Mysterious Leonard Cohen "1967 studio sessions" album - any information?

[LisaLCFan]

In my opinion 'Come On, Marianne' is not the only song in this 106 track compilation, which has duplicated takes…

For me it remains incomprehensible why someone has duplicated some takes, renumbered all takes and deleted all recording information in the 106 song selection (assuming that it originates from the complete '1967 Copyright Collection').

Yes, I think that you are correct that there are a few more duplicates. I have mostly been listening to the songs in shuffle mode, and thus the duplicates were not immediately apparent.

The person who compiled the 106 song collection is a member here, and perhaps they will respond to your query. I suspect that they simply thought that people would enjoy hearing these songs, and selected what they thought were the best of the 10-CD collection, in their own subjective assessment. Other people might have chosen a different selection, and/or have been more diligent about avoiding duplicates, and/or have included all the track information, but it seems to me that creating and sharing the 106 track set was a labour of love for this person, and they may not have anticipated a microanalysis of their offering.

[Nothing left to do]

The person who compiled the 106 song collection is a member here, and perhaps they will respond to your query. I suspect that they simply thought that people would enjoy hearing these songs, and selected what they thought were the best of the 10-CD collection, in their own subjective assessment. Other people might have chosen a different selection, and/or have been more diligent about avoiding duplicates, and/or have included all the track information, but it seems to me that creating and sharing the 106 track set was a labour of love for this person, and they may not have anticipated a microanalysis of their offering.

Sorry for my harsh criticism. You are of course right that member 'albumsshouldexist' (or whoever has put together this collection) has put a lot of work into his 106 song collection and it is very generous by him to offer it to other people for downloading. During the selection of the best takes it can for sure happen to choose some tracks twice. Nevertheless I would have preferred if he had left at least the original information regarding the recording date intact as it would have allowed to listen to these outtakes in chronological order so that one could notice the development of some songs from take to take.

By the way the same member has offered on his website some Cohen albums for download compiled by him which are very nicely done. For my taste he has used to much editing in some places but he has at least always designated it and the edits make for a very pleasant listening.

[LisaLCFan]

...By the way the same member has offered on his website some Cohen albums for download compiled by him which are very nicely done. For my taste he has used to much editing in some places but he has at least always designated it and the edits make for a very pleasant listening.

Yes, I saw that! Thanks!

[murphybridget837]

what's strange is the leak of the set doesn't seem to match this tracklist, so I'm wondering if someone retagged the set wrong, or if there's actually some difference here

the 10 CD list you have quoted in your post comprises 28 different songs with a total of 152 takes. The link above this list shows seven albums labelled 'Leonard Cohen 1967'. These are the same as the CDs 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 in the 10 CD list. The CDs 3, 4, and 10 are not included in the album list.
The download offered generously by albumsshouldexist includes 22 different songs with a total of 106 takes. A close comparison between the number of takes for each song shows significant differences between the 10 CD version and the download (first number is the number of takes in the 10 CD version / second number ist the number of takes in the download):
- Anyone Can See (1 / 4)
- Avalanche (5 / 3)
- The Beach of Idios (1 / 0)
- Blessed Is the Memory (2 / 2)
- Come On Marianne (5 / 6)
- Dress Rehearsal Rag (0 / 1)
- Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye (17 / 12)
- Jewels on Your Shoulder (5 / 3)
- Lost Change (5 / 0)
- Love Calls you by Your Name (23 / 22)
- Love is the Item (1 / 0)
- Master Song (1 / 1)
- Middle of the Night (5 / 0)
- Nancy, Where Have You Been Sleeping (1 / 1)
- One of Us Cannot Be Wrong (11 / 12)
- Sing Another Song, Boys (2 / 0)
- Sisters of Mercy (9 / 4)
- So Long, Marianne (1 / 0)
- Splinter (1 / 0)
- Standing on the Stairs (0 / 6)
- Store Room (2 / 1)
- Stories of the Street (11 / 9)
- The Stranger (8 / 2)
- The Sun Is My Son (1 / 0)
- Suzanne (10 / 4)
- Teachers (9 / 3)
- Tonight Will Be Fine (5 / 2)
- Winter Lady (3 / 3)
- Winter Lady (Travelling Lady) (1 / 0)
- You Know Who I Am (6 / 2)
As you can see not only the number of takes differ, but furthermore some songs are only included in either the 10 CD version or the download. I must admit that up to now I haven't had the time to listen to the complete download to check whether any songs might be misidentified. It further does not help that in the download the takes seem to be renumbered and the recording date information is missing. Full clarification is only possible by close comparison of the download with the 10 CD version. If anybody can provide access (via PM) to the 10 CD version I would therefore be very grateful.

