When you are a new Cohen fan, you tend to get a lot of CDs all at once - well, I did, anyway! - which means that some of 'em you only listen to once - or not at all, as I did with Songs from a Room.
Such a once-only-listened-to was Death of a Ladies Man.
I've just listened to it again. And I know why I never picked it up again until today.
It just doesn't sound like Cohen - to me, anyway. I don't mean the voice (even though that is drowned out in the first track ), I mean the whole ambience of the thing - it sounds so ... commercial pop-songish.
Even Memories doesn't sound right. Or maybe it's just that I prefer the live version I saw on a terrible 'home movie' a friend of my daughters' loaned me.
Does anyone else feel this CD is out of synch with the rest?
Don't worry, Fljots.. DOALM will grow on you, as it has with many of us. Might not become a particular favourite, and you may not ever "love" it, but you will come to like it and will want to listen to it when the mood strikes. And Songs From A Room, to me at least, is breathtaking and heartbreakingly beautiful - (a MUST to be played in the car on rainy days, with the windshield wipers sloshing back and forth, and tires kicking up mist all around, headlights flickering on wet pavement.) There's just something very emotionally intimate and healing about that particular combination. As much as you can, please try to let these records grow on you - it will come slowly at first, but soon enough, there it is! :--) Just the same though, I do know what you mean - I went through the same thing with a few of L's albums, regardless that I have been a diehard fan since 1968. In fact, I'm still having a problem with Dear Heather, as many of my friends here can attest to. Probably I should take my own advice and put my money where my mouth is.
Songs from a Room - YES! Ever since I discovered I hadn't listened to it, I've been playing it over and over, lol! I love it!
But I don't think I'll ever feel that about Death of a Ladies Man - especially the first track True Love Leaves no Traces, in which you can barely hear Cohen for all those female voices...
The SONGS are fine - it's just the orchestration that spoils the thing. Imo, anyway.
I found Dear Heather distressing. He sounded so old. And the songs sound like farewell songs. I cried all the way through it first time I listened to it. And then I didn't play it for a bit. Second time, I cried less and listened more. I like it now...
... but I wonder it he had MEANT it to be his last.
I agree with you, Flojts, about the sound quality and production of DOALM.. parts of it sound like some of my lesser quality LC bootlegs (although I do have a couple very fine quality ones - thank you Dem, Hippy, and Anne) - but in some other odd way, the very imperfection adds quite an appealing quality. I still predict, that in due time, if you pull it out and begin to listen, you will start to develop a craving for this record, and you will purposely pull it from the shelf every now and then.
Well, for me, it wasn't that L sounded old in Dear Heather... I like his voice equally as well in advanced maturity as I did in youth - not to mention that ever since I first heard Vilanelle For Our Times at the Montreal event in 2000, I had been waiting and waiting to hear it again. It's the back-up vocals in Heather that I strongly dislike - they are just too present (I really appreciate subtlety and simplicity)- which I think you can relate to, given your thoughts and feelings about DOALM. And of course, at least in my opinion, there isn't a song on Heather, nor on TNS, that can hold a candle to Nancy, or Famous Blue Raincoat. Or Queen Victoria, for that matter. But those were written long ago in angst ridden days of the past, and we are all happy that L has surpassed that and feels more content now... although, maybe, just maybe, considering his current predicament, perhaps he has one more song like that in him. (But probably not.) Which is a good thing, really, "when it all cones down to dust." I don't think he could write a song about money in the same way, but maybe he could about betrayal. Whether he does or not, as he knows already, there's a gift in everything, and I am sure he will take full advantage of it in a creative way... like he does.
Yes, I like his mature voice as well. But I wasn't expecting him to sound so frail. I think the female singers smothering the voice were there to try and make up for the 'defects'.
And I had been listening to The Essential Leonard Cohen a lot - and he is so powerful and vigorous in those, that Dear Heather was a bit of a shock.
now, you all know i'm a huge supporter of "death of a ladies' man," so you already know the routine, except for fljotsdale, so i'll make this short and sweet.
i'm a youngster (21 to be exact), so "death of a ladies' man," to me, represents a lot of sexual oppression from someone who was not so popular in high school. i mean, cohen being a poet and literary genius that he is, describes his sensual feelings in a way that's seductive and perverted, but also humble and somewhat forlorn. it was perfect for me. it was the second full album of his that i heard, the first being "the future." i just couldn't get enough of it. i was still in high school when i first heard that, too, a few years ago. i still understand that kind of dirty humor and also the hopelessness of juvenile love and sexual relationships. of course, your biggest complaint is the orchestration, and we all know how screwy phil spector can be. i personally enjoy most of the stuff he's done, but i think his work on "death of a ladies' man" didn't work with cohen's type of music. i'm not saying cohen can't do that type of music, but his singing capabilities don't really mix with what spector's expectations usually are, nor does his "wall of sound" help with cohen's "golden voice" either. though i think "death of a ladies' man" was his last album before his voice began to dwindle. hahaha. kind of poetic.
well, so much for the short and sweet, but that's all i have to say on that matter.
now, you all know i'm a huge supporter of "death of a ladies' man," so you already know the routine, except for fljotsdale, so i'll make this short and sweet.
