For those who love Old Ideas (positive comments only!)

[LisaLCFan]

Hi everybody!

I love Old Ideas, I mean, I really, really love it! I thought it would be nice to have a thread for people to express how much they love Old Ideas! Who knows, maybe Leonard might be cruising the forum one of these days, and it would be lovely for him to read about what a wonderful impact his beautiful new album has had on us!

(Please, I only ask that your comments be of a positive and loving nature (we can consider this thread an Old Ideas Love-fest!). Thank you!)

One of the things I love about Old Ideas (there are many, but I will be brief!) is that it creates such a wonderful sense of peacefulness and calm. I find that I can easily get swept away in the songs, completely absorbed in the lyrics and melody, with Leonard's oh-so-deep and velvety voice as my gentle guide. It is hypnotic and addictive and absolutely delightful!

[Cheshire gal]

Great idea Lisa. This album is really wonderful and it is not hard to think positively about it.

I love the peaceful feel of it and also the humor. I can just imagine the Press and others sitting listening to it with Leonard there with them. Especially 'Anyhow'

I love to listen to it in the car with the music surrounding me as it has such an intimate feel about it.
I also love to listen to it before sleeping as it is so restful. What better way to to end the day

[MarieM]

Wonderful idea, Lisa. We should do this more often

One of the things I love about Old Ideas (there are many, but I will be brief!) is that it creates such a wonderful sense of peacefulness and calm. I find that I can easily get swept away in the songs, completely absorbed in the lyrics and melody, with Leonard's oh-so-deep and velvety voice as my gentle guide. It is hypnotic and addictive and absolutely delightful!

Completely agree and would add emotional. I often find myself awash with feelings I can't explain. It is as if each time I listen I am uncovering a layer of meaning and emotion that I didn't know was there. Leonard may have written better songs, more memorable songs, but as a body of work, I think Old Ideas far surpasses anything he has ever done.

[rike]

Like you, Cheshire gal, I love to listen to Leonard Cohen songs in the car -- without any distraction (traffic is just background) and alone, since my reaction is too personal to be shared with anyone. Let's just say that his latest album speaks to someone way beyond "almost young" with the same immediacy his first album did, way back then.

[holydove]

Yes, great idea, Lisa!!

The descriptive words that come to mind for me have already been mentioned, but IMO, it can't be said too many times. The level of intense intimacy & immediacy in this album is incredible. Every time I listen to it, I feel that Leonard is right there with me in my little room, speaking to me soul-to-soul, in this very vibrant, present moment. Leonard's deep, penetrating voice, along with the brilliant & multi-layered lyrics, the beautiful & haunting melodies & harmonies, & the elegant instrumentation, move me in ways that are truly indescribable. As always, Leonard's voice, words & music draw me down to the deepest depths, lift me up to untold heights, kneading out emotions I didn't know existed, & transporting me to places I never heard of. Leonard's work has always been intimate beyond imagining, but it seems that the intimacy has taken some kind of quantum leap in this beautiful work of art. I am eternally grateful to Leonard for everything he has ever done, & for once again reaching out & touching our hearts with such care, sensitivity, honesty, passion, & love. IMO, Leonard Cohen is ever the Master he has always been.

[st theresa1]

I listened to Old Ideas and initially found a few things to criticise, but it didn't last. I wonder if I am even capable of not loving
everything Leonard writes. His voice speaks to me as one of my oldest and dearest friends, although of course he has no idea of who I am. Or does he? I remember the Dear Heather criticisms while I could only smile and smile. With your legs so white from the winter. When he sang the Tennessee Waltz, I felt as though he was showing us a personal glimpse of himself and of course that glimpse aligned it self with my inner being. It's funny--I don't think of myself as being in love with Leonard, or even of loving Leonard, the man. But when I listen to him singing or reciting his poetry, it is rather like a voice that exists within my mind. It is deeply personal and reminds me over and over that I am not alone. He seems to be reflecting a my soul to me in a way that I myself could never find the words to describe. Old Ideas continues this personal relationship with my soul.

[mutti]

Lisa thank you for starting this thread. I would post this on any thread but want to say the more I listen the more I hear things I didn't hear and the more I love
Old Ideas. I tend to have a long commute to work and listen a lot in the car. Some of the songs I liked right away and find myself humming or singing them at different times of the day...and the more I listen to even the ones I skipped over at the beginning the more I like each and every one of them.
Oh I hope we get to hear them live..that will be such a delight!
Cheers
Leslie

[AlexandraLaughing]

Yup, I love every song on this album (with the possible exception of Anyhow, though I would love to know who it is about).

Going Home seems deeper and more puzzling to me every time I hear it. Is it good or bad that he is 'going home'? Should we hear the loss of the burden and the sorrow as in some way sinister? Is the speaker's pride in his level of control over 'Leonard' benevolent or malevolent? Is this about Roshi? Is it about God? Is it his own superego speaking? Is it his critics? Or is this just one in a long string of LC's master/slave songs, where the controller and the controlled keep flipping roles?

Just one of its images- 'behind the curtain'- has so many resonances, from the Wizard of Oz mechanically creating the illusion of a great magician in the film, to the crematorium, to the stage- it has a Zen Buddhist resonance as well, if I understand correctly.

'Amen' is purely and simply the best song LC has ever written, in my book (OK, maybe with the exception of Alexandra Leaving). It is just brilliant, in every image, in the balance of the images, in the structure and the poetry and the music, the agonised longing of 'Tell me over and over', the polyvalence of the possible meanings of 'Amen' each time, and again the fact you don't know whether it is being spoken before or after the things referred to have happened, whether it is celebratory or hopeful or some sort of series of ballad impossibles underlining the hopelessness of it all. 'Try me again when the angels [instead of the demons, as now?] are panting and scratching at the door to come in' becomes 'Tell me again' in tour versions, which make it seem more possible. And the line 'When I've seen through the horror' somehow seems to express everything that LC is about- both 'seeing it through' to the end, and seeing beyond it (whether or not that is possible).

I won't go on (even on a thread devoted to positive comments this is beginning to sound a bit OTT), except to mention how fabulously healing 'Come, healing' is, how perfectly formed and expressed 'Banjo' is, and how a beautiful a lullaby 'Lullaby' is.

Patrick Leonard was a great choice to bring it to the disk.

[Tchocolatl]

I was keeping the listening of OI for when I would reach the conclusion of a certain affair, like, you know, you promise a reward to a child only when and if something is done. Bad Idea. All those years without the performance : It's a shame and it's a pity.

But I will catch up, and will play it probably often enough to fill the time gap many times.