I started a new album today and wasn't sure I'd get through it on a single drive home. Well, a car accident on the highway took care of that - while I waited for traffic to clear I listened to it twice. I enjoyed it both times.
Disc 139 is...New Skin For The Old Ceremony
Artist: Leonard Cohen
Year of Release: 1974
What’s Up With The Cover?: Naked angels do the nasty. Cohen covers are usually pretty tame, and this one is by far the weirdest - and my favourite.
How I Came To Know It: I've known Cohen forever, but this album I came to late. I actually didn't know it existed until I saw him live on "The Future" tour in '92 or '93. He does a funky version of "There Is A War" on that tour, and I didn't know the song. I had every album he had done, so I was pretty confused, until I finally found this. Expecting the concert version of that song, I was surprised how different it sounded - but I still loved it.
It's odd I hadn't noticed sooner. My folks had a 'best of' on tape, and it had "Chelsea Hotel #2" on it. For some reason it never occurred to me that this song ALSO had to come from some album originally.
How It Stacks Up: I have all eleven Cohen albums worth having (Only "Dear Heather" is a flop). Of them I'd put this one solidly 6th or 7th, depending on how I feel about it, and "Recent Songs" (reviewed at Disc 120) at that given moment.
Rating: 4 stars, but one thin hair from 5.
Not sure what there is to say about Cohen that I haven't said before, so I'll quickly sum up, by saying the man is one of the greatest poets our country - or any country - has ever produced. That he was able to popularize his work with some solid folk songs, and thus bring it to a larger audience, is just gravy.
"New Skin, etc." is still in his early period, where the arrangements are very sparse, and his voice is still relatively high. For some reason his voice is at the perfect stage for me to sing along on this album, and feel like I am in tune (or failing that, out of tune in the same ways Cohen is). That makes this a great driving album for me, but probably not for all the people stuck in the traffic jam with me today.
The record adds an odd title to its odd cover. Cohen's album titles are usually very basic and unassuming ("Songs", "Songs From a Room", "Recent Songs" - you get the idea). This album goes the other way with the evocative and erotic, "New Skin For the Old Ceremony", with art to match.
The music and lyrics are edgier as well, as Cohen experiments a bit with his voice (deliberately rocking out a bit on songs like "Is This What You Wanted" and "Leaving Green Sleeves").
The lyrics, as always, are the strongest element, and once again Cohen uses his unimpressive voice impressively, simply by emoting each line. The man knows how to do a reading.
From the opening line of the opening song you know it is going to be raw, racey and a little bit funny, as he leads of "Is This What You Wanted" with:
"You were the promise at dawn
I was the morning after."
This album touches me in so many ways, and certain lyrics have resonated with me my whole life. In "Chelsea Hotel #2" Cohen tells the story of a short love affair in that storied sixties edifice of Beatniks and hippy musicians. He includes this little tip of the hat to all of us regular folks:
"And clenching your fist for the ones like us
Who are oppressed by the figures of beauty,
You fixed yourself, you said: "Well, never mind,
We are ugly, but we have the music.""
Lastly I love the line in the beautifully lustful "Take This Longing":
"Take this longing from my tongue
Whatever useless things these hands have done
Let me see your beauty broken down
Like you would do
For one you love."
There are politically thoughtful songs like "There is a War" which to me is less about any war, than it is about not being afraid sometimes to choose a side . There are mournful mood pieces like "Who By Fire" which for a while featured as our answering machine message, and even comic songs like "Leaving Green Sleeves" which riffs off of the folk standard, "Greensleeves" and makes it a painfully humorous break up song.
Because of the fairly simple musicality on this album, this album is a shade from five stars, but like "Recent Songs" it is often a five star album for me, when it hits me just right. Still, I promised to be a hard marker, so there it is, a hard mark.
Best tracks: Is This What You Wanted, Chelsea Hotel #2, Field Commander Cohen, There Is A War, Who By Fire, Take This Longing
Disc 139 is...New Skin For The Old Ceremony
Artist: Leonard CohenYear of Release: 1974
What’s Up With The Cover?: Naked angels do the nasty. Cohen covers are usually pretty tame, and this one is by far the weirdest - and my favourite.
How I Came To Know It: I've known Cohen forever, but this album I came to late. I actually didn't know it existed until I saw him live on "The Future" tour in '92 or '93. He does a funky version of "There Is A War" on that tour, and I didn't know the song. I had every album he had done, so I was pretty confused, until I finally found this. Expecting the concert version of that song, I was surprised how different it sounded - but I still loved it.
It's odd I hadn't noticed sooner. My folks had a 'best of' on tape, and it had "Chelsea Hotel #2" on it. For some reason it never occurred to me that this song ALSO had to come from some album originally.
How It Stacks Up: I have all eleven Cohen albums worth having (Only "Dear Heather" is a flop). Of them I'd put this one solidly 6th or 7th, depending on how I feel about it, and "Recent Songs" (reviewed at Disc 120) at that given moment.
Rating: 4 stars, but one thin hair from 5.
Not sure what there is to say about Cohen that I haven't said before, so I'll quickly sum up, by saying the man is one of the greatest poets our country - or any country - has ever produced. That he was able to popularize his work with some solid folk songs, and thus bring it to a larger audience, is just gravy.
"New Skin, etc." is still in his early period, where the arrangements are very sparse, and his voice is still relatively high. For some reason his voice is at the perfect stage for me to sing along on this album, and feel like I am in tune (or failing that, out of tune in the same ways Cohen is). That makes this a great driving album for me, but probably not for all the people stuck in the traffic jam with me today.
The record adds an odd title to its odd cover. Cohen's album titles are usually very basic and unassuming ("Songs", "Songs From a Room", "Recent Songs" - you get the idea). This album goes the other way with the evocative and erotic, "New Skin For the Old Ceremony", with art to match.
The music and lyrics are edgier as well, as Cohen experiments a bit with his voice (deliberately rocking out a bit on songs like "Is This What You Wanted" and "Leaving Green Sleeves").
The lyrics, as always, are the strongest element, and once again Cohen uses his unimpressive voice impressively, simply by emoting each line. The man knows how to do a reading.
From the opening line of the opening song you know it is going to be raw, racey and a little bit funny, as he leads of "Is This What You Wanted" with:
"You were the promise at dawn
I was the morning after."
This album touches me in so many ways, and certain lyrics have resonated with me my whole life. In "Chelsea Hotel #2" Cohen tells the story of a short love affair in that storied sixties edifice of Beatniks and hippy musicians. He includes this little tip of the hat to all of us regular folks:
"And clenching your fist for the ones like us
Who are oppressed by the figures of beauty,
You fixed yourself, you said: "Well, never mind,
We are ugly, but we have the music.""
Lastly I love the line in the beautifully lustful "Take This Longing":
"Take this longing from my tongue
Whatever useless things these hands have done
Let me see your beauty broken down
Like you would do
For one you love."
There are politically thoughtful songs like "There is a War" which to me is less about any war, than it is about not being afraid sometimes to choose a side . There are mournful mood pieces like "Who By Fire" which for a while featured as our answering machine message, and even comic songs like "Leaving Green Sleeves" which riffs off of the folk standard, "Greensleeves" and makes it a painfully humorous break up song.
Because of the fairly simple musicality on this album, this album is a shade from five stars, but like "Recent Songs" it is often a five star album for me, when it hits me just right. Still, I promised to be a hard marker, so there it is, a hard mark.
Best tracks: Is This What You Wanted, Chelsea Hotel #2, Field Commander Cohen, There Is A War, Who By Fire, Take This Longing
No comments:
Post a Comment