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On the Shelf 129- Leonard Cohen
Oct. 25th, 2014 03:48 pmIf Leonard Cohen had not recorded a note prior to 1988 or 1992, he would still be legendary.
Now in his third (fourth? fifth?) phase of his career. The wise old sage Cohen has put out a string of very good albums, and one suspects Popular Problems may be his best. Certainly as good as his recent output is, it's the best since The Future.
Although one can't talk overproduction with Cohen, one thing that makes it above say Dear Heather is that Cohen's voice is out front. There's the always accompanying vocalists, but Cohen is the star here, and the lyrics are top notch too.
"Almost Like the Blues" is an instant Cohen classic. "Did i ever love you" reveals this as the same Cohen who wrote "Bird on a Wire".
There's going to be a mythology around this album that says Cohen never intended to record again, and the only reason this album exists was that Cohen's savings were stolen from him. I don't believe Cohen was done, but in any case, this a strong record from an icon and as much as as I liked his recent work, this one is extremely consistent and really brings it all home.
Now in his third (fourth? fifth?) phase of his career. The wise old sage Cohen has put out a string of very good albums, and one suspects Popular Problems may be his best. Certainly as good as his recent output is, it's the best since The Future.
Although one can't talk overproduction with Cohen, one thing that makes it above say Dear Heather is that Cohen's voice is out front. There's the always accompanying vocalists, but Cohen is the star here, and the lyrics are top notch too.
"Almost Like the Blues" is an instant Cohen classic. "Did i ever love you" reveals this as the same Cohen who wrote "Bird on a Wire".
There's going to be a mythology around this album that says Cohen never intended to record again, and the only reason this album exists was that Cohen's savings were stolen from him. I don't believe Cohen was done, but in any case, this a strong record from an icon and as much as as I liked his recent work, this one is extremely consistent and really brings it all home.
