The Best of Leonard Cohen

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The Best of Leonard Cohen
The Best of Leonard Cohen.jpg
Greatest hits album by
Leonard Cohen
ReleasedJanuary 1, 1975
Recorded1967–1974
Genre Contemporary folk
Length46:45
Label Columbia
Producer Bob Johnston, John Lissauer, John Simon
2009 re-release cover
Leonard Cohen Greatest Hits 2009.jpg
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [1]

The Best of Leonard Cohen is a greatest hits album by Leonard Cohen, released in 1975. In some European countries, it was released under the title Greatest Hits. This alternative title was used for the original vinyl release and for CD reissues from the 1980s onwards.

Contents

Background

According to Ira Nadel's 1996 Cohen memoir Various Positions , Cohen agreed to the project because there was a new generation of listeners and he was given complete artistic control; he picked the songs, designed the package, and insisted that the lyrics be included. The album was not a hit in the United States but did well in Europe, Cohen's major market at the time. He toured in support of the album in 1976, beginning in Berlin on April 22 and ending in London on July 7. It was during this tour that Cohen recorded the funky, disco-infused "Do I Have To Dance All Night" at Musicland Studios. The single was only released in Europe.

Artwork

The front cover photograph was taken in 1968 in a Milan hotel room by a Gino, according to Cohen's liner notes. Alternative rock band Ween based the album cover for their 1991 album, The Pod , after this photograph.

2009 release

In July 2009, this compilation was re-released in England under the title Greatest Hits with updated artwork and a revised track listing. Four tracks from the original 1975 version ("Lady Midnight", "The Partisan", "Last Year's Man" and "Take This Longing") were removed and nine tracks released after 1975 ("Everybody Knows", "Waiting for the Miracle", "A Thousand Kisses Deep", "The Future", "Closing Time", "Dance Me to the End of Love", "First We Take Manhattan", "I'm Your Man" and "Hallelujah") were added.

Track listings

1975 release

  1. "Suzanne" – 3:50
  2. "Sisters of Mercy" – 3:36
  3. "So Long, Marianne" – 5:40
  4. "Bird on the Wire" – 3:27
  5. "Lady Midnight" – 2:58
  6. "The Partisan" – 3:25
  7. "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" – 2:57
  8. "Famous Blue Raincoat" – 5:09
  9. "Last Year's Man" – 5:59
  10. "Chelsea Hotel #2" – 3:07
  11. "Who by Fire" – 2:32
  12. "Take This Longing" – 4:05

2009 release

  1. "Suzanne" – 3:48
  2. "So Long, Marianne" – 5:36
  3. "Sisters of Mercy" – 3:33
  4. "Famous Blue Raincoat" – 5:07
  5. "Everybody Knows" – 5:34
  6. "Waiting for the Miracle" – 3:24
  7. "Who by Fire" – 2:33
  8. "Chelsea Hotel #2" – 3:05
  9. "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" – 2:54
  10. "Bird on the Wire" – 3:25
  11. "A Thousand Kisses Deep" – 6:26
  12. "The Future" – 6:40
  13. "Closing Time" – 5:58
  14. "Dance Me to the End of Love" – 4:38
  15. "First We Take Manhattan" – 5:50
  16. "I'm Your Man" – 4:26
  17. "Hallelujah" – 4:38

Year-end charts

2002 year-end chart performance for The Best of Leonard Cohen
Chart (2002)Position
Canadian Alternative Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) [2] 82

Certifications and sales

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [3] 2× Platinum140,000^
France (SNEP) [4] Platinum300,000*
Germany (BVMI) [5] 2× Platinum1,000,000‡
Hungary (MAHASZ) [6] Gold3,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland) [7] Gold25,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [8] Platinum300,000*
United States (RIAA) [9] Gold500,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Related Research Articles

<i>Songs of Leonard Cohen</i> 1967 studio album by Leonard Cohen

Songs of Leonard Cohen is the debut album by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, released on December 27, 1967, on Columbia Records. Less successful in the US than in Europe, Songs of Leonard Cohen foreshadowed the kind of chart success Cohen would go on to achieve. It reached number 83 on the Billboard 200. It peaked at number 13 on the UK Albums Chart, spending nearly a year and a half on it.

