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Ten New Songs
With "Hallelujah" getting airplay following the Septermber 11 attacks, Canadian singer/songwriter returns with another solid album of Ten New Songs after a long silence.
The album is joint effort between Cohen and past collaborator and back-up vocalist Sharon Robinson, who produced the album, co-wrote the songs, comes forward for vocal duets on a few songs, arranged and performed nearly all the music, and even shares the front cover with Cohen. Musically, Robinson does a fine job of keeping the focus on Cohen, placing his voice out in front of the sparse arangements and her murmuring vocals.
And that takes some work, as Cohen's voice isn't as strong as it was seven years ago when he last recorded. He's now the elder statesmen of the singer/songwriters at 67, having outlasting most all of his peers. Cohen's never been known for the beauty of his voice, but it has noticibly deteriorated. He does make the most of what remains, and remains an expressive vocalist even when he is talking more than singing.
The approach is much the same as that of his past two albums, with the songs covering such staples as as romantic longing and drunken regret ("I fought against the bottle, but I had to do it drunk"). He seems more at peace than in the past, with no songs as negative as "The Future," perhaps a result of the five years he spent as a Zen Buddist monk. None of the songs stand out from the pack, but that's more a matter of a strong sustained mood and consistently good songwriting across these Ten New Songs. If there is a standout, it is the finale "The Land of Plenty" where he sings a prayer fitting for our current times: "For what's left of our religion, I lift my voice and pray; May the lights of the Land of Plenty shine on the truth someday." Amen.
Fans of Leonard Cohen will definitely want this disc, and probably don't need anyone's endorsement. Folks unfamiliar probably will want to pick up one of the available greatest hits collections to help put this fine album in context.
