Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Leonard Cohen (2013)

Leonard Norman Cohen was born on 21 September 1934, and is best known as a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, and novelist. He initially pursued a career as a poet and novelist during the 1950's and early 1960's, with his first published book of poetry, 'Let Us Compare Mythologies', being published by Dudek in 1956, the year after his graduation. It was the first book in the McGill Poetry Series, and it contained poems written largely when Cohen was between the ages of 15 and 20. By 1957 he working various odd jobs and focusing on the writing of fiction and poetry, including the poems for his next book, 'The Spice-Box Of Earth', published in 1961. He continued to write poetry and fiction throughout the 1960's and preferred to live in quasi-reclusive circumstances after he bought a house on Hydra, a Greek island in the Saronic Gulf. While living and writing on Hydra, he published the poetry collection 'Flowers For Hitler' in 1964, and the novel 'The Favourite Game' in 1963, which was an autobiographical tale about a young man who discovers his identity through writing. In 1967, disappointed with his lack of success as a writer, Cohen moved to the United States to pursue a career as a folk music singer/songwriter. His song 'Suzanne' became a hit for Judy Collins (who subsequently recorded a number of Cohen's other compositions), and was for many years his most recorded song. After performing at a few folk festivals, he came to the attention of Columbia Records producer John Hammond, who signed him to a record deal. His first album was 'Songs Of Leonard Cohen', released in the US in late 1967 to generally dismissive reviews, but it became a favourite in the UK on its release in early 1968, where it spent over a year on the album charts. Several of the songs on that first album were recorded by other popular folk artists, including James Taylor and Judy Collins, and the album has been continually dipped into by other musicians for inspiration ever since, resulting in every track being treated to a superlative cover by 2013, all of which can be heard on this reimagining of Leonard Cohen's debut album. 

Track listing

01 Suzanne (Roberta Flack 1973)
02 Master Song (John Bergaron 2004)
03 Winter Lady (Caecilie Norby 2013)
04 The Stranger Song (Tamco 2010)
05 Sisters Of Mercy (Dion 1968)
06 So Long, Marianne (Bell + Arc 1970)
07 Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye (Hamilton Camp 1969)
08 Stories Of The Street (The Low Anthem 2012)
09 Teachers (Omnia 2010)
10 One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong (Gregory Alan Isakov 2009)