leonardcohenforum.com

My guess would be that BGV = Background Vocals, and that Kit = drum kit. Great pictures. Very exciting!

I love the older music too. I first heard Leonard's music in 1968 after someone introduced him to me after i had heard judy Collins's "Suzanne'. i listened to him for a bit and lost touch of him and his music. He just was never really commercially popular here in the states. But every now and then i would hear of him and almost went to a 1993 concert.Then I remember discovering he wrote Hallelujah and Dance Me To The End of Love and and i thought Ahh, that makes sense.
Then a year or so later i was on Youtube and I thought i would look him up. First i watched "Suzanne" and it was very nostalgic for me and just as beautiful. Then i found "Closing Time" and thought "Whoa, what is this?! I was hooked and have been a big fan since. So as much as i love the the older songs i must say i prefer the newer songs. i just bought "Ten new Songs" and right now it is my favorite album. Nobody observes the human drama in such an astute and brutally honest manner as leonard Cohen.

Steve Wilcox wrote:Refresh my memory - which song requires a gong!? "All my friends are gong and my hair . . ."? This could get interesting.

That there is just tooooo funny .

dharma wrote:

richardrj wrote:I was 21 in 1988 and I didn't like Tower of Song even then. It's not a bad song, but the cheap and crappy synths and drum machines ruin it for me. Imagine it being played on guitar...

i'm not sure how it would sound on guitar, but it sounds perfect on "cheap and crappy synths" methinks

for me tower of song is one of leonard's BEST songs!

Ditto that...and I ain't that young:). It would be on my LC top ten, if anyone made me make such an impossible list. In fact, it may be precisely the simplicity of the 'cheap synths' that makes it go, like the lone entertainer at a cheap circus who drips with talent despite the humble atmosphere. I've tried to redo it on the guitar and it just doesn't work...

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very exciting! he looks very good, sharp as always! This makes me stir in my seat as I wait patiently for news of a US leg!

I really don't mind what he sings. I was at the recent performance of "The Book of Longing" by Philip Glass at the Barbican where Leonard made an appearance and gave a pre-concert interview. Just hearing him speak sent a shiver down my spine, let alone seeing him on stage after so many years. Part of the performance was a recording of Leonard reading various sections and I'd be more than happy to sit through many hours of him doing the same. Everything he's ever written is equally impressive read, at least by him, as sung. He looked his usual suave best, resplendent in a suit ,as I'm sure he always will.

My first memory of Leonard was hearing him on a CBS sampler "The Rock Machine Turns You On" in 1968 and I think the song was "The Sisters of Mercy". There was some excellent music on that but he stood out and I've been a devotee ever since.

Christopher B wrote:My first memory of Leonard was hearing him on a CBS sampler "The Rock Machine Turns You On" in 1968 and I think the song was "The Sisters of Mercy". There was some excellent music on that but he stood out and I've been a devotee ever since.

Well, that would be my first experience too, but my (hazy!) memory suggests it was "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye"

That is exactly how I first heard Cohen. He just stood out from the rest. The whole album was amazing but that was the start of my love of Leonard's work. I don't remember all these tracks being on the album and I think there was a Heath Robinson contraction on the cover some sort of old train engine


The Rock Machine Turns You On
Various Artists
Initial release : 1969
Columbia SPR-22

This Columbia sampler includes tracks by Moby Grape, Electric Flag, Peanut Butter Conspiracy and The United States Of America. This was the first rock sampler released by Columbia.


Track listing / Musicians
The tracks and performers on this compilation are;

I'll Be Your Baby Tonight - Bob Dylan
Can't Be So Bad - Moby Grape
Fresh Garbage - Spirit
I Won't Leave My Wooden Wife for You, Sugar - The United States of America
Time of The Season - The Zombies
Turn on a Friend - Peanut Butter Conspiracy
Sisters of Mercy - Leonard Cohen
My Days are Numbered - Blood, Sweat & Tears
Dolphins Smile - Byrds
Scarborough Fair / Canticle - Simon & Garfunkel
Statesboro Blues - Taj Mahal
Killing Floor - The Electric Flag
Nobody's Got Any Money in the Summer - Roy Harper
Come Away Melinda - Tim Rose
Flames - Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera
Scarborough Fair / Canticle by Simon & Garfunkel was not included

real-alan wrote:Well, that would be my first experience too, but my (hazy!) memory suggests it was "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye"

nothing wrong with your memory alan

cbs did a series of compilations 1968-1970, all compiled by david howells, then marketing executive at cbs

The albums were as follows:

the rock machine turns you on (sisters of mercy)
rock machine i love you (hey, that's no way to say goodbye)
fill your head with rock (you know who i am)
rock buster
together!

i've still got the vinyl original of fill your head with rock and the booklet that came with the album



i listened to side three a million times:

1. gibsom street ~ laura nyro
2. you know who i am ~ leonard cohen
3. stomping ground ~ moondog
4. the inbetween man ~ amory kane
5. the garden of jane delawney ~ trees
6. a small fruit song ~ al stewart
7. driving wheel ~ tom rush

the booklet had this to say about LC:

"Did you ever get the feeling that you want to disengage yourself from life? To withdraw into some kind of solitary contemplation just to think about everything for a while? Everything. You. Her. It. Them.
Well that's how a poet feels, because he's no different from everyone else. Except that he takes the time to put it all down on paper. Beautifully. And what makes Leonard Cohen a very different poet is that he turns poetry into songs. He did it for "SONGS OF LEONARD COHEN', his first album, and it achieved a rare kind of success.
And now there's "SONGS FROM A ROOM", the second Leonard Cohen album for the growing number of people who have identified with him. And what he feels. But don't have that rare poetic vision.
There could be millions of Leonard Cohens in the world. You may even be him yourself."

I share your memories. It was with these compilations when I heard Cohen for the first time too. I needed to listen much more. I thought that this CBS's compilation was an exclusive promotion to open the Spanish market.

Today I have taken a photo of this old and dear vinyl: Llena tu cabeza de rock.



The face three is especially worn-out too, unforgettable the track 5: The Garden of Jane Delawney of Trees and the 6: A Small Fruit Song with these two short and magic minutes of Al Stewart.

I don't have the booklet, it's very funny , I remember the Lizzy's signature: "Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken." Oscar Wilde

thanks for that ForYourSmile

totally agree about the trees and al stewart tracks - both magical

this was the photo of trees in the booklet

I don't like his latest two albums, so I'm hoping for a good portion of his older material (from "Song of" until "The Future").

'Mr Cool', can't wait, less than a month to go.

Ha. Ironic how the comments went and then ended, just as I'm posting mine.

When I saw the photo of Leonard, with Claire's comment:
"Pure class " ~ I thought, "Yes, I agree...
"Pure class " and Incontrovertibly cool = Leonard Cohen


So, what do I find in the tail-end comment of yours, Scorpio? It looks like I'm agreeing with two of you now .

Thank you, Lorca and Jarkko. A wonderful photo of Leonard. One for the books.


~ Lizzy