Recent Songs Leonard Cohen

• 1The Guests06:39
• 2Humbled in Love05:13
• 3The Window05:55
• 4Came So Far for Beauty04:02
• 5The Lost Canadian (Un Canadien Errant)04:41
• 6The Traitor06:14
• 7Our Lady of Solitude03:12
• 8The Gypsy's Wife05:13
• 9The Smokey Life05:17
• 10Ballad of the Absent Mare06:43
• Total Runtime53:09

Info for Recent Songs

After recovering from his traumatic studio experiences with Phil Spector on „Death Of A Ladies' Man“ (Spector was said to have brandished a gun at some point), Cohen retreated to friendlier sonic climes. Aided by co-producer Henry Lewy, he filled „Recent Songs“ with stately songpoems marked by lush (but never overdone), elegant arrangements. While there was always a pronounced literary streak in Cohen's work, the songs here find him at his most purely poetic, more the chansonnier than the troubadour.

"I Came So Far For Beauty" finds Cohen in a familiar self-effacing mode, recounting his vain search for the perfect muse. Like „New Skin’s“ "There is a War," "The Traitor" effectively analyzes personal travails through militaristic metaphor, over semi-classical backing. The closing "Ballad of the Absent Mare," later covered by Emmylou Harris, comes off like an epic prose poem in the classic ballad style, but its slight cowboy lilt provides a nice contrast to the lyric. „Recent Songs“ is arguably Cohen's most mature '70s effort.

Leonard Cohen, vocals, guitar

Recorded from April - May 1979 at A&M Studios, Hollywood
Engineered by Henry Lewy
Produced by Henry Lewy, Leonard Cohen

Digitally remastered

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