i'm a youngster (21 to be exact), so "death of a ladies' man," to me, represents a lot of sexual oppression from someone who was not so popular in high school. i mean, cohen being a poet and literary genius that he is, describes his sensual feelings in a way that's seductive and perverted, but also humble and somewhat forlorn. it was perfect for me. it was the second full album of his that i heard, the first being "the future." i just couldn't get enough of it. i was still in high school when i first heard that, too, a few years ago. i still understand that kind of dirty humor and also the hopelessness of juvenile love and sexual relationships. of course, your biggest complaint is the orchestration, and we all know how screwy phil spector can be. i personally enjoy most of the stuff he's done, but i think his work on "death of a ladies' man" didn't work with cohen's type of music. i'm not saying cohen can't do that type of music, but his singing capabilities don't really mix with what spector's expectations usually are, nor does his "wall of sound" help with cohen's "golden voice" either. though i think "death of a ladies' man" was his last album before his voice began to dwindle. hahaha. kind of poetic.
well, so much for the short and sweet, but that's all i have to say on that matter.
That's interesting, Teratogen. I sort of understand all that sexual stuff as well - IWAS a teen once, lol! I have no sensible objection to the lyrics. As you say - it's the Spector 'sound' I object to. Though I know nothing about Phil Spector - I only sort of vaguely recognised the name before coming here! And no, I don't think Cohen's style and Spector's mix, if Death of a Lady's Man is a normal sample of Spector's style.
And I don't think his voice deteriorated afterwards, actually. It became lower pitched, like dark velvet stroked the wrong way, and much more seductive, lol!
My first impression of this was irritation. People say over produced alot but in this case it would be an understatement. I have heard that Spector was "excentric" to be kind. In an interview Leonard said that Phil held a gun to his head and told him "I like you".
I will listen to it again, but my first impresion is that I wish Leonard would re-record his songs from this.
Cheers
I remember feeling very irritated when I first heard this CD. Now I LOVE IT, listen to it over and over, gonna slip it in now and clean my place. I don't care for the Iodine song, sounds like abuse. One only uses iodine when one has a cut n'est pas? Gaud I even like Finger Prints because it makes an interesting video in my head.
I need to get The Future, lost the copy I bought years ago, Dear Heather and Ten New Songs........
After I tidy up I will finish The Favourite Game, thanks Flots for motivating me to read the copy I have, have had it for 12 years and this is the first read 'magine Loving it
Cheers & DLight
Tri-me (tree-mite) Sheldrön
"Doorhinge rhymes with orange" Leonard Cohen
while it's hardly my favourite album, I do still like 'Death of a Ladies' Man' a lot, lyrically anyway at least. I do wonder if original source tapes are still around and if it would be possible to do for it that which was done for the Beatles 'Let it Be', where they remixed/remastered it without the annoying (to my ears) Phil Spector over-production and released it recently as 'Let it be: Naked'.
I suspect not, as I think a lot of what PS did on 'Let it be' was over-dubbing the original recording, and since he was involved from the start (I think?) on DOALM maybe there isn't a pure source to return to? And then, any original tapes are probably locked away somewhere by PS anyway...
On the plus side, who could resist a DOALM: Naked? Nakedness not being something that was conspicuously missing from the original release: "Oh won't you let me see your naked naked body..."
nice one, tim. yeah, i own both "let it be" versions. honestly there isn't a WHOLE lot of difference, except mainly for the fact that the little 30-second tracks of the guys fooling around are not on there and the order of songs has changed a bit. i actually like phil spector's addition to lennon's "across the universe" on that album, as well as "i me mine," which is my favorite song from "let it be." however, the question i've always been asking myself and never asked anyone else was how come the guitar solo in the single version of "let it be" that everyone knows is different from the solo on the original album??? what's up with that???
And I don't think his voice deteriorated afterwards, actually. It became lower pitched, like dark velvet stroked the wrong way, and much more seductive, lol!
i really dig that, fljots, hahaha. but honestly, spector was way ahead of his time. his wall of sound would have definitely been useful for stereo speakers these days with the dolby digital 5.1 surround sound. i mean, honestly... if anything spector produced was remastered in surround sound.... it'd be the most beautiful experience anyone could ever hear. but when you're recording on something like 4-track analog or whatever it was they used in the 50s and 60s, it sounds great--better than crappy mono or normal stereo sound--but the wall of sound was not meant to be played through just 2 speakers. i have yet to try this yet though. i just got surround sound speakers for my new computer but have yet to set them up. the first thing i'm putting on when they're set up is "death of a ladies' man" and "let it be" and we'll see how it sounds.
There were a few early live recordings of songs from DOALM on greg's website link http://www.twoshakesofalambstail before Phil Spectre got to work on them in his studio. Not sure if they are still available. I downloaded some of the tracks and eventually put some on to a cd.
Margaret, don't tell me that you don't have the original show where those songs were performed, Bryn Mawr November 1975? I was sure I spread that show to everyone I sent the CDRs to.
Thanks Tom. Yes I have got Bryn Mawr, but some of the songs on greg's site now have clearer sound, and there were also a few other interesting items on there.
Thank you also for the last package and recent postcard from your vacation. I am sending you a photo cd from our time in Hydra and have included on it my pictures from NYC too.
), I mean the whole ambience of the thing - it sounds so ... commercial pop-songish.
Loving it
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