tracks on the CDs, which did not appear in the cloud player, which is fair. I am very satisfied with the accuracy and professional service that I received from Amazon. About the Product: Wonderful and haunting production! A very impressive collection. This production of Leonard Cohen's music, which spans over three decades, is mixed beautifully for a consistent sound overall. The songs are infused with a myriad of very creative vocal and string arrangements, and the mix-down is crystal clear with a very pleasing effect. I have listened to this entire album dozens of times, already, and have not grown the least bit weary of it. There is simply something new, which greets the ears each time it is played. I highly recommend this collection for those who are Leonard Cohen curious, because it is such a quality representation of his work, For those who are already fans, I strongly suggest that this should be part of your collection for the sake of the remixed tracks. I am very satisfied with this and am purchasing another copy as a gift for a friend.

Ah. I read his novel _The Favorite Game_ as I immersed myself back into the glory and the passion and the wisdom of his songs in this collection. I read his poetry, I watched his concerts on youtube. I watched the documentary of the Buddhist monk Cohen. And in one of the youtube clips, I saw the impact on the audience as he gave the traditional Cohens' blessing over the crowd in Jerusalem. He is a mensch; he brought forward the organization of grieving families, Palestinian and Israeli, who have lost a child in this madness called "The Holy Land" as it is ruled by the current oppressive Israeli right wing. With all this listening and watching and reading, I remembered what I knew long ago "This man is a genius." The lives of two or three generations of people around the globe have been touched, or seared, by his art. He is such a good, humble man who has suffered much. He is so 'sympathetique' I feel blessed to have lived in the time he has been on earth. Seeing a B/W photo of him, wearing his distinctive hat, laughing with one of his grandchildren brought it full circle for me. (I am addicted to this song. I put in on in the car as I drive in the mountains to visit the elderly in their backwoods homes and I sing along like a maniac.)

great album!

The name Leonard Cohen first came to my attention way back in the day when Suzanne was released. It was a fairly popular and much-covered song, but it never occurred to me to actually buy the album. I was into much musically heavier things at the time and so my awareness of Cohen gradually receded into distant memory. Nowadays, my musical interests are much wider and my pockets deeper, so I took a chance on Cohen's CD Ten New Songs when it was released several years ago. It took a while to get into, but I liked some of the songs immediately. My rule with music is that if I like a CD I've purchased by an unfamiliar artist, I buy something else by that artist also in order to give myself a broader enjoyment and understanding of their work. And so it went with Cohen. I picked up several more CDs and liked them enough to feel confident that I would be pleased with The Essential Leonard Cohen. I have read all the reviews posted here, both positive and negative, and observe that its a given with any compilation that one will always feel that some songs were included that shouldn't have been and some obvious winners omitted. My candidate for ejection is Alexandra Leaving. I would have much preferred to see Boogie Street included or possibly Joan of Arc in its stead. I think the CD is nicely divided into two periods because as several reviewers have noted, Cohen seems to have two voices. A lot of songs on the first CD one might classify as neo-folk, for lack of a better term. On this, I like Suzanne, The Partisan, Hallelujah, and I'm Your Man best. On the second CD, the music is more in the direction of soul tinged rock with the occasional nod to country. And Cohen's deepening voice on the second CD imbues the music with more mystery and even occasional menace. I prefer the second disc with its apocalyptic renderings of First We Take Manhattan and The Future. Cohen's blood-chilling delivery on the latter combined with its scathing lyrics should give everyone a lot to think about. Closing Time wouldn't be out of place in any country dancehall and could probably be an alt-country radio hit. A Thousand Kisses Deep is evocative of the work of Michael Franks during his Objects of Desire period. But next to The Future, you might find the live recording of the dreamy and romantic Dance Me To The End of Love to be the surprise best cut. It is really tremendous. Juxtaposed with the former, it shows Cohen to be a man of huge talent who can literately express the gamut of human emotion through song. This CD is not really for those who have all of Leonard Cohen's recordings already, but it is a suitable primer for anyone who wants an overview of this underrated musician's work.

My first acquaintance with Leonard was on the car radio in the 60's while driving across the U.P. of Michigan, and his became one of my favorite singing voices. I ordered a CD at that time because of his rendition of Tower of Song---and after listening to Halleleujah I knew that I had to have this---it is a beautiful song, beautifully sung and pure enjoyment.

Like his music.

どの曲も美しく、また、コーエンの声の変遷も楽しめます。 吟遊詩人です。 リリックを少しずつ翻訳しながら、コーエン独特の言霊に感応しています。

Buen disco . Cuando más lo escucho me gusta más. Tiene dos cds que por el precio que vale no esta mal. He visto un pack de música de él a muy buen precio que no he dudado a comprar y que estoy esperando que venga con muchas ganas de disfrutarlo.

This is a great double CD. They both have many of Leonard's standard songs on them, and from different eras of his career. On one CD his older songs and his voice is more of a high bass or baritone. Very nice and youthful sounding. The other CD must have been recorded later, his voice is lower and huskier, more emotional and almost breathless at times. so more of a lower bass. Still very beautiful. The CD include some songs i hadn't heard before so I've been listening a lot. Among my favourites is Anthem - that's the one where he says, "There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's where the light gets in." My new mantra for my life.

Una excelente recopilación de temas.

Wie erwartet ! Alles perfekt !