---
product_id: 53971707
title: "The Essential Leonard Cohen"
price: "₨12091"
currency: LKR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.lk/products/53971707-the-essential-leonard-cohen
store_origin: LK
region: Sri Lanka
---

# The Essential Leonard Cohen

**Price:** ₨12091
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** The Essential Leonard Cohen
- **How much does it cost?** ₨12091 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.lk](https://www.desertcart.lk/products/53971707-the-essential-leonard-cohen)

## Best For

- Customers looking for quality international products

## Why This Product

- Free international shipping included
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## Description

FACTORY SEALED 2CD - 31 tracks - SONY EAN 886977736421

Review: Bittersweet journey on the memory train - Listening to the songs on this double album , particularly CD1 with selections from Songs from A Room, Songs of Love and Hate, Songs Of Leonard Cohen, took me back to a point when it seemed that every girl and woman with a tendency to intensity and introspection was endlessly playing the beautiful, sexy, tender half sung/half spoken poetry of Leonard Cohen. Here was a man, not a boy, celebrating and laying out darkness, soul, intensity, seductiveness, intelligence, sensuality, sexuality and lyricism. Cohen seemed to carry a particular sense of history within him, his songs tapping into something incredibly deep about all sorts of human relationships, from the sweet half regretful sensuality of ships that pass in the night sexual encounters (Sisters Of Mercy) to a celebration of political resistance which acknowledges the personal tragedies of heroic action (The Partisan) to the depth of love and hate between friends, lovers and betrayals (Famous Blue Raincoat). Later, the voice darkens and cracks with age and a life well lived, but the man and his music remain a wonderful combination of the deepest celebrations of the life of the body and the life of the soul. Cohen remains both deep in the mire of pain and at times degradation and riding the stars (The Future), gloriously transcendental, all at once. My absolutely favourite track is the intense, restrained, difficult spiritual surrender and challenge offered in If It Be Your Will. This is musically, vocally, lyrically wonderful and potent. Sadly, the CD cover notes don't give the name of the female singer who so 'makes' the piece with her - can't really call them 'backing' - vocals, as they are central to the power of the song. What should also be mentioned is that you can hear every word he sings!! (I'm definitely turning into my mother) Songs are words and music. Often, you can't hear the words, and I'm sure with some singer songwriters that might not matter; they may not be saying much worth hearing. With Cohen, the words matter. The use of increasingly musical texture and beautiful female vocals just adds a counterpoint to Cohen's darkening voice in the excerpts from the later CDs ((Dance Me To The End of Love) Though I have to prefer the earlier songs, not least because of the simplicity and beauty of the younger Cohen's voice, and the simpler arrangements which emphasise those lyrics, its really interesting to chart the progression. Even if I'll play CD 1 probably 6 times to every 1 of CD 2!. Particularly I found a cluster of the tracks from The Future album were ones I could leave, finding the arrangements distracting from the lyrics. I preferred the musical simplicity of the final 3 songs , from the album Ten New Songs, haunting evocations of loves' endings, where again beautiful verbal imagery and a slower delivery display Cohen's still very present troubadour, poetic heritage. Still despite a little cluster of tracks I'll skip over, the depth and number of the treasures absolutely capture 5 stars
Review: Great introduction to a wordsmith extraordinaire - I like wordsmiths: Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Lennon and McCartney, Bob Dylan. .. so it's strange that it has taken me so long to finally get around to Leonard Cohen. I have been aware of a handful of his most famous songs: Hallelujah, Tower Of Song, First We Take Manhattan, and the sublime You Want It Darker, but his reputation of making "Music to slash your wrists to" had stuck with me. Upon finally succumbing to this Essential collection that's a hugely unfair slur, with many gems revealing themselves gradually. With a track listing chosen by the man himself much of CD1 is simply Leonard accompanied by his own acoustic guitar, with the simple settings belying the complexity of the lyrics whilst making them stand out, such as on Suzanne, Bird On A Wire, Famous Blue Raincoat and Chelsea Hotel #2 - all tracks I'd heard of but never actually heard. What I've found is a master of poetry who clearly spent hours making certain every word counts, every line resonates. Probably his most famous song Hallelujah was whittled down from 80 verses, showing clearly why it's such a highly regarded song with only the very best making the cut. Much concerns relationships in all its forms: love and loss are common themes; but politics and the Holocaust are just as likely to crop up. These are songs crafted with every bit of care and attention that a master painter would afford his canvas, everything is placed with attention to detail, polished and honed for maximum effect. Covering the best from his first 10 albums from 1967's debut "Songs Of Leonard Cohen" to 2001's "Ten New Songs" in a simple chronological progression, Cohen's voice gets deeper around the time of 1988's "I'm Your Man" due to the ravages of whisky and cigarettes, with his speak-singing benefitting from that change and being framed by always carefully selected, delicately phrased instrumentation. Major find of the collection for me is the simply beautiful live version of Dance Me To The End Of Love, but as the songs reveal themselves with growing familiarity there's much here to satisfy. This is undoubtedly a master craftsman at work. Above all these are poems sympathetically set to let those words shine out. A great introduction to a wordsmith extraordinaire.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| ASIN  | B003ZX23MW |
| Best Sellers Rank | 6,405 in CDs & Vinyl ( See Top 100 in CDs & Vinyl ) 132 in Folk Rock 2,871 in Pop |
| Country of origin  | Netherlands |
| Customer reviews | 4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars (1,922) |
| Is discontinued by manufacturer  | No |
| Item model number  | 777364 |
| Label  | Sony Music Cmg |
| Manufacturer  | Sony Music Cmg |
| Number of discs  | 2 |
| Product Dimensions  | 14.2 x 12.5 x 1 cm; 107 g |
| SPARS Code  | DDD |

## Images

![The Essential Leonard Cohen - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71dzTd+bRUL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Bittersweet journey on the memory train
*by L***L on 19 September 2010*

Listening to the songs on this double album , particularly CD1 with selections from Songs from A Room, Songs of Love and Hate, Songs Of Leonard Cohen, took me back to a point when it seemed that every girl and woman with a tendency to intensity and introspection was endlessly playing the beautiful, sexy, tender half sung/half spoken poetry of Leonard Cohen. Here was a man, not a boy, celebrating and laying out darkness, soul, intensity, seductiveness, intelligence, sensuality, sexuality and lyricism. Cohen seemed to carry a particular sense of history within him, his songs tapping into something incredibly deep about all sorts of human relationships, from the sweet half regretful sensuality of ships that pass in the night sexual encounters (Sisters Of Mercy) to a celebration of political resistance which acknowledges the personal tragedies of heroic action (The Partisan) to the depth of love and hate between friends, lovers and betrayals (Famous Blue Raincoat). Later, the voice darkens and cracks with age and a life well lived, but the man and his music remain a wonderful combination of the deepest celebrations of the life of the body and the life of the soul. Cohen remains both deep in the mire of pain and at times degradation and riding the stars (The Future), gloriously transcendental, all at once. My absolutely favourite track is the intense, restrained, difficult spiritual surrender and challenge offered in If It Be Your Will. This is musically, vocally, lyrically wonderful and potent. Sadly, the CD cover notes don't give the name of the female singer who so 'makes' the piece with her - can't really call them 'backing' - vocals, as they are central to the power of the song. What should also be mentioned is that you can hear every word he sings!! (I'm definitely turning into my mother) Songs are words and music. Often, you can't hear the words, and I'm sure with some singer songwriters that might not matter; they may not be saying much worth hearing. With Cohen, the words matter. The use of increasingly musical texture and beautiful female vocals just adds a counterpoint to Cohen's darkening voice in the excerpts from the later CDs ((Dance Me To The End of Love) Though I have to prefer the earlier songs, not least because of the simplicity and beauty of the younger Cohen's voice, and the simpler arrangements which emphasise those lyrics, its really interesting to chart the progression. Even if I'll play CD 1 probably 6 times to every 1 of CD 2!. Particularly I found a cluster of the tracks from The Future album were ones I could leave, finding the arrangements distracting from the lyrics. I preferred the musical simplicity of the final 3 songs , from the album Ten New Songs, haunting evocations of loves' endings, where again beautiful verbal imagery and a slower delivery display Cohen's still very present troubadour, poetic heritage. Still despite a little cluster of tracks I'll skip over, the depth and number of the treasures absolutely capture 5 stars

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great introduction to a wordsmith extraordinaire
*by D***F on 22 November 2019*

I like wordsmiths: Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Lennon and McCartney, Bob Dylan. .. so it's strange that it has taken me so long to finally get around to Leonard Cohen. I have been aware of a handful of his most famous songs: Hallelujah, Tower Of Song, First We Take Manhattan, and the sublime You Want It Darker, but his reputation of making "Music to slash your wrists to" had stuck with me. Upon finally succumbing to this Essential collection that's a hugely unfair slur, with many gems revealing themselves gradually. With a track listing chosen by the man himself much of CD1 is simply Leonard accompanied by his own acoustic guitar, with the simple settings belying the complexity of the lyrics whilst making them stand out, such as on Suzanne, Bird On A Wire, Famous Blue Raincoat and Chelsea Hotel #2 - all tracks I'd heard of but never actually heard. What I've found is a master of poetry who clearly spent hours making certain every word counts, every line resonates. Probably his most famous song Hallelujah was whittled down from 80 verses, showing clearly why it's such a highly regarded song with only the very best making the cut. Much concerns relationships in all its forms: love and loss are common themes; but politics and the Holocaust are just as likely to crop up. These are songs crafted with every bit of care and attention that a master painter would afford his canvas, everything is placed with attention to detail, polished and honed for maximum effect. Covering the best from his first 10 albums from 1967's debut "Songs Of Leonard Cohen" to 2001's "Ten New Songs" in a simple chronological progression, Cohen's voice gets deeper around the time of 1988's "I'm Your Man" due to the ravages of whisky and cigarettes, with his speak-singing benefitting from that change and being framed by always carefully selected, delicately phrased instrumentation. Major find of the collection for me is the simply beautiful live version of Dance Me To The End Of Love, but as the songs reveal themselves with growing familiarity there's much here to satisfy. This is undoubtedly a master craftsman at work. Above all these are poems sympathetically set to let those words shine out. A great introduction to a wordsmith extraordinaire.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Leonard Cohen standard music
*by G***R on 30 January 2026*

A nice selection of his early hits.

## Frequently Bought Together

- Essential Leonard Cohen
- You Want It Darker
- Here It Is: A Tribute To Leonard Cohen

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*Product available on Desertcart Sri Lanka*
*Store origin: LK*
*Last updated: 2026-03-16*