Customer Reviews
The Other Side Of Sorrow And Despair - By: pikeyboy, 09 Sep 2007 
Cohen made three classic albums with John Lissaeur at the helm: 1974's New Skin For The Old Ceremony, 1979's Recent Songs, but at the apex of these achievements stands 1984's Various Positions,in that it paved the way for a new audience to discover Leonard Cohen afresh. This wasn't done by just adding the odd synthesised drone here & there, for there is the same continuity of themes & musical genres threaded consistently through the works (compare New Skin's 'Why Don't You Try?' or 'I Tried To Leave You' alongside Recent Songs' 'Came So Far For Beauty' or 'The Smokey Life', i.e., & you'll find they sit naturally next to tracks like 'Hallelujah' or 'Coming Back To You', whereas 'Night Comes On' & 'If It Be Your Will' would not have sounded out of place on Songs From A Room). What appears so much different about Various Positions is more to do with Cohen as an artist: he sounds rejuvenated & almost ready to make that protean leap towards making that one true classic that would positively redefine him for generations to come. I refer, of course, to I'm Your Man. I was recently tickled to read of a conversation around this time between Leonard & Bob Dylan, where Leonard asked Bob how long it took him to write 'I And I' from the album Infidels. "About ten minutes," was the forthright reply Bob gave. "How long did it take you to write 'Hallelujah'?" "Three or four years," deadpanned Cohen, later explaining: "it really took about five years, but I didn't want to look like I was dragging my heels or anything." The point being: you can appreciate the precision & care that Cohen tookin recording certain tracks on Various Positions. 'Hallelujah', apparently, was whittled down from dozens of seperate verses, all presumably containing a unique rhyme such as 'do ya', 'overthrew ya', 'fool ya' (you get the picture), just as similarly 'Democracy' from The Future was whittled down from hundreds of different verses. This is craft of a higher order.
Elsewhere, we are treated to such gems as Dance Me To The End Of Love, one of those definitive mission statements that Cohen seems to throw out effortlessly, even though we know this can't possibly be the case. 'Coming Back To You' returns to Leonard's country roots with classic ambiguous imagery: is it literal, or devotional, or both? 'The Law' has a slight reggae lilt, & 'Night Comes On' is a masterpiece of darkness & shade. Side Two of the original kicks off with the masterful 'Hallelujah' & ends with the anthemic & positively hymnal 'If It Be Your Will', takingin faux-country ('The Captain'), dark nursery-rhyme ('Hunter's Lullaby'), & the celebratory 'Heart With No Companion' along the way. The whole proceedings presaged a huge seismic shiftin the perception of Leonard Cohen as some doom-laden troubadour. Had he not gone on to record the collossal I'm Your Man, I feel many would have regarded this as his best by a long chalk since the first album. As it stands, Various Positions, remains Leonard's transitional masterpiece, & you can do lots worse than shell-out a fiver or less to have thisin your collection.
Leonard Cohen at his best - By: Keith Joseph, 08 Feb 2005 This is one of my favourite Cohen CDs, as it has no tracks I tend to skip past. As usual it is Cohen's strong lyrics (more poetry really) & the quality of his voice that holds the simple backing tunes together. Being exposed to country music as a child by my father I particularly like, well love actually, 'The Captain' (he even gently mocks the formatin the lyrics) but there other strong songsin there as well you may prefer, like 'The Law' or 'The night comes in' or 'Hallelujah' [yes, the song from Shrek written by LC & sung by Neil Diamond]. However I do find the superb track 'The night comes in' rather sad & uncomfortable listening [even more than 'The story of Isaac' on Songs from a room] - although music that's powerful enough to move you certainly can't be considered a bad thing. Cohen's words are often interestingly cryptic, moving & deeply reflective, rather than being outrightly political or 'protest'. If you are new to Leonard Cohen I'd also get the later 'I'm your man', plus perhaps 'The Future' & 'Songs from a room'. The recording quality of all these re-released Cohen CD's is very good, & this one is no exception. They are also very good value.
'Embrace and hold us tight, all your children dressed in rags of light' - By: Pieter, 15 Mar 2002 This 1984 album, the last of Cohen's folk masterpieces & one subtly spiced with country, never grows stale due to the intricacy of its arrangements - vocal & instrumental - while perennially revealing deeper layers of metaphysical & symbolic significance. Or as one ages one understands better! Particularly sublime is the interaction of male & female vocals calibrated to bring out the bestin both. The devotion & the vocals of Anjani Thomas & Jennifer Warnes make a major contribution to the music's enduring beauty.
Cohen's gift of melody & rhythm finds buoyant expressionin Dance Me to the End Of Love which may sound catchy & even frisky like a simple pop tune but if one pays attention multiple meanings & possibilities emerge. In contrast, Coming Back to You unfolds slowly & solemnly through a graceful melody wed to imagery that navigates delicately between romantic & divine love. The two tracks The Law & The Night Comes On evoke something of John Berryman's poetic sensibility ... The Moon & the Night & the Men, The Song of the Tortured Girl & above all, Sonnet number 34.
