Search - Leonard Cohen :: Leonard Cohen: The Classic Interview

A compilation of various interviews Leonard Cohen has given

Chris Zabel | 03/22/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Running nearly 73-minutes in length, this cd is a compilation of 12 different interviews Cohen has given over the years on various matters. The disc goes in chronological order, with the first track being a piece from 1961 to a modern interview on the last track from 2008. A booklet with several photographs and short descriptions of each interview is included.



Not all the interviews focus on his songwriting or music career. The first four interviews deal with his earlier occupations of poet and writer. Leonard Cohen says interesting things throughout the disc on a multitude of subjects. One does get the sense that some of the interview segments have been cut short to fit within the limitations of the cd format. A second disc here might have been a wiser move by the production company, Chrome Dreams, to include the entirety of each interview. Audio quality of each interview varies from AM radio quality to better fidelity for the more recent interviews.



As a Leonard Cohen fan I was entertained by the bulk of the interviews. The real question one has to ask with a cd of this nature is how many listens one will derive from it. Leonard's sardonic humor and wit sparkles in many of his answers. You definitely get a better sense of Cohen the man and not Cohen as a celebrity. Many of his answers to the interviewers' questions are playful yet serious at the same time. His intelligence is manifest throughout the cd. It should be noted that this cd is not authorized by Leonard Cohen himself. I would not give this cd a recommendation for everyone, but some people will enjoy it as a brief glimpse into the thinking of a great poet and songwriter.



To make it perfectly clear to any potential buyer, there is no music on this cd at all."