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Canadian Leonard Cohen is undoubtably one of the greatest lyricists in the history of music - many argue that he is THE
greatest.
It is perhaps not so surprising that Cohen is so highly regarded as a songwriter: he was first a poet and a novelist, publishing
four volumes of poetry and two novels before releasing his debut album, "Songs of Leonard Cohen", at the age of 31 - much,
much later than the other singer-songwriters of the 60's (Cohen's birth actually predated that of Elvis Presley by three years).
< ...read more
Canadian Leonard Cohen is undoubtably one of the greatest lyricists in the history of music - many argue that he is THE
greatest.
It is perhaps not so surprising that Cohen is so highly regarded as a songwriter: he was first a poet and a novelist, publishing
four volumes of poetry and two novels before releasing his debut album, "Songs of Leonard Cohen", at the age of 31 - much,
much later than the other singer-songwriters of the 60's (Cohen's birth actually predated that of Elvis Presley by three years).
His debut is the most popular of his albums, but he failed to capitalise on this with his next album, "Songs From A Room",
which was considered too similar to its predecessor. Cohen's work became darker from his third album, "Songs of Love and
Hate", onwards. Cohen released several albums without much critical attention, but interest was re-sparked by the fact that
Cohen was working on an album produced by pop maestro Phil Spector, entitled "Death of a Ladies Man".
"Death of a Ladies Man" was recorded under tumultious conditions; during the recording process, Spector got drunk on
kosher wine, held a handgun to Cohen's head and said, "I love you Leonard". Cohen allegedly replied, "I hope you do, Phil". The
album was later dismissed by Cohen as "grotesque".
Whereas most folk singer-songwriters move to rock (think Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel), Cohen moved to electro synth-pop with
his 80's album "I'm your man", and followed it up with another synth-heavy offering, "The Future" in 1992. After hits, Cohen
joined a Bhuddist commune in LA for 8 years, before returning to regular society to record 2000's "Ten New Songs". Cohen
released "Dear Heather", his latest album, in 2004, at the age of 70. « hide |
Similar Bands: Randy Newman, Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Raine Maida
Contributors: Mikesn, scheim, GurS,
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