Album Review : Leonard Cohen - Recent Songs (1979)
The seventies were a wildly uneven decade in Leonard Cohen’s professional life. It started extremely strong with Songs of Love and Hate, before taking a weird turn that would redefine his artistic identity. His songs became catchier and more polished, but lost the emotional complexity that made Cohen so unique and endearing. The music industry was trying to shape him into a more marketable product and it ended with a weird album recorded at gunpoint. No one remembers Death of a Ladies Man fondly, but it was a crucial moment in Leonard Cohen’s career.
Two years later, the complex and sophisticated storyteller we all love was back on Recent Songs and he never really left after that.
Recent Songs is basically a fuck-you-all-I’ll-do-what-I-want record. Cohen decided to focus on what he really cared about (lyrics and performance) and hired musicians he trusted to do the rest. It was described to be a very reasonable working environment. The atmosphere of trust and respect shows in many ways on the record. It starts with the gorgeous and byzantine The Guests, where Cohen is playing off his backup singers like he’s never done before. It is musically simple and emotionally deep and layered.
The song itself tells the story of a mysterious and exciting evening. It’s filled with sexual tension. It’s new and different because the back and forth between Cohen and his backup singers in the chorus reflects that sexual tension and gives it a brand new dimension.
Musically speaking, Recent Songs is very much a return to minimalism. Songs like Our Lady of Solitude and The Gypsy’s Wife are lyrically gorgeous and deep, but also quite bare. Whether it is accompanied by a quiet piano melody or Cohen’s trademark swirling, dreamlike guitar, the arrangement don’t call attention to themselves. Many songs on the record are a celebration of Leonard Cohen’s extraordinary writing skills, but they’re also very peaceful and contemplative. There are no desperate declaration of love or fits of anger for it to be remembered by.
I guess Humbled in Love is the closest thing Recent Songs have to a radio-friendly hit with its fat bassline, discreet brass section and smoky, bar-like chorus. It’s a fun song despite being a little complex and bloated in order to have commercial appeal. It’s not the point of Recent Songs anyway. It’s an album where the pleasure of the creation process is more important than the hypothetical market it’s recorded for. In other words, it’s a bunch of friends having fun writing music and recording songs together. It doesn’t matter if you like it or not.
But is Recent Songs a good album? It’s often overlooked when discussing Leonard Cohen’s legacy and except for the immense The Guests, it’s understandable why. If you weren’t already into Cohen then, it’s very doubtful that he won you over with anything there. It’s also strategically placed between his worse album and two of his best. The material on Recent Songs is good, but it’s not historically good. Not on Leonard Cohen terms anyway. It’s quiet, reflexive mood music that either require all of your attention or none at all.
7.4/10