<i>Songs of Love and Hate</i> 1971 studio album by Leonard Cohen

Songs of Love and Hate is the third studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. Produced by Bob Johnston, the album was released on March 19, 1971, through Columbia Records.

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<i>Tower of Song</i> 1995 compilation album by Various Artists

Tower of Song: The Songs of Leonard Cohen is a tribute album to Leonard Cohen, released in 1995 on A&M Records. It takes its name from a song by Cohen which originally appeared on Cohen's album I'm Your Man. However the song "Tower of Song" does not actually appear on this tribute album.

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"Hallelujah" is a song written by Canadian singer Leonard Cohen, originally released on his album Various Positions (1984). Achieving little initial success, the song found greater popular acclaim through a new version recorded by John Cale in 1991. Cale's version inspired a 1994 recording by Jeff Buckley that in 2004 was ranked number 259 on Rolling Stone's "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

<i>Stranger Music</i>

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<i>Cohen Live</i> 1994 live album by Leonard Cohen

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<i>The Essential Leonard Cohen</i> 2002 greatest hits album by Leonard Cohen

The Essential Leonard Cohen is a career-spanning collection of Leonard Cohen songs released in 2002. It is part of Sony's The Essential series.

<i>More Best of Leonard Cohen</i> 1997 greatest hits album by Leonard Cohen

More Best of Leonard Cohen is a collection of Leonard Cohen songs released in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leonard Cohen discography</span>

Leonard Cohen was a Canadian singer-songwriter and poet who was active in music from 1967 until his death in 2016. Cohen released 14 studio albums and eight live albums during the course of a recording career lasting almost 50 years, throughout which he remained an active poet. His entire catalogue is available on Columbia Records. His 1967 debut Songs of Leonard Cohen earned an RIAA gold record; he followed up with three more highly acclaimed albums: Songs from a Room (1969), Songs of Love and Hate (1971) and New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974), before allowing Phil Spector to produce Death of a Ladies' Man for Warner Bros. Records in 1977. Cohen returned to Columbia in 1979 for Recent Songs, but the label declined to release his next album, Various Positions (1984) in the US, leaving it to American shops to import it from CBS Canada. In 1988, Columbia got behind Cohen again and gave full support to I'm Your Man, which brought his career to new heights, and Cohen followed it with 1992's The Future.

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<i>The Songs of Leonard Cohen Covered</i> 2012 compilation album by various artists

The Songs of Leonard Cohen Covered is a tribute album to Leonard Cohen, released in 2012 and consisting mainly of covers of the songs on his album Songs of Leonard Cohen. It was compiled by Mojo magazine, as a part of the magazine's March 2012 issue. The album features contributions by various musicians, including Bill Callahan, Cass McCombs, The Low Anthem, Field Music, Marc Ribot and ex-Fleet Foxes member Father John Misty.

Tower of Song: A Memorial Tribute to Leonard Cohen was a concert, which was held at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec on November 6, 2017 as a tribute to singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen marking the first anniversary of his death. The concert, which featured musicians performing Cohen songs, was subsequently broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a radio and television special, airing on CBC Music on November 7, 2017 and on CBC Television on January 3, 2018.

References

  1. ↑ Ankeny, Jason. The Best of Leonard Cohen at AllMusic
  2. ↑ "Canada's Top 200 Alternative albums of 2002". Jam! . Archived from the original on December 4, 2003. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  3. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2012 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association . Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  4. ↑ "French album certifications – Leonard Cohen – Greatest Hits" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique . Retrieved September 15, 2019.
  5. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Leonard Cohen; 'Greatest Hits')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie . Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Adatbázis – Arany- és platinalemezek – 2010" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ . Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Swiss Gold" (PDF). Billboard. 1 March 1980. p. 51. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  8. ↑ "British album certifications – Leonard Cohen – Greatest Hits". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  9. ↑ "American album certifications – Leonard Cohen – The Best of Leonard Cohen". Recording Industry Association of America . Retrieved August 15, 2013.
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