Leonard Cohen (b. September 21, 1934 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) represents the quintessential marriage of extraordinary artistry and sharp, poignant intellect. Known primarily as a folk singer/songwriter, Cohen is equally a brilliant poet and novelist compared to the likes of James Joyce or Henry Miller. It was not until 1967, at which time Cohen was well in his thirties, that he released his debut album, The Songs of Leonard Cohen; by this time he was an internationally celebrated writer, and so it is that same literary base which elevates Cohen’s musical work to the heights of genius. Including such songs as “Suzanne,” “Sisters of Mercy” and “So Long, Marianne,” the album is a melancholy masterpiece of insight and observation. His next album, the dark and minimalist Songs from a Room, was released in 1969 and includes such powerful songs as the sparse classic “Bird on the Wire” and the anti-war “The Story of Isaac.” The 1970s was another highly prolific decade for Cohen, with the release of albums such as Songs of Love and Hate (1971,) Live Songs (1973,) and, after a tour of Israeli army bases during the Yom Kippur War, New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974,) Death of a Ladies’ Man (1977,) and Recent Songs (1979.) In 1984, Cohen released the critically acclaimed Various Positions, a more modern-sounding collection of songs prominently featuring vocalist Jennifer Warnes and including the masterpiece “Hallelujah,” later famously covered by Jeff Buckley. Cohen spent a considerable amount of the 1990s in deep seclusion at a Zen Buddhist retreat in California, eventually becoming ordained as a Rinzai Zen Buddhist monk under the name Jikjan. After leaving the retreat in 1999, he began collaborating with singer/songwriter Sharon Robinson for 2001’s Ten New Songs, and in 2004 released the experimental and far less somber Dear Heather, his first collaboration with jazz singer/songwriter Anjani Thomas. Leonard Cohen – the singer/songwriter, poet, novelist and thinker – stands among the “highest and most influential echelon of songwriters,” combining a dark, explicit and bitterly ironical tone with lush and deeply romantic sensuality to discuss, like none other, such themes as love, religion, isolation, sexuality, death and beauty. For this reason Leonard Cohen remains one of the most fascinating artistic figures of our times.
It is well with my soul, Merry Christmas to all who are in the Lord Jesus Christ, try to love without buying and you will see that it's better all the times to be in Christ Jesus on Christmas and not just some gift to glorify your own needs. I love you and wish you well in you soul Chuck Come Lord Jesus Come,
May lovely, happy times decorate this time of the season. May warm, special memories brighten your New Year, may the wonder of Christmas be with you (forever). Saby O'
Have a wonderful holiday season! May it be full of love and goodness! Thank you for your poetic music! May the New Year bring many blessings your way to enjoy!
Dear friend! Thanks for supporting me. It's been an exciting year. I'm looking forward to hitting the road and seeing you soon. Have a grand Christmas. Enjoy the festive season, biscuits and presents, mistletoe and wine. I wish you all the best, health and wealth and everything you always wanted. Stay tuned and with me. Best wishes! Bruce
In a world much, much bigger than ours and so different that everything was the same, one could hear silence and the roaring void...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17eqbkgrhGA
Dans un monde beaucoup, beaucoup plus grand que le notre, et tellement different qu'il lui etait etonnement similaire, on entendait le vide et le silence bourdonner...
The Christmas season is near, it's time for some presents... I put up 2 previously unreleased tracks for FREE download at www.gordon-reeves.com/freedownloads
GET ON IT AND SPREAD THE GOOD WORD!
I'm wishing you wonderful days for Christmas and all the best for 2010! Cya, Gordon
Christmas is soon, we call Christmas, the feast of love. We know we should love each time, even the people whose way of life we do not understand. However, we are only human and not always fair. Let us try to understand and to love, at Christmas and maybe after! I wish for Christmas to me, I am learning to understand! In the future, not people who have to call soldiers to die in order to change the history of the tower building of Babylon! All men were given intelligence in order to understand. We have feelings, to love. In this sense, I will celebrate Christmas. And I hope that all people, regardless of their race and what religion they belong, to begin the understanding which has been given to use in order to understand. Let us live in peace! I wish everyone a wonderful and peaceful Christmas!
Hi Leonard Cohen, the debut release from Australian psychedelic rockers Argus is now available on itunes and Amazon! Check it out!!! http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?i=312360964&id=312360929&s=143441&uo=6 Also, check out our friend Red Hot Chili Pepper Chad Smith's new band, Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats and their iTunes Top 10 Funk/Jazz debut release, "Meet the Meatbats"! http://www.myspace.com/bombasticmeatbats