The Night Comes On may be the absolute highlight of this album, a rare gem ranking amongst the greatest of Cohen's songs. Like assembling a pearl necklace, it strings striking images of the domestic & personal, the universal, the spiritual, historical & prophetic on a thread of longing. As the song unfolds, the symbolism unleashes an almost supernatural power that stirs the psyche hinting at or conjuring vague specters of ancient memories. There are close correspondencesin the song Anthem on The Future.
Being familiar with John Cale's soaring version of Hallelujah on the tribute album I'm Your Fan & Jeff Buckley's on Grace, Cohen's own sounds somewhat monotone & subdued, still beautiful but constrained within a narrow range compared to the aforementioned. The tale of David & Batsheba that started with desire, led to murder & a string of tragedies but was ultimately transformed into the redemptive, reliesin the songwriter's version on the atmosphere created by the female vocals rather than his voice.
The words of the rhythmic lilting song The Captain with its tinkling piano, tangy country flavor & ironic comment on "some country-western song" contain & conceal more than they reveal as they undulate on the tune & the beat. Then the tempo drops for the cold & alienating Hunter's Lullaby thatin arrangement (not mood) resembles the 1979 album Recent Songs. The message is baffling but may refer to the subconscious impulses that isolate & lead us astray. There is a sense of menace & desolation without the redemptive introspection of The Beast In Me by Nick Lowe on his album The Impossible Bird.
Cohen's mysticism, masked or open, infuses every song. It manifests most painfullyin Hunter's Lullaby & most inspiringlyin The Law, The Night Comes On & The Captain whilein Heart With No Companion it shines like a thousand suns. The healing power can go everywhere & reach anyone, only & exactly because it has been shattered. It recalls the crackin everything that allows the lightin on the aforementioned Anthem, a reference to the shattering of the vessels as explainedin the Arizal's The Tree of Life: Introduction to the Kabbalah of Isaac Luria as preserved by Rabbi Vital, & less clearlyin the Zohar.
The impassioned Heart With No Companion combines a lilting uptempo beat & hypnotic tune with lyrics contemplating disillusionment, shattered dreams & immobilizing fear exacerbated by a terrifying prophecy: "Through the days of shame that are coming/through the nights of wild distress". These negatives are all erased, however, by the lines: "Now I greet you from the other side/Of sorrow & despair/With a love so vast & shattered/It will reach you everywhere". The defiance expressed by: "Though your promise count for nothing/You must keep it none the less" isin fact the antidote to nihilism, affirming the primacy of spirit & of the word. Land Of Plenty on Ten New Songs covers some of the same territory: "For the Christ who has not risen/From the caverns of the heart/For what's left of our religion/I lift my voice & pray/May the lightsin the land of plenty/Shine on the truth some day".
If Hunter's Lullaby seemingly submits to despair whilst Heart With No Companion directly defies it, the final song is a prayer of intercession on an ancient pattern, the same to which The Lord's Prayer conforms. With praise & reverence, If It Be Your Will intercedes not only for the tormented soulsin hell but for all the childrenin their "rags of light," the remnants of the shattered vessels. As a sung prayer it is as moving as Calling My Children Home performed by Emmylou Harris on Spyboy although it is serene where Emmylou's song yearns with burning heartache. The one represents Rachel weeping for her children whilst the other calms the tempest with trustin the Eternal Divine, knowing that Spiritin mercy overrules The Law (of cause & effect).
Revisiting Anjani & Jennifer, I highly recommend the first's inspiring album The Sacred Names on which she singsin Hebrew, Ancient Greek, Aramaic, Portuguese & English, & the second's sensitive interpretations of Cohen compositions on her Famous Blue Raincoat, the Twentieth Anniversary edition that has been enhanced by four extra tracks: The Night Comes On, Ballad of the Runaway Horse, If It Be Your Will & Joan of Arc livein Antwerp where the Novecento Orchestra, West Brabants Operakoor & De Tweede Adem support Jenny & her band, adding depth to Cohen's elegy to the Maid of Orleans.
Cohen encapsulates the diversity of the Canadian experience - By: , 07 Jul 2001 
I first discovered Leonard Cohen many years ago at the tender age of 16. Melancholy, complex, his music captivated, yet puzzled me. What relevance did his lyrics have for one stuck out on the Canadian prairie?
Revisiting his works as a more mature listener, I am struck by the intricacy of his themes: the exploration of the catholic-jewish-anglo-french-canadian ethos of the 60's-70's-and-80's that somehow transcends all to become the epitome of the cosmopolitan experience of every-person.
In Various Positions, Cohen begins to sacrifice his characteristic rough diamond quality for the more polished sound of his later works. Still, "If it be your will" is a classic exploration of male submission, while "Hunter's Lullaby" has that hypnotic dirge-like quality that one has to love if one loves Cohen. My favourite is "Hallelujah" - is this Cohenin jubilant mode?
