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Leonard Cohen

NME.com feature on Leonard Cohen including news, reviews, biography, youtube video, audio, concerts, tour dates, photos, pictures, commentary, album reviews and live reviews and cool facts.

Leonard Cohen News

Leonard Cohen announces new London show

Leonard Cohen announces new London show

Legendary singer-songwriter adds extra date to European tour

  • Aug 7, 2008

Leonard Cohen announces new UK dates

Veteran singer-songwriter expands European jaunt

Extra Leonard Cohen tickets released for tonight's show (July 17)

Seats up for grabs at last minute

  • Jul 17, 2008

Glastonbury says 'Hallelujah' to Leonard Cohen

The veteran's famous song inspires a sunset 'moment'

Leonard Cohen for first tour in 15 years

Legend will tour Canada next month

  • Apr 15, 2008

More Leonard Cohen News

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Leonard Cohen YouTube Videos

Leonard Cohen Hallelujah

Leonard Cohen Hallelujah (04:18)

Leonard Cohen Hallelujah

LEONARD COHEN - Closing Time

LEONARD COHEN - Closing Time (05:53)

From Canadian musician/poet/songwriter Leonard Cohen's 1992 album The Future. I'm not sure why but I love this song. Enjoy!

"Dance Me To The End of Love" Leonard Cohen

"Dance Me To The End of Love" Leonard Cohen (04:48)

Music video for Leonard Cohen's song "Dance Me To The End of Love" from his album "Various Positions.'

Leonard Cohen: The Stranger Song

Leonard Cohen: The Stranger Song (04:56)

Performing on the Julie Felix Show in 1967.

Leonard Cohen - First We Take Manhattan

Leonard Cohen - First We Take Manhattan (05:46)

Leonard Cohen First We Take Manhattan (C) 1987 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

More Leonard Cohen Video

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Leonard Cohen Reviews

Festival International De Benicassim

Festival International De Benicassim

Ah yes, the Spanish festival with guaranteed sun that’s a stone’s throw from the beach. Bliss. Castello De La Plana, Spain (July 17-20)

  • Aug 1, 2008

Cohen, Leonard : Ten New Songs

King of misery returns from monastry with synthesizer.

  • Oct 16, 2001

More Leonard Cohen Reviews

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Leonard Cohen Biography

b. 21 September 1934, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. A graduate in English Literature from McGill and Columbia Universities, Cohen first made an impression as a novelist. The Favorite Game (1963) and Beautiful Losers (1966) offered the mixture of sexual and spiritual longing, despair and black humour, prevalent in his lyrics. Two early songs, "Suzanne" and "Priests", were recorded by folk singer Judy Collins, and the former was also included on Songs Of Leonard Cohen (1967), the artist's impressive debut. The weary loneliness portrayed by his intonation was enhanced by the barest of accompaniment, while the literate, if bleak, subject matter endeared the artist to a generation of "bedsit" singer-songwriter aficionados. The album also featured "Sisters Of Mercy" and "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye", two haunting compositions destined to become classics of the genre.

Cohen's second album Songs From A Room (1969) maintained a similar pattern, but despite the inclusion of "Story Of Isaac" and "Bird On The Wire', lacked the commercial impact of its predecessor. The appeal of Cohen's lugubrious delivery had noticeably waned by the release of 1971"s Songs Of Love And Hate, yet it contained two of his finest compositions in "Joan Of Arc" and "Famous Blue Raincoat". The inclusion of "Dress Rehearsal Rag", one of the artist's earliest songs, suggested an aridity and it was four years before Cohen completed another studio set. New Skin For The Old Ceremony showed his talent for wry, often chilling, observations undiminished and included the disconsolate "Chelsea Hotel", an account of Cohen's sexual encounter with singer Janis Joplin.

A second impasse in the artist's career ended in 1977 with Death Of A Ladies' Man, an unlikely collaboration with producer Phil Spector. Although Cohen's songs retained their accustomed high standard, a grandiose backing proved ill-fitting and he later disowned the project. Recent Songs (1979) and Various Positions (1984) were excellent, if underrated collections, with the latter featuring one of his finest compositions, "Hallelujah" (later covered to memorable effect by both John Cale and Jeff Buckley). Various Positions also marked the first time Cohen collaborated with Hawaiian singer-songwriter Anjani and Leanne Ungar, the studio engineer who would go on to work with the singer on all his subsequernt recordings.

