Songs From a Room

This is peak Cohen for me. I love the story telling vibe and The Partisan has long been one of my favorite songs.

I never understood Leonard Cohen. Like in Bob Dylan's case, all the covers to his songs were better.

Perhaps not as elusive and elite as his debut album, but still very good. His performances aren't as good here, but the songcraft here is just as good as any of his other best work. Lots of my favorite songs of his on here. Very worthy debut album with a collection of nice music. Sounds ominous for a lot of it, but ends on an uplifting note with Tonight will be fine.

Aan de eerste albumtitels van de man spreekt nou niet per se creativiteit. Liedjes van hem (waarschijnlijk vanuit een ruimte) en liedjes vanuit een ruimte (van hem). Yep, de albums zijn nogal hetzelfde. Dus net als het vorige album, komt ook nu de emotie bij mij niet binnen. De man heeft een flink en gewaardeerd oeuvre. Kon er echt niets gevonden worden uit een andere tijd?

Another great album by leanard cohen. I thing the existence of songs of Leonard Cohen over shadows this a bit. Which is Very similar but seeming just a better album. But I really enjoyed this one too.

Don’t hear this one mentioned much compared to ‘Songs of Leonard Cohen’ or ‘Songs Love & Hate’.

The first half is every bit as good as those but kind of fizzles out in the second half.

wtf?!?! It's f*****g Leonard Cohen, of course it has to be a 5

Love the man but already too many Lens. Pretty much only Bird on a Wire is essential off this one.

Pick one of 'Songs of Love and Hate' or 'New Skin...' and go from there.

I was immediately caught off guard by how different his voice sounds here compared to the other Cohen album I’ve listened to, and I think I prefer that one. Obviously the songwriting is great, but the sparse instrumentals and the repetitive strum patterns made it hard to discern one song from another.

i probably wouldve loved this in college

I'm a sucker for this stuff, 60s singer-songwriter. I remember being a kid and coming to understand that there was this whole world beyond Dylan and getting into Dave Van Ronk and Phil Ochs and Woody Guthrie and the Anthology of American Folk Music. I get the critique of it all and laughed my ass off at A Mighty Wind but I still fall for it again every time. I want songs that say something, and these guys never fail.

Yeah his voice is an acquired taste and yeah there is an awful lot of mouth harp. But most of the tracks transport me to another time and place and make me think about what the heck I am doing in my life. I love the social critiques of "The Partisan" and "Story of Isaac" and "The Old Revolution" and how you could adapt them to any time or place if you want to.

But "Bird On a Wire" is still the fav. I think it looks forward to his future, more contemplative stuff. I came to know it through the Johnny Cash version on American Recordings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eY7bGaccWI ... but I think that unlike his famous cover of "Hurt," which made the song his own, Johnny is still just commenting on Leonard's statement of his worldview. Which is maybe just a long way of saying there's only one Leonard Cohen.

Fine but kinda boring

Len's always getting a five from me but I would have gone with Songs of Love and Hate instead for being further out there, or New Skin for the Old Ceremony for being a little more varied and melodic. But this is a minor grumble. Any album with Len's version of The Partisan is worthy of a spot.

I'm a big fan of both Leonard Cohen and Lou Reed. I enjoyed reading separate accounts of how they both felt when they encountered one another around the Factory scene in 60s New York. Leonard was a brief peripheral figure on that scene as he started up his music career while unsuccesfully pestering Nico.

They were very aware of one another in the room on at least one occasion but they were each too intimidated by the other to connect. Leonard felt like an imposter as a musician and looked on Lou as the real deal and someone already adept at what he was aiming for in terms of setting literary lyrics to music. Lou still had a nagging feeling that what he was doing was lesser compared to real poets and looked on Leonard as the real deal seeing as he had a novel and volumes of poetry published. It's a slightly sad story that they didn't find camaraderie as fellow "workers in song" but I like the humanity in their respective insecurity.

While always an immaculate lyricist, able to build the most stunning narrative arcs, I have to admit that Leonard Cohen, in his primary folk streak, did not manage to replicate the magic he conjured up on his debut. Mostly because his debut came across as a poet’s humble excursion into music, and the understated nature of the recording only added to the fascinating world his characters live in. The slight embellishments of the songs on his subsequent albums, including his sophomore record cannot cover the fact that he still pretty much relies on the same songwriting formula. Which, mind you, is not a bad thing when your first record was Songs of Leonard Cohen. But he just doesn’t deliver the same goods; the songs feel reheated. Also, I really don’t like the sound of the Jew’s harp that accompanies him on the first songs (the soft organ touches on “Story of Isaac,” on the other hand, are amazing). “The Partisan” is, of course, masterclass. But unfortunaley it is the only song on this collection that meets the "masterclass"-threshold.

This isn't a style of music I'd normally enjoy, but something about Cohen's singing really drew me in here. The whole thing is deeply contemplative, and despite the very minimal instrumentation, his strumming manages to add a lot of emotion to these stories. My personal standout is 'The Partisan' -- the subject matter and the beautiful French choir at the end genuinely gave me chills.

Very nice to get some good Montreal representation!

Standouts: A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes • The Partisan • The Butcher • Tonight Will Be Fine

Another really good album by Cohen with songs that are beautiful and haunting.

My kids, however, did not appreciate it. Anna said it was awful. I said it was pretty, she said, yeah, pretty awful.

I wouldn't exactly recommend this if you're wanting something uplifting. Leonard Cohen can certainly write a song, that's for sure. I think this particular record is a little too Dylan-esque for me though. I would take Leonard Cohen over Bob Dylan any day but it's still not something I would really like to listen to with any regularity. I feel like Leonard Cohen got better as he aged and I much prefer his music from when he was more of an old man. This album is fine but it's not anything I'll come back to. 3/5

Good. Understandably considered excellent for those who may listen closely to lyrics - but I'm not one of those so not sure.

Bit pandering, meh

Songs From a Room if the room in question was hermetically sealed from anything approaching listenable music.

0.5/5.0: Unlistenable