- Audio Cassette (19 Oct 2001)
- Label: Billboard Singles
- ASIN: B00005RTSN
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Vinyl | Mini-Disc | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
For the nine years prior to the release of Ten New Songs the legendary songwriter Leonard Cohen was mostly in a Zen monastery, obsessively rewriting and polishing the oblique, lapidary lyrics for this austere collection. Ten New Songs is arguably Sharon Robinson's record as much as Cohen's--she co-wrote all the songs, plays most of the instruments (primarily a synth that seems to have freshly emerged from a chintzy 1984 power ballad) and accompanies Cohen's gloomy croak with her own crooning. This is the most subdued album Cohen's ever made, which is saying something. It's as if he no longer has time for anything in music or performance that could alter the meaning and force of his words. --Douglas Wolk
Review
Ah laughing Lenny, how we've missed your eloquent sadness and weary baritone. Back from the Buddhist retreat on Mount Baldy (no, really) after seven years of quiet contemplation, Mr Cohen returns with a new name (Jikan - given by his Buddhist teacher) and the latest news from the front line of the emotional wars. The news is much the same as it was way back then. Love is a mystery and all we can do is reflect on that enigma. Leonard is, after all the master of bearing those battle scars with dignity. So, if the more things change, the more they stay the same, why do we need Ten New Songs by the original bedsit bard? Over to the man, himself.
Oh, lothario Lenny, the loquacious ladies man, how the girls love that smoky voice. At 67 the tones remain world-worn. Indeed, Cohen is the finest example of a man who has grown into his public persona as time has passed, but the accompanying sound seems startlingly contemporary. The elements remain the same as his previous few albums - the soft nylon strings of a lone guitar replaced by digital keyboards and perfectly poised female backing vocals (provided by writing and performing partner Sharon Robinson). Yet the thing that always marks his work is the sense of removal from the North American singer songwriter tradition. The murmuring simplicity owes far more to the European chanson and, as a result, always appears far more personal. Torn from the pages of Leonard's heart and served up with startling honesty. This man has loved and lost plenty.
So, lilting Lenny serves us a diet of sex, love and ageing. Songs such as "A Thousand Kisses Deep" show that, Zen training or not, the carnal is still uppermost in the troubadour's mind: "Confined to sex, we pressed against the limits of the sea&I blessed our remnant fleet - and then consented to be wrecked, a Thousand Kisses Deep." Indeed, it's somehow heartening to hear how the man who epitomises intellectual philandering is still compelled to chronicle his conquests and defeats. "You Have Loved Enough", "Here It Is", "Love Itself", all concern themselves with the eternal questions surrounding the bonding of male and female and, despite the autobiographical shell, achieve a moving universality. And that is why we need Ten New Songs from lovelorn Lenny. "A sip of wine, a cigarette, and then it's time to go... " Until the next time. --Chris Jones
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
107 of 108 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
After nine years since Leonard Cohen's last studio album The Future, was Ten New Songs worth the wait? Mostly, yes. There are three songs on the album which seem destined to join other Cohen classics - the pacy opening track "In My Secret Life", the rich and haunting "A Thousand Kisses Deep" and witty, urban-centered "Boogie Street" in which Cohen seems to be saying goodbye to his years as a zen monk on a mountain outside Los Angeles and coming back into the real world of traffic jams.
Another highlight is the death-haunted "Here It Is", which unexpectedly telescopes romantic love with sickness, drunken falls, bedpans "cardboard and piss" and the thudding, powerful "By the Rivers Dark" which celebrates a life torn between the pleasures of Babylon and a nameless destructive force.
Cohen's voice is as weatherbeaten and low as you'd expect, and if anything even deeper and lower than on The Future, and is beautifully counterpointed by co-writer Sharon Robinson's delicate choruses and backing. The most exquisitely melancholy song on the whole album is surely "Alexandra Leaving". Like so much of Cohen's music this is music for lonely listeners in lonely rooms, or lonely drivers heading across a quiet landscape at dusk.
Though Ten New Songs is synthesizer-based and has many stylistic similarities to The Future the album is significantly different and is much more personal, with no political/social commentary apart from the gestures of the disappointingly weak final track "The Land of Plenty". The arrangements are more stripped down than on The Future (not always a good thing - the synthesizer drumbeat is at times oddly amateurish). But the mild blemishes don't spoil the overall effect of the album, which is one of those that grows on you with repeated listening.
Cohen's often under-rated sense of humour is much in evidence, notably in the lines "I fought against the bottle, / But I had to do it drunk". So too is his lyric genius: the line "When hatred with his package comes" reverberates with somber meaning. These are songs of age and loss, rueful but life-affirming, with a sense of toughness and endurance.
On the whole, Ten New Songs is a mellow, haunting album. It's as good as, maybe even better than, The Future, but not quite up to the dazzling standard of I'm Your Man.
Another highlight is the death-haunted "Here It Is", which unexpectedly telescopes romantic love with sickness, drunken falls, bedpans "cardboard and piss" and the thudding, powerful "By the Rivers Dark" which celebrates a life torn between the pleasures of Babylon and a nameless destructive force.
Cohen's voice is as weatherbeaten and low as you'd expect, and if anything even deeper and lower than on The Future, and is beautifully counterpointed by co-writer Sharon Robinson's delicate choruses and backing. The most exquisitely melancholy song on the whole album is surely "Alexandra Leaving". Like so much of Cohen's music this is music for lonely listeners in lonely rooms, or lonely drivers heading across a quiet landscape at dusk.
Though Ten New Songs is synthesizer-based and has many stylistic similarities to The Future the album is significantly different and is much more personal, with no political/social commentary apart from the gestures of the disappointingly weak final track "The Land of Plenty". The arrangements are more stripped down than on The Future (not always a good thing - the synthesizer drumbeat is at times oddly amateurish). But the mild blemishes don't spoil the overall effect of the album, which is one of those that grows on you with repeated listening.
Cohen's often under-rated sense of humour is much in evidence, notably in the lines "I fought against the bottle, / But I had to do it drunk". So too is his lyric genius: the line "When hatred with his package comes" reverberates with somber meaning. These are songs of age and loss, rueful but life-affirming, with a sense of toughness and endurance.
On the whole, Ten New Songs is a mellow, haunting album. It's as good as, maybe even better than, The Future, but not quite up to the dazzling standard of I'm Your Man.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The great man has returned with more greats---the first three tracks are instantly likeable;A Thousand Kisses deep having tones of The Miracle from The Future album-----the other seven tracks take a bit of listening to;but become stronger and more meaningful with each replay--this is an album for a darkened room,tranquility, and time apart to really listen to lyrics and the voices,and savour the moments.This man always sends those shivers of delight and amazement through me--don't leave it too long til next time Mr.Cohen.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
A long time fan of Leonard Cohen, this album did not really work for me when I first bought it. I enjoyed it and added it to my collection but I didn't want to play it all the time. This January, I started playing it again and I just can't take it off the player. Everytime I decide it's time for a change, I find myself singing along and it stays on and it is now February. If you have not heard it, try it, it will grow on you big time.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great collection
I can listen to this CD at anytime without getting tired of listening to it. Even my 16 year old thinks that it is great. Read more
Published 7 days ago by Donna
Leonard Cohen Ten New songs
Delightful - very glad it was listed and would recommend it to anyone as an introduction to Leonard Cohen as well as those who have other Leonard Cohen discs.
Published 1 month ago by searcher
Leonard Cohen
I found out only latley who mr cohen was, I have heard many of his works and loved them. Since I have learned about this great artist I am hooked on his music and this did not... Read more
Published 2 months ago by susan bell
leonard cohen revue.
this was bought as a replacement for my i-pod as the 1 i had got corrupted,i love all of l.cohen,s albums and this one is an excellent buy,it has some great tracks on it. Read more
Published 2 months ago by blueboy
Ten New Songs: Leonard Cohen - A Thousand Kisses Deep
For his tenth studio release, his first album of the millennium, and his first release in almost a decade, Leonard Cohen went back to basics and created a piece of sublime... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Victor
Ten New Songs: Leonard Cohen - A Thousand Kisses Deep
For his tenth studio release, his first album of the millennium, and his first release in almost a decade, Leonard Cohen went back to basics and created a piece of sublime... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Victor
perfect...
LC can do no wrong in my book, and Sharon also, so perfect. In fairness it is aduo album, not just LC. Perfect songs beautifully performed (LC) / sung (Sharon) and played...
Published 16 months ago by C. Whyatt
Lenfest - creativity undimmed
I've been having a little bit of a revisit of Cohen's work. I was certainly one of those intense young women who found his music and lyrics compulsively thoughtful, sexy and... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Lady Fancifull
Good music for those who really listen
When I first listened to this album I thought it was a bit dull, but as time went by this music has grown on me. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Gerrida
From the rivers of Babylon to the land of plenty
These Ten New Songs from 2001 are quite subdued and at first listen they all have the same slow gentle sound. Read more
Published on 14 April 2010 by Pieter
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