Cohen's career seemed confined to a small, committed audience until Jennifer Warnes, a former backing vocalist, released Famous Blue Raincoat in 1987. This commercially successful celebratory set was comprised solely of Cohen's songs and served as a timely reminder of his gifts. His own next set, I'm Your Man, was thus afforded widespread attention and attendant live performances formed the core of a BBC television documentary. Tracks such as "First We Take Manhattan", "Everybody Knows" and "Tower Of Song' revealed Cohen's artistry intact and suggested that his major compositions were growing in stature with the passing of time. This was confirmed by 1992"s excellent The Future on which Cohen sounded confident and fresh with lyrics as biting and interesting as ever, most notably on the title track ("Give me crack and anal sex/Take the only tree that's left/And stuff it up the hole/In your culture").

Despite his profile being higher than ever, Cohen elected to spend the rest of the decade in the Mount Baldy Zen Center near Los Angeles as a reclusive figure, emerging only to support the recording career of his son Adam. He returned to the studio at the start of the new millennium to record his first album in almost a decade, Ten New Songs. The album was co-written by singer-songwriter Sharon Robinson, who had first worked with Cohen as a backing singer on his 1979 tour before making her collaborative debut on the I'm Your Man track "Everybody Knows". The 2004 follow-up Dear Heather was released shortly after Cohen had celebrated his 70th birthday, and featured further collaborations with Robinson and Anjani. The upswing in Cohen activities was instigated by his alarming financial situation, following the revelation that his longtime manager Kelley Lynch had misappropriated over $5 million of his retirement funds. The artist was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in March 2008.

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Leonard Cohen Discography

Leonard Cohen albums.

  • Songs Of Leonard Cohen - 1967 (Columbia)
  • Songs From A Room - 1969 (Columbia)
  • Songs Of Love And Hate - 1971 (Columbia)
  • Live Songs - 1973 (Columbia)
  • New Skin For The Old Ceremony - 1974 (Columbia)
  • Death Of A Ladies' Man - 1977 (Columbia)
  • Recent Songs - 1979 (Columbia)
  • Various Positions - 1984 (Columbia)
  • I'm Your Man - 1988 (Columbia)
  • The Future - 1992 (Columbia)
  • Cohen Live - 1994 (Columbia)
  • Field Commander Cohen: Tour Of 1979 - 2001 (Columbia)
  • Ten New Songs - 2001 (Columbia)
  • Dear Heather - 2004 (Columbia)
  • I'm Your Man - 2006 (Verve Forecast)

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Leonard Cohen Videos & DVD's

Leonard Cohen video and DVD releases.

  • Songs From The Life Of Leonard Cohen - 1989 (CMV Enterprises)
  • I'm Your Man - 2006 (Lionsgate)
  • Under Review 1935-1977 - 2007 (Chrome Dreams)

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Leonard Cohen Books

Leonard Cohen bibliography.

  • Let Us Compare Mythologies - Leonard Cohen
  • The Spice-Box Of Earth - Leonard Cohen
  • The Favorite Game - Leonard Cohen
  • Flowers For Hitler - Leonard Cohen
  • Beautiful Losers - Leonard Cohen
  • Parasites Of Heaven - Leonard Cohen
  • Selected Poems 1956-1968 - Leonard Cohen
  • The Energy Of Slaves - Leonard Cohen
  • Death Of A Lady's Man - Leonard Cohen
  • Leonard Cohen - Stephen Scobie
  • Book Of Mercy - Leonard Cohen
  • Leonard Cohen: Prophet Of The Heart - Loranne S. Dorman and Clive L. Rawlins
  • So Long Leonard: Leben Und Lieder Von Leonard Cohen - Christof Graf
  • Leonard Cohen: In Quest Of Delight - Rod Sinclair
  • Stranger Music: Selected Poems And Songs - Leonard Cohen
  • Take This Waltz: A Celebration Of Leonard Cohen - Michael Fournier and Ken Norris (eds.)
  • Leonard Cohen: A Life In Art - Ira Nadel
  • Leonard Cohen: In Every Style Of Passion - Jim Devlin
  • Various Positions: A Life Of Leonard Cohen - Ira B. Nadel
  • Leonard Cohen - David Sheppard
  • Dylan & Cohen: Poets Of Rock And Roll - David Boucher
  • Book Of Longing - Leonard Cohen

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