DC Share Revival: Review: Leonard Cohen - The Best of Leonard Cohen (1967-74)

Rating: 80/100 - Genrés: Downer Folk, Folk, Songwriter.
Recorded between 1967 and 1974.

Leonard Cohen’s 1975 compilation album, The Best of Leonard Cohen, stands as a pivotal and carefully curated milestone in the Canadian singer-songwriter’s early career, one that profoundly shaped his heritage and deepened his international recognition. Released by Columbia/CBS, the album came after Cohen had produced four critically acclaimed studio albums between 1967 and 1974: Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967), Songs from a Room (1969), Songs of Love and Hate (1970), and New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974). This period marked an extraordinary blossoming of his distinctive poetic voice and complex musical arrangements. The compilation’s release year, 1975, is notable—it arrived just before Cohen’s temporary retreat from music, when he spent several years living in a Zen monastery, a hiatus that added an additional mystique to his oeuvre.

Opening with Suzanne, the compilation presents arguably Cohen’s most famous and enduring composition, a song first released on his debut album and inspired by Suzanne Verdal, a dancer who was then the partner of sculptor Armand Vaillancourt. The song is a hallmark of Cohen’s lyrical genius, fusing the mundane and the mystical in images like “And Jesus was a sailor when he walked upon the water.” Cohen’s choice to evoke religious symbolism intertwined with a narrative of earthly love captured a unique spiritual sensibility. Critics such as Ian MacDonald have described Suzanne as “a modern-day psalm”, an assessment underscoring its deep spiritual resonance beyond conventional pop songwriting.

The track Sisters of Mercy originated during Cohen’s stay at a Montreal hotel and was penned in an unusually spontaneous burst of inspiration. It encapsulates his early folk sensibility but is notable for its dark yet tender meditation on compassion and mercy, themes deeply rooted in Cohen’s lifelong engagement with Judaism and Christian mysticism. The song’s invitation to “go softly through the dark” demonstrates the delicacy and wisdom of Cohen’s lyricism, inviting to seek kindness in a troubled world.

So Long, Marianne offers a bittersweet homage to Marianne Ihlen, who was Cohen’s muse and partner during the late 1960s. Their relationship, documented in letters and biographies, such as Sylvie Simmons’ comprehensive I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen, reveals a complex mixture of romance, pain, and artistic inspiration. The song’s refrain “For now I need your hidden love” reflects a longing that transcends the personal and touches on universal themes of love and separation. The song was reportedly recorded in 1967 and became one of Cohen’s signature pieces, cherished for its raw emotional honesty.

Bird on the Wire embodies Cohen’s exploration of American folk and country influences, especially drawing inspiration from artists such as Johnny Cash and the folk revival scene of the late 1960s. Recorded during the Songs from a Room sessions, the song’s melody and lyrical imagery—“Like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir”—convey a universal struggle for freedom and redemption. Cohen himself has remarked on the song’s genesis, acknowledging the influence of the American South’s musical traditions combined with his own existential musings.

The darker tones of Famous Blue Raincoat mark a shift in Cohen’s thematic focus toward betrayal, regret, and complex interpersonal relationships. The song, framed as a letter, is a narrative masterpiece, open to numerous interpretations, often linked to Cohen’s own life events and relationships. It first appeared on the album Songs of Love and Hate (1970) and has since been hailed by critics, including Robert Christgau, as one of the greatest storytelling songs in popular music. The subtle orchestration, arranged by John Lissauer, complements the intimate and melancholic mood, while Cohen’s delivery is understated yet laden with emotional depth.

Last Year’s Man and The Partisan continue this introspective journey. The former, a self-reflective meditation on aging and missed opportunities, reveals Cohen’s poetic engagement with the passage of time, a recurring motif throughout his career. The Partisan, a cover of a song originally written by Anna Marly and Emmanuel d’Astier during the French Resistance, underscores Cohen’s awareness of historical suffering and resilience. The bilingual delivery—part French, part English—connects personal and collective memory, adding a layer of political consciousness to the compilation. Cohen’s interpretation helped bring the song to wider audiences, showing his capacity to bridge folk tradition with contemporary reflection.

The album concludes with three of Cohen’s most emblematic songs: Chelsea Hotel No. 2, Who by Fire, and Take This Longing. Chelsea Hotel No. 2 is renowned for its candid account of an intimate encounter with Janis Joplin, captured with poetic economy and tenderness. In interviews, Cohen reflected on the song as a bittersweet memory, “a moment of vulnerability caught in amber”, lending it an aura of raw honesty unusual in popular music at the time. Who by Fire, deeply influenced by the ancient Jewish prayer Unetanneh Tokef recited during Yom Kippur, meditates on mortality with somber reverence, making it one of Cohen’s most spiritually charged songs. Its ritualistic cadence and apocalyptic imagery align Cohen’s songwriting with timeless religious traditions while addressing universal fears and hopes. Take This Longing, the closing track, epitomizes the theme of yearning that permeates Cohen’s work. Its inclusion on this compilation provides a poignant and reflective finale.

The production across the compilation preserves the minimalistic yet precise approach championed by producers John Simon and Bob Johnston, who had also worked with luminaries like Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. The sonic landscape favors clarity and intimacy, allowing Cohen’s baritone to command attention without distraction. This stylistic choice underscores the primacy of words and atmosphere, a defining characteristic of Cohen’s music that distinguishes him from many of his contemporaries.

While the album was not initially released in North America, it found a receptive audience in Europe, especially in countries like Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK, where Cohen’s literary approach to songwriting found particular resonance amid the intellectual and countercultural currents of the era. The compilation contributed to establishing Cohen’s reputation as a “poet’s poet,” a status confirmed by contemporaries and critics alike, such as Paul Nelson, who praised Cohen for his “philosophical depth and poetic grandeur.”

Notably, the album’s release coincided with a period in which the music industry was increasingly embracing the singer-songwriter archetype, yet Cohen’s work stood apart for its emphasis on narrative density and moral ambiguity. His lyrics, often compared to the work of T.S. Eliot and Federico García Lorca, infused popular music with a literary seriousness rare at the time. Biographer Anthony Reynolds emphasizes Cohen’s “ability to expose the contradictions of human nature with a merciless, yet compassionate eye,” a quality encapsulated throughout this compilation.

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Friday, August 1, 2025

Review: Leonard Cohen - The Best of Leonard Cohen (1967-74)

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