Leonard Cohen

raindog.promo

I gave some of his albums a twirl a few times but never quite got into it.

Can anyone recommend the best (most accessible) album for someone checking him out?

boidey

The best leonard cohen albums are imho either famous blue raincoat by jennifer warnes or i'm your fan by various artists. Both of these are albums of leonard cohens songs as performed by others.

raindog.promo

Similarly, I first heard of Cohen from some covers of his songs by a band called dEUS, which were great. I don't think the originals were what I thought they'd be.

Funny old world.

Ian C

I'd probably consider "Songs Of Love and Hate" to be my favourite Cohen album, but I don't know about most accessible. His earlier work is more folky than what came later, and of that I suppose you can't go wrong by starting at the beginning with "Songs Of Leonard Cohen".

BOSTIK

I'd go with "I'm your Man", his 1988 album. That's the one I started off with.

loyatemu

Ian C wrote: »

I'd probably consider "Songs Of Love and Hate" to be my favourite Cohen album, but I don't know about most accessible. His earlier work is more folky than what came later, and of that I suppose you can't go wrong by starting at the beginning with "Songs Of Leonard Cohen".

+1 on the debut - its the album that defined his entire sound.

You can't go wrong either with the original "Greatest Hits" he released in the 70s and which contains tracks from his first 3 records. http://tinyurl.com/68yqxz - I'm not sold at all on his more recent synth-driven stuff.

raindog.promo

BOSTIK wrote: »

I'd go with "I'm your Man", his 1988 album. That's the one I started off with.

Synthtastic Stuff! Think I'd prefer the earlier stuff.

Amazotheamazing

Either the first best of, or his first one, Songs of Leonard Cohen or(and some people hate it) New Skin for the Old Ceremony, imo.

Songs of Love and Hate is great, in a way, but it's dark to the extent that it's overly dark, imo. Songs from a Room is a little patchy too.

After his first four albums, Cohen branched off in different directions musically, with varying degrees of success.

The Pontiac

I'd go with 'The Essential Leonard Cohen', a double cd featuring 23 songs chosen by Cohen himself which he gets spot on. His career spans five decades and material is included here from his 1968 debut right through to his 2001 release, 'Ten New Songs'.