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......... "I've only recently been getting into Cohen, but I don't know which albums to get. I've got a 'greatest hits' thing, but which albums are considered the classic Cohen stuff"

Can anyone help the poor guy?

everyone else will punch me, but i'd say "death of a ladies' man." it was the first full album of his i'd heard, and i was in love (but i'm not gay).... not that there's anything wrong with that.

Songs From A Room, Various Positions, I'm Your Man?

well, obviously there's no 'classic album'. they're all classics.

i'd say: Songs of Leonard Cohen & The Future

nobody mentioned
"songs of love and hate"?
there are so many good songs on it, and i read somewhere somebody's opinion that it is the most musical album. i really like it and listen to it often.

Oh, dear. So many choices.

Ok. FCC because it has beautiful acoustic instrumentation. It's live and there is obvious pleasure in the audience, but they don't interfere with the performance and the performance 'sounds' unlive. Meaning: it sounds so good you'd swear it was 'all' done in the studio. Great songs. Jenifer Warnes is wonderful. So Long, Marianne is done extremely well. An anthem. The cover is good (such a handsome man). If that doesn't sound appealing, I'd suggest, Mr. Hypothetical, that you try the Future.

Linda.

If you have the "Essential Cohen", you already have many of his 'classics'. So, I'd go for the Future or FCC because they've not been played to death on the radio (except for Closing Time). The 'acoustic' approach of FCC must be looked into.

Hi there (yet again),

Also, if you have a 'greatest hits' album, maybe it would help if you found out on which album your 'favourite' tracks are on. That might be a good way to start. Or start at the very beginning. That way you'll miss nothing! And then you can return to the forum an 'expert'. If you just hang around the forum, you'll hear plenty of talk about various albums. It's hard to recommend just one album as different people have different tastes. By FCC I meant 'Field Commander Cohen'.

Linda.

It's me again: if he has Greatest Hits from 1975 (aka Best Of), then he has all the best tracks from early, classic period (first 4 albums), but he doesn't know anything about later Cohen. Then, maybe, More Best Of He would have then both best ofs (Best Of + More Best Of = Leonard didn't chose the names without some reason...), and after that he can chose one of early albums recommended here (Songs of, Songs from a Room), or later (I'm Your Man, The Future)... Although Various Positions and Ten New Songs are outside those compilations (that's why The Essential is better starter now, but Greatest Hits is repeated almost complete here, so we'll force the man to buy CD he already has... More Best of is also repeated entirely on 2nd disc of The Essential, with some tracks from Various Positions and Ten New Songs added... But the man doesn't have it /More Best Of I mean/, but only the first Best Of... if I got it correctly)......

I grew up with I'm your man. (quite young I am, 20). Then I later discovered the early albums, and those are the ones that im listening to now, on and on and on and on..

My favorite album is New skin for the old ceremony,

by the way, hi folks. I'm new here.

Hi Andenord, welcome to the Forum. My favourite album is his first one: "Songs of Leonard Cohen". I heard it when I was 15, and I think it was just released then (I am a bit older than you........). My favourite song on that one" Master song". I also like his second ("Songs from a room") and third ("Songs of love and hate"), but the first is still the best for me.

hi andenord! i also know i'm your man from my childhood. the songs still recall this feeling. i also went on with the early albums and, when i knew them by heart, i was happy tat there were still so much more i didn't know! my brother once said he liked the music, but he had heard it too often when we were young...

Its something very special about I'm your man. i remember my mother and father sat in the sofa with a bottle of wine, listening to it on vinyl, (I have all leonard cohen albums on vinyl now, because they gave them to me) and it was autumn (yes, yes, very cliche but unforgettable),

annaedith wrote:nobody mentioned
"songs of love and hate"?
there are so many good songs on it, and i read somewhere somebody's opinion that it is the most musical album. i really like it and listen to it often.

I love Songs of love and hate!! Its a fantastic album -- all the tracks are just perfect. And the cover is really beautiful. Im gonna get it printed on a tshirt, I think.

when i hear the beginning of first we take manhattan, i remember me sitting on the large white wool carpet in our living room. it is the beginning of spring, our garden outside starts getting green, and the sun shines through the big windows with its first warm rays... that's my feeling about the album! quite different to yours, andenord, and though each is accompanied by the same soundtrack!