Artist · 1934–2016

Leonard Cohen

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3: briefs
10:02: average
30 min: in total

On music.briefs3

10:10

Songs From a Room

Leonard Cohen · 1969

Songs From a Room is Leonard Cohen’s second studio album, released in 1969. It follows his 1967 debut and precedes Songs of Love and Hate (1971) and New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974). Recorded in Nashville with Bob Johnston after abandoning sessions with David Crosby in Hollywood, it features Ron Cornelius, Charlie Daniels, Bubba Fowler, and Johnston himself. The sound is austere: acoustic guitar, banjo, fiddle, bass, keyboards, and ornamental Jew’s harp. Drums are sparse. Johnston treated the process as painting, and for ‘The Partisan’, he and Cohen travelled to France to overdub three female French singers. The album responds directly to criticism of the lushness of Cohen’s first record — it is stark, lyric-forward, and deliberately simple.

9:07

Songs of Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen · 1967

Songs of Leonard Cohen is Leonard Cohen’s 1967 debut folk album, released by Columbia Records. It was recorded amid creative tension between Cohen and producer John Simon, following John Hammond’s withdrawal. Cohen preferred a sparse, intimate sound — working first with bassist Willie Ruff — and resisted Simon’s ornate arrangements involving strings, horns, and drums, which he had explicitly forbidden. He insisted on using a mirror during recording and objected to specific production choices: the orchestration on 'Suzanne', the softness of 'Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye', excessive bass, and a disruptive pause in 'So Long, Marianne'. Some of Simon’s additions proved irreversible due to technical limitations of the four-track master tape. Instrumentalists — including members of Kaleidoscope — were personally recruited by Cohen but remained uncredited on the original sleeve. All tracks are written solely by Cohen.

10:50

Songs of Love and Hate

Leonard Cohen · 1971

Songs of Love and Hate is Leonard Cohen’s third studio album, released in 1971. It follows Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967) and Songs from a Room (1969). It is part of his early sequence of folk music albums. Most of the album was recorded at Columbia Studio A in Nashville between 22 and 26 September 1970. 'Sing Another Song, Boys' was recorded live at the Isle of Wight Festival on 30 August 1970. Further recording took place at Trident Studios in London. Cohen reunited with producer Bob Johnston and brought back guitarist Ron Cornelius, who led the backing band called The Army. Cohen described 'Joan of Arc' as exploring how humans meet and embrace their destiny. He stated that 'Famous Blue Raincoat' is about a man writing to another man who had an affair with his wife, and that the title references his own blue Burberry raincoat. Cohen expressed dissatisfaction with 'Famous Blue Raincoat', feeling it was unfinished and revealed its compositional 'carpentry', though he praised its tune and some images. Cohen's syncopated classical guitar 'chop' is especially prominent on 'Avalanche', and he considered 'Dress Rehearsal Rag' unreperformable by him. Songs of Love and Hate was not referenced in the document as having been used in film soundtracks or performed on BBC TV.