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Various Positions
by: Leonard Cohen

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Used Price: £3.50
Collectible Price: £9.99
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 5099746556921
Label: Sony
Manufacturer: Sony
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Sony
Release Date: November 01, 1989
Studio: Sony
Sales Rank: 162

Disc 1:

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Editorial Review:

Amazon.co.uk Review:
Various Positions was Leonard Cohen's first album of the 1980s, yet was in keeping with the rest of his albums in two important respects: one, it sounded absolutely nothing like anything else anyone else was doing; two, it was a compelling reason for anyone else dealing in songs of love and its loss to wonder why they were bothering. As a lyricist, Cohen has few, if any, peers--he has never been the relentless doom-monger of popular myth, but a wise, warm and frequently very funny chronicler of heartbreak. Cohen, like very few others, has always appreciated that love is at least as much comedy as tragedy. Various Positions contains some of Cohen's best--"Dance Me To The End Of Love", "Coming Back To You" and a shortened, accusatory version of "Hallelujah", later covered to such majestic effect by Jeff Buckley. It also contains the bizarre country epic "The Captain", in which Cohen plays the part of a young officer being handed command of his unit by his dying superior. All are sung in Cohen's trademark husky drone and all are the work of a writer who, here as always, uses language like Vincent used paint. --Andrew Mueller

Description:
VARIOUS POSITIONS proved to be a transitional album for Cohen, poised halfway between the classic balladic style of RECENT SONGS and the cool electronic backing of I'M YOUR MAN. It was certainly Cohen's slickest production to date, though it seems practically spartan compared to later recordings. The slinky, European feel of the minor-key romantic plea "Dance Me to the End of Love" is Cohen at his most sensual and persuasive. "The Captain"'s shifting perspective navigates a conversation between two characters musing on the personal cost of war. Most significantly, new vistas in Cohen's work are opened up by "Hallelujah" (a highlight of Jeff Buckley's debut album nearly a decade later) and "If It Be Your Will".These two songs present themselves as musical prayers, and their fragile spirituality is a refreshing, largely unprecedented development in Cohen's dark artistic legacy.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- The Other Side Of Sorrow And Despair
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 and there, for there is the same continuity of themes and 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., and you'll find they sit naturally next to tracks like 'Hallelujah' or 'Coming Back To You', whereas 'Night Comes On' and 'If It Be Your Will' would not have sounded ... Read More:

Rating:

- Leonard Cohen at his best
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) and 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 format in the lyrics) but there other strong songs in 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 and uncomfortable listening [even more than 'The story of Isaac' on Songs from a room] - although music that's powerful enough to move ... Read More:

Rating:

- 'Embrace and hold us tight, all your children dressed in rags of light'
This 1984 album, the last of Cohen's folk masterpieces and 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 best in both. The devotion and the vocals of Anjani Thomas and Jennifer Warnes make a major contribution to the music's enduring beauty.

Cohen's gift of melody & rhythm finds buoyant expression in Dance Me to the End Of Love which may sound catchy and even frisky like a simple pop tune but if one pays attention multiple meanings & possibilities ... Read More:

Rating:

- Cohen encapsulates the diversity of the Canadian experience
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 ... Read More:

Music : Various Positions