Songs From a Room (Extra Tracks, Original Recording Remastered)

by

Leonard Cohen

Edit

What a delightfully dark album! But if you know any Leonard Cohen songs, you already knew that, right? Wrong. This is dark even by his standards, a remarkable look at Vietnam and the 1960s generation gap from the enigmatic Canadian. Cohen being Cohen, of course, that can't be seen on the surface, which is what keeps the brilliant album brilliant instead of relentlessly depressing. The production style is extremely austere, apparently in reaction to what Cohen considered the excessive instrumental flourishes of his first album; whether intentional or not, this fits the lyrical atmosphere perfectly and adds to it.

While there is nothing overtly topical about the then-current issues at hand, youth alienation and war are addressed metaphorically throughout the set. "Story of Isaac," "A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes" and "The Old Revolution" are best seen through this lens. The album's token cover, "The Partisan," is a more transparent take on the horrors of war, and it fits well between the others. Perhaps most macabre is "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy," a chilling tale of a long-ago love affair that came to a tragic ending (and, characteristically, he remembers the year and what she was wearing!) This one hasn't turned up on any greatest-hits album that I know of, as good a reason as any to buy Songs From A Room. Amusingly, the album ends on an almost-cheerful note with "Tonight Will Be Fine" - perhaps even Leonard Cohen has his limits.

The booklet-style package features lyric sheets, a new appreciation by Anthony DeCurtis, and a sprinkling of pictures and interesting period memorabilia. Also new to this version are previously unreleased early versions of "Bird on a Wire" and "You Know Who I Am". I think they feel tacked on after the intensity of the original album, but they're interesting to hear on their own.

I guess that most artsits would be lucky to create an album like Songs from a Room; It's half a masterpiece, and most musicains have never even recorded an eighth of one. Of course, Leonard Cohen isn't "most musicians." He's made some of the greatest music of his generation, works that, at their best, rival those of Bob Dylan in terms of sheer poetic vertuosity. Seen in that light, Songs from a Room isn't a great album. Certainly, it's a very good one, a record with plenty of great songs and musical moments. There are cutting lyrical insights here, and several subtly beautiful melodies. Unfortunatly, there are also far too many uninspired songs and uninteresting musical ideas to call this a great album.

The best songs here demonstrate Cohen's unique songwriting abilities: the chilling "Story of Isaac" is a tense, nightmarish study of generational friction and self sacrifice. Cohen's lyrics are bitter, bruised, and full of genuine menace. In the song's spine-tingling conclusion, Cohen spits: "When it all comes down to dust/ I will kill you if I must/ I will help you if I can," brilliantly summarizing a bleak but deeply felt view of human nature. "The Butcher" runs along similar lines; with its brutally simple guitar chords and stark lyrical imagery, the song conveys the feeling of bitter disilousionment with startling accuracy. "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" is as haunting as it is beautiful. Its ghostly, spare melody is the ideal framing device for Cohen's brittle, regretful lyrics- it's a song full of painful memories and quiet loss. Interestingly, one of the best songs here wasn't even written by Cohen- "The Partisan" is a cover of a World War II era ballad that tells the story of a member of the French Resistance. Cohen's performance smolders with quiet, but undeniably present, tension, his voice electric with barely subdued nervous energy.

But not every song on the album is as good as these four- "A Bunch of Lonesome Heros" could have been an excellent song, but its gorgeously dramatic melody is buried under an incredibly unpleasant production, which bathes the music in echo and odd backing instruments. The half-formed lyrics don't help much, either. "You Know Who I Am" matches a convoluted guitar line with some incredibly pretentious lyrics ("I am the distance you put between/ all of the moments that we will be"), and "Tonight Will Be Fine,' despite being bouncy and jaunty, is completely joyless. Cohen's whistling during the final verse is just plain annoying. "The Old Revolution" and "Lady Midnight" are only halfway interesting in terms of lyrics and melody, and each one fails to leave a lasting impression. Finally, there's "Bird on a Wire." Although it's probably the most well-known (and perhaps well-liked) track on this album, I honestly think that it's the weakest song here. Cohen's performance is annoyingly melodramatic, full of painful high notes (a poor attempt to cover up the lack of genuine emotion in the man's voice). The music itself is overly sweet and completely inconsequential: the guitar line is a dull, mumbling cliche, and it's augmented by an equally worthless string section. The lyrics are direct but half-baked. Although the first few lines ("Like a bird on the wire/ like a drunk in a midnight choir/ I have tried. in my way/ to be free") are genuinly poetic, they're counterbalanced by some of Cohen's most insufferably over-earnest declerations ("I will make it all up to thee," he sings, has voice raspy and insincere).

So, that leaves us with an album that, at its best moments, is as powerful and transcendant as anything Cohen has ever written. But at its worst...