leonardcohenforum.com

I inherited a record player last summer along with a number of lovely records, but I really wanted to find one of Leonard's records -- fat chance! Recently I was able to secure one over e-bay and paid too much for a record that is slightly bent. However, "paid too much" may be incorrect. The record is really growing on me, despite the small drag of the bend. And though I heard some of these songs before, I hadn't heard them all. The only one with which I was very familiar was The Guests.

Side One: The Guests; Humbled in Love; The Window; Came So Far For Beauty; The Lost Canadian.
Side Two: The Traitor; Our Lady of Solitude; The Gypsy's Wife; The Smokey Life; Ballad of the Absent Mare.

The Ballad of the Absent Mare really struck me. I had never heard it before, except when listening to the Warnes version on the on her re-release of the Famous Blue Raincoat album on CD.

The record cover is blue with a coloured drawing of Leonard. Is this easy to find on CD?

What do others think of the record?

This is Leonard's "masterpiece unsigned" - arguably his greatest work, but seldom recognised...most especially, "Ballad of the Absent Mare", "The Window", and The Guests" . Jim Devlin has reasonably argued that "Lost canadian" would be better be replaced with "Misty Blue", but otherwise, this album is faultless. It is readily available on CD, but a re-master should be among the next batch
of re-issues (which seem to be taking longer than expected).

Best wishes, John E

I agree with John.Recent Songs is a remarkable album.I have been listening to it quite a lot again recently.I have run a quick search online and it is available on cd from Amazon.com. But a good buy is a 3cd package from http://www.cd-wow.us/ (Death of a ladies'man','Recent Songs' and 'The Future') with free worldwide delivery.
Check it out.
Dave

I had finally completed my Cohen collection last year (it had been assembling since about 1977ish with vinyl - still have Songs of, Songs from a Room & Songs of Love & Hate from those days) & I found that Recent Songs was the one I couldn't find in the shops, although I was able to order it quite readily online.

You can buy Recent Songs in every CD shop (at least here), as any other Cohen CD.

Btw, Leonard said it's his best record.

It is the only CD that it was difficult for me
to find in a CD shop but I found it easily in
online shops.

If you like "Recent Songs" then you should
definitely get "Field Commander Cohen" as well.


Dem

I think I'll listen to RS tonight. For some unexplained reason RS is my least played LC album and I'm not sure why. I like it but something about it does not make me automatically reach for it when I'm trying to decide which LC album to listen too. I can't explain it.

Davido wrote:I agree with John.Recent Songs is a remarkable album.I have been listening to it quite a lot again recently.I have run a quick search online and it is available on cd from Amazon.com. But a good buy is a 3cd package from http://www.cd-wow.us/ (Death of a ladies'man','Recent Songs' and 'The Future') with free worldwide delivery.
Check it out.
Dave

Does this package have the albums individually (i.e. like if you bought the albums seperately, but they are in a box), or is a different set up? It is good value on play.com at the moment, but I can't find a description anywhere which says what sort of box set it is...

Ι bought that 3-CDs box a couple of years ago.

It contains the three albums individually
(i.e. like if you bought the albums seperately)
in a box.

Dem

djb123,
The one on Play.com is fantastic value.As Dem said it's 3 separate albums.Snap it up.
Dave