leonardcohenforum.com

Hey! I have a question concerning the cover art for the album New Skin for the Old Ceremony. It seems to me that the most common cover design is the image of two winged and crowned beings, presumably angels. On my album however the cover is a picture of Cohen himself. I have heard someone said that this might be an early US-edition of this album. Can anyone confirm this, or do you have any other explanation?
Thanks!
Osiris, Trondheim, Norway

The cover was replaced by local Sony company because they considered the original artwok as pornographic. I think this was in Australia.

I am sure there was picture of this alternate cover, with explanation of this affair, there in Discography section at the Files (http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/master.html) but I can't find it any more.

Okey. Your explanation seems to be credible. My album is however printed in the US. I haven`t found much information available on the Internet concerning this, but I did find this short article on Wikipedia. If it is correct or not, I don`t know.

The original cover art for New Skin for the Old Ceremony was a rather sexual image of two winged and crowned beings, presumably angels, from the alchemical text Rosarium philosophorum. In at least one early edition of the album, his U.S. record label, Columbia Records, balked at this art, substituting a photo of Cohen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Skin_f ... d_Ceremony

Pornographic !?! I have an album with that cover and don't see it as pornographic, at all.


~ Lizzy

Ha ha.. Well, it seems to be pretty conservative. But I guess it wouldn`t be censored in 2006. If anyone is curious about how this cover looks, here it is.
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As far as I know there are 3 different covers for this album.The one featuring the portrait of Leonard (as in your picture,Osiris) was an early USA version.Certainly the promos were like this.
Then there is the 'uncensored' version depicting the 'symbolic representation of the spiritual union of the male and female principle' from the alchemical text Rosararium philosophorum.
This cover was quickly censored by simply adding another wing to the female which covers the offending body parts!!
I can't say for certain which covers were available in particular countries.

Sorry about bumping this old thread. Been looking all over online and can't seem to find much info about the New Skin for the Old Ceremony album with the portrait of Leonard Cohen on the front as opposed to the "angels" picture. I just picked up the portrait version of the cover at a vinyl faire today, in pretty good condition. It's a US pressing, although I'm in South Africa - I was wondering how rare this version of the cover actually is, if anyone has any idea?