Some observations regarding the 106 tracks vs the 152 from the official 1967 set. I do believe these are from the Copyright album but mis-tagged. Listening to the takes as they've been tagged, and you can hear from the sonic differences in the placement of microphones and what mics they used (partially with Cohen's vocals and guitar), arrangements, EQ, different keys. It's clear that certain takes were recorded at different times.

* The track tagged as "Come On, Marianne [Early Version of So Long, Marianne] [Take 6]" has the lyrics "So Long, Marianne" instead of "Come On". It's most likely "So Long, Marianne (Take 5) (17 Oct Session)".

* Anything from the 8 Sept 1967 Session is pretty easy to pick, as they all have the same arrangement with Kaleidoscope backing on electric bass and guitar, drums and organ.

* With what we know about the differences in production styles of John Hammond and John Simon, this can be used as a guide to pick out where a record fits in relation to the official 1967 track list. For example, the 8 September sessions with Kaleidoscope were when John Hammond was still the producer. October 11th sounds is most like when John Simon came onto the project. The harpsichord on "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong" [Take 1] sounds like the 1960s pop arrangements from Simon. Similar is the strings on "Sisters of Mercy [Take 1]" and the jazz-pop strings and wind instruments on "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye" [Take 8]

* I think some of those tracks listed as "Anyone Can See" are actually "Sing Another Song, Boys" takes. Although that doesn't explain the additional "Anyone Can See" that the 106 set has that the official one doesn't

* "Standing on the Stairs" is an alternate title for "In The Middle Of The Night".

* Dress Rehearsal Rag [Take 1] sounds similar to the mix featured on the 2007 version of Songs of Love and Hate. That was listed on the CD liner notes as being from the Songs from a Room sessions with Bob Johnston (October 1968).

* "I've Been Through All Your Clothes" is "The Sun Is My Son".

If there were running times for the official 1967 version, that would help to match the dates from the 106 tracks set. An album like Songs of had such an interesting and rocky production history, it would be better to listen to these tracks in their correct chronological order.

It goes without saying that this would make a killer boxset!

I'm Curious what's the difference between a Good Harp and a harpischord?

[LisaLCFan]

...I'm Curious what's the difference between a Good Harp and a harpischord?

A Good Harp is an instrument that would never hurt anyone, for it is virtuous and kind-hearted (as opposed to a Bad Harp, which probably had a difficult childhood and who often breaks the law and treats others with disrespect). A harpsichord is a thick rope used to lift and carry large harps (good or otherwise).



P.S. What I wrote above was a joke (because, frankly, it was a silly question -- we're on the internet, how hard can it be to look it up? -- thus I did not feel that it deserved a proper answer). However, to avoid spreading false information (by now, who knows how many incompetent chatbots have repeated what I wrote! Artificial intelligence? -- hardly), please see below.

Harp:

Harpsichord

[murphybridget837]

Is the harpischord synonymous to a grand piano?

[LisaLCFan]

Is the harpischord synonymous to a grand piano?

No.

This is not the place to be asking random questions about instruments -- this is a thread about Cohen's 1967 studio sessions. Please refrain from going off topic and asking unrelated questions to which you could easily find answers online with a quick internet search. Thank you.

[GolemZGLM]

So do you guys think we'll get a new release this year? would love to get outtakes for the New Skin for the Old Ceremony stuff

[GolemZGLM]

guess its that time of year, hope we get something this time