leonardcohenforum.com

Last.fm also has a "Similar Artists" page, which is continually recalibrated based on listening patterns of folks - http://www.last.fm/music/Leonard+Cohen/+similar

The current top ten looks like this:

Bob Dylan 100

Tom Waits 88

Nick Drake 76

Neil Young 76

Simon & Garfunkel 63

Johnny Cash 63

Joni Mitchell 63

Nick Cave 62

Van Morrison 53

Joan Baez 51

The only artist that comes to mind is Nick Drake. I got into both Cohen and Drake at the same time (Was a pretty sad time as you can imagine) and both are very very good.

Nick Drake's Pink Moon is absolutely perfect. Please do go listen to it if youre looking for a credible alternative to Cohen.

If you are looking for someone who is doing something musically which has a lot of the features of Cohen's early work, and who has a similarly deep voice, then you might try the music of Jim Yamouridis, an Australian of Greek descent now living and plying his trade in France (at least last time I looked). He's a friend and long time working associate of Conway Savage, pianist with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. You can try some of his music on stream here:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... c301b109b5

He used to be in an obscure Melbourne based band called The Stream, who were less LC but no less worthy of a listen:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... =135109195

In terms of artists in modern music who share Cohen's ability to spin words with music in quite magical ways, the most prominent in my list would be:

Jacques Brel
Lou Reed
Nick Cave
David McComb
Tom Waits

I expect there might be one or two more but very few with as consistent a body of work as those named.

One artist that I love for the same reason's that I love Leonard Cohen is Josh Ritter... though I'm sure I'd say the music is similar, he does credit Cohen as one of his major influences.

I would say Chris Rea too. Especially The Road to Hell; great lyrics and that deep textured voic.

In a number of aspects: John Hiatt. In fact, I'm surprised he hasn't been mentioned yet(but then he doesn't seem to be well known at all, undeservedly).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UrueP3aM40
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LGHcwrB ... re=related

temporal_twilight wrote:One artist that I love for the same reason's that I love Leonard Cohen is Josh Ritter... though I'm sure I'd say the music is similar, he does credit Cohen as one of his major influences.

Oh good God why did I not listen to you earlier?!

His lyrics may not be as poetic as Cohens, and his music not as sparse, but wow some of those songs are unbelievable, the lyrics really astonished me.

In a number of aspects: John Hiatt. In fact, I'm surprised he hasn't been mentioned yet(but then he doesn't seem to be well known at all, undeservedly).

Undoubtedly so, my friend. JH rocks!

Neko Case sings hauntingly beautiful songs.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyZJnX-BnPY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcVdaLHC ... re=related

Jeff Zentner
Jason Molina/Songs:Ohia/Magnolia Electric Co.

Too stressed out to listen to Leonard in the run up to the great ticket sale I was listening to Lee Hazlewood's final CD "Cake and Death" last night. Struck by how similar Lee's voice sounded to Leonard's.

Bartleby wrote:Struck by how similar Lee's voice sounded to Leonard's.

i've got hazy memories of mistaking Leonard for Lee when i was aged about 11 or 12

i kinda suspect the production on Songs of Love & Hate, especially with the heavy reverb on the vocals, was influenced by Hazlewood

the very special world of lee hazlewood (1966) is well worth a listen - it has pre Nancy & Lee versions of sand and summer wine

Gianmaria Testa, what a voice, it makes me melt. I don't speak Italian, so have no real idea what he sings about, but when I first heard 'Da Questa Parte Del Mare' (album) it totally blew me away. I also really like the instrumentation on his songs.

You can check him out here: http://www.myspace.com/gianmariatesta

Play 'Seminatori Di Grano'

I can totally recommend the above album.

What about Will Oldham (mentioned only once here)? I find the "I see a darkness" album deeply Cohen-ian. I love his voice here, its sense of dramaticity and soft bitterness.

well, whenever I finish a song the first thing that goes through my head is "would Leonard play that", so I guess I better put it out there,

http://www.myspace.com/nickmarksmusic

Of the others, i cant stand Nick Cave though I must admit he certainly puts in the hours when it comes to trying to be like cohen. Tom Waits, obviously and my random selection would have to be... the guy thats sings in Alabama 3, sorry his name slips my mind right now.