Album: Leonard Cohen, Old Ideas (Columbia)
Sunday 29 January 2012
Given that he's released just 12 albums in 45 years, you might expect Cohen's output to be uniformly essential.
But while Old Ideas boasts words as fine as any he has ever crafted, it also feels like a battle to see which can go deeper, those lyrics or that voice. The songs, such as they can be described as songs, are almost uniformly more affected than affecting. Which is not to say Cohen is not an artist to be treasured, just that Old Ideas may not be entirely essential.
Arts & Ents blogs
Friday Book Design Blog: Blurb special
Let's talk book blurbs, those quotes you get, usually from other writers, that are meant to entice y...
Something For The Weekend in London: May 17-19
Fela Kuti, Jewish food and The Great Gatsby are just some of the reasons why the rainy weather ahead...
SPOT festival: Bob Dylan, TopShop, and René Descartes
Sat in a hotel lobby amidst a music conference in Aarhus around 4am in is a great way to argue, and ...
- 1 Stoke City investigate 'religious abuse' after 'pig's head is found in Kenwyne Jones' locker'
- 2 Gove’s lesson: spare the comma, spoil the child
- 3 Heading for America? Prepare for the longest US immigration queues ever
- 4 Grace Dent on TV: Extreme Couponing, My Strange Addiction, and Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, TLC
- 5 Join Ryanair! See the world! But we'll only pay you for nine months a year
Get your summer started with British Military Fitness
BMF is the UK’s biggest and best loved outdoor fitness classes
Visit York
Find out what The Independent's resident travel expert has to say about one of the most beautiful small cities in the world
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
The price of pacifism
Jason Isaacs: Groupies, theatre bores and James Bond
Sealand: 'Micronation' or illegal fortress?
One man returns to Argentina's town that drowned
Gordon Ramsay's worst nightmare: A restaurant he cannot save
Why bitters are back on the bar
The 10 Best barbecues


Comments