Songs From a Room
1969, Columbia Studio A (Nashville TN), Columbia Records

1. Bird on the Wire
2. Story of Isaac
3. A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes
4. The Partisan
5. Seems So Long Ago, