Leonard Cohen ‎– Recent Songs

Name: Leonard Cohen ‎– Recent Songs
SKU: 12159
Availability: InStock

€49,99

The first thing Leonard Cohen’s music fans noticed about his sixth new studio album, given the typically open-ended title Recent Songs, was that, musically, it marked a return to the gypsy folk sound of his early records after the incongruous arrangements Phil Spector imposed on its predecessor, Death of a Ladies’ Man, only two years earlier. There were subtle musical developments, particularly a flavor of the American Southwest, courtesy of the band Passenger, which played on several tracks, but the acoustic guitars and violin recalled classic Cohen. Fans of the artist’s poetry noticed something else. His writing had become increasingly bitter and angry during the 1970s in the books The Energy of Slaves and Death of a Lady’s Man as well as in his lyrics, but there was a new equanimity in these Recent Songs that began with the welcoming introduction of “The Guests.” All was not suddenly well, of course, but “the open-hearted many” outnumbered “the broken-hearted few.” Cohen’s usual mixture of religious and sexual imagery in the songs was elegant and evocative rather than painful. If he was conscious of the sacrifices he had made in vain in “Came So Far for Beauty,” he was nevertheless able to make a sincere plea to a woman in “The Window,” mixing it with a prayer to “gentle this soul.” The album was full of references to absence and dislocation, but Cohen deliberately countered them with humor. The cover of “The Lost Canadian (Un Canadient Errant)” was enlivened by a mariachi arrangement, and the album ended with “Ballad of the Absent Mare,” an allegory about a cowboy’s search for a horse that ended with the suggestion that the pursuit was only a romantic game. Though often abstract, Recent Songs suggested Cohen had regained a certain equilibrium after a long dark period.

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SKU: 12159 Categories: Folk Music, Rare & Collectable, Rock & Roll Tags: Garth Hudson, Jennifer Warnes, Leonard Cohen

Description
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Description

CBS Records ‎– 86097 Stereo Vinyl LP 1979 EU Pressing

Side 1.

1. The Guests
Acoustic Guitar – Leonard Cohen
Arranged By [Backing Vocals], Backing Vocals – Jennifer Warnes
Bass – Abraham Laboriel
Organ – Randy Waldman
Oud – John Bilezikjian
Violin – Raffi Hakopian

2. Humbled In Love
Backing Vocals – James Gilstrap, Julia Tillman, Maxine Willard, Roger St. Kenerly, Stephanie Spruill
Bass – Charles Roscoe Beck
Drums – Steve Meador
Electric Guitar – Mitch Watkins
Electric Piano – Bill Ginn
Saxophone – Paul Ostermeyer

3. The Window
Acoustic Guitar – Leonard Cohen
Backing Vocals – Jennifer Warnes
Bass – Abraham Laboriel
Cello – Edgar Lustgarden
Organ – Randy Waldman
Oud – John Bilezikjian
Violin [Solo] – Raffi Hakopian

4. Came So Far For Beauty
Bass – John Miller
Co-producer, Arranged By, Piano – John Lissauer
Written-By – J. Lissauer, L. Cohen

A5. The Lost Canadian (Un Canadien Errant)
Arranged By – Leonard Cohen
Conductor [Mariachi Band] – Luiz Briseño
Guitar – Ricardo Gonzalez
Guitar [Biguela] – Filipe Perez
Guitarrón – Everado Sandoval
Trumpet – Jose Perez, Pablo Sandoval
Violin – Agostin Cervantes, Armando Quintero, Luiz Briseño, Miguel Sandoval
Written-By – M.A. Gerin-Lajoie

Side 2.

1. The Traitor
Acoustic Guitar – Leonard Cohen
Arranged By [Strings], Conductor [Strings] – Jeremy Lubbock
Bass – Abraham Laboriel
Organ – Randy Waldman
Oud – John Bilezikjian
Violin [Solo] – Raffi Hakopian

2. Our Lady Of Solitude
Bass – Charles Roscoe Beck
Drums – Steve Meador
Electric Guitar – Mitch Watkins
Oboe – Earle Dumler
Piano – Bill Ginn
Piano [Yamaha] – Garth Hudson

3. The Gypsy’s Wife
Accordion – Garth Hudson
Acoustic Guitar – Leonard Cohen
Bass – Charles Roscoe Beck
Oud – John Bilezikjian
Violin – Raffi Hakopian

4. The Smokey Life
Acoustic Guitar – Leonard Cohen
Arranged By [Strings], Conductor [Strings] – Jeremy Lubbock
Drums – Steve Meador
Electric Piano – Bill Ginn
English Horn – Earle Dumler
Vocals [Duet] – Jennifer Warnes, Leonard Cohen

5. Ballad Of The Absent Mare
Conductor [Mariachi Band] – Luiz Briseño
Guitar – Leonard Cohen, Ricardo Gonzalez
Guitar [Biguela] – Filipe Perez
Guitarrón – Everado Sandoval
Trumpet – Jose Perez, Pablo Sandoval
Violin – Agostin Cervantes, Armando Quintero, Luiz Briseño, Miguel Sandoval

Credits:
Arranged By [Harmony] – Jennifer Warnes
Artwork [Art Director] – Glen Christensen
Artwork [Cover Portrait, Illustration] – Dianne Lawrence
Mastered By – Bernie Grundman
Producer – Henry Lewy, Leonard Cohen
Recorded By [Assistant], Mixed By [Assistant] – Derek Dunan*, Greg Falken, Skip Cottrell
Recorded By, Mixed By – Henry Lewy
Written-By – L. Cohen