The Essential Leonard Cohen

by

Leonard Cohen

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Hopefully this won't be the last attempt at the "essential" Leonard Cohen, but this will serve as a superb interim introduction. I have been a big Leonard Cohen fan for years, ever since hearing "Suzanne" on the radio and then hearing a bevy of his songs in the superb and profoundly underrated Robert Altman film McCABE AND MRS. MILLER, which uses several of his songs on the soundtrack (back when songs were included to enhance the movie rather than provide an excuse for a soundtrack album). I have striven over the years to introduce Cohen to as many of my friends as possible, and early on played him to my daughter. Happily most (including my daughter) have become fans as well.

For some friends, I would make compilation tapes, and here is where one becomes aware of the problem with Cohen. Apart, perhaps, for his first album, Cohen is not at all well served by albums. He is far more of a singles artist, and some of his best individual songs can be found on otherwise miserable albums. A compilation can, in addition, mask how many really bad songs Cohen has recorded over the years. Luckily, at his best, he is very, very good. An anthology, therefore, is by far the best way to present Cohen's work, in comparison to other performers like The Clash or Van Morrison, who are better discovered in their original albums. It is even true of artists sometimes compared to Cohen, like Nick Cave.

So, how does this anthology rate? Actually, pretty good. In the compilations I have made either for myself or for friends, this contains nearly every song that I have found most essential. The only significant omission that I can find is "Joan of Arc," which I dearly wish had been included. I would have liked to have seen the live version of that song, featuring Jennifer Warnes singing the part of the "Joan" lines with Leonard singing the "Fire" ones. But any Cohen fan will find a song or two that they would like to have seen included in lieu of one of the ones that made the final cut. What is striking is how few of my own got left off.

Nonetheless, we really need a good, deluxe box set of Leonard Cohen's work, with detailed information about the musicians, which would be especially interesting on much of the earlier work. A disc of outtakes and rarities would be great, if for no other reason than to confirm my suspicion that Cohen has already placed his best work in the public eye. My gut feeling is that Cohen is a careful crafter of a few good songs, instead of a prolific writer of a spate like Bob Dylan. But I would at least like to see what there is in the way of alternate takes and unreleased songs.

Anyone wanting to learn about Leonard Cohen could hardly do better than this album. In fact, only the hardest of diehard fans will want to go very far beyond this disc. Anyone discovering that they really loved this music would be best served next by digging up a copy of Jennifer Warnes's (who has often appeared as a back up singer on Cohen albums) extraordinary album of Leonard Cohen covers, FAMOUS BLUE RAINCOAT. But I can't imagine many music fans not being stunned by this collection. Cohen isn't a prolific writer, but he has produced a small but spectacular collection of songs that need to be in the music library of any serious music fan.

Whoever did the choosing, Leonard or a label executive, concentrated on too many gloomy songs for my taste. I have been a Cohen fan since before he made his first album (he came to public attention first with a novel) and saw him in concert around 1971. How could "Joan of Arc" be left off an "essential" collection? How could "The Captain" from his "Various Positions" album? There were other songs from that release included here, but none as good as the one I like. Leonard has not created a slew of happy songs, true, but the ones that exist are just as worthy as his lengthy, poetic, dirge-like compositions. Too many of those on here, in my view. Still, especially on Disc One, there are lots of good things. I found my copy of this at a bargain price, so I am happy...but it could have been much better with a different mix of songs from his 45-year career.