 | Essential Leonard Cohen by Leonard Cohen
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $11.19 Though some people claim that Mr. Cohen's voice is abyssmal, I think that somehow, his voice fits his songs; especially in early classics which take on a near Celtic tone in the folk-like atmosphere that is brought forth. However, his gravely version of "In My Secret Life" with Sharon Robinson works quite well, as the subject matter befits an older man.
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 | Live In London by Leonard Cohen
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $8.20 Leonard Cohen live in concert: it's a nice tour de force of old and new material. The live version of "The Future" is very passionate and Cohen's age and energy make him sound like quite the wild-eyed Old Testament prophet.
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 | Judy Collins Sings Leonard Cohen: Democracy by Judy Collins
Buy new: $14.99 / Used from: $5.00 Judy Collins sings the songs of Leonard Cohen as if every song were written with HER in mind. Ms. Collins does a fantastic job with the bard-like ballads such as "Night Comes On", "Joan of Arc", and "Democracy".
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 | Famous Blue Raincoat: 20th Anniversary Edition by Jennifer Warnes
Buy new: $10.99 / Used from: $8.00 Jennifer Warnes takes a jazzy approach to "Famous Blue Raincoat", but I like better her "Bird On A Wire" which has an interesting, pulsating quality. Her voice in all selections is outstanding though.
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 | Bird on the Wire/the Songs of Leonard Cohen by Perla Batalla
Buy new: $14.99 / Used from: $34.06 Perla Batilla's voice is also outstanding, especially on "Famous Blue Raincoat" which is wonderfuly done with a string quartet that adds a very sad, sentimental and dreamlike quality to the song.
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 | I'm Your Fan by Various Artists
Buy new: $10.99 / Used from: $4.99 On this CD, REM does a very forceful version of "First We Take Manhattan". Geoffrey Oryemi does a very dream-like interpretation of "Suzanne", while Ian McColough goes back to that Celtic, bard-like sound with "That's No Way To Say Goodbye". John Cale does "Hallelujah", with feeling and passion; the arrangement is striped down to Cale's pleading voice with piano.
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 | Blue Alert (CD/DVD) by Anjani
Buy new: $7.99 / Used from: $4.48 The good thing about this CD is that all the songs are NEW. Thomas takes the jazzy approach of a torch singer on this CD which does a good job of touching upon the underlying meloncholy that is a part of Cohen's music.
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 | Everybody Knows by Sharon Robinson
Buy new: $8.99 / Used from: $7.95 Only three songs on this CD are Leonard Cohen compositions (co-written by Sharon Robinson), but they are all very well done and powerful. "Alexandra Leaving" is one of those gentle and heart felt ballads. The other songs on this CD that were composed by Robinson without Cohen reveal that Robinson is quite a song writer herself.
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 | The Best of Buffy Sainte-Marie by Buffy Sainte-Marie
Buy new: $14.99 / Used from: $9.88 Even though this CD only has ONE Leonard Cohen song, "God is Alive, Magic is Afoot", I believe it does not appear anywhere else. It was written in collaboration with Buffy Sainte Marie who makes it into a psychedelic journey that also touches upon her Native American heritage. Apart from that, Sainte Marie is also a very interesting folk artist in her own right.
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 | Just Like a Woman: Sings Classic Songs of the 1960s by Nina Simone
Buy new: $8.98 / Used from: $4.25 Again, only ONE Leonard Cohen song appears on this CD. Nina Simone's "perky" jazz version of "Suzanne" was my first introduction to this profound work of music and poetry, especially in it's description of Jesus Christ as a kind of lonely lover. Simone also covers other great song writers such as Bob Dylan and George Harrison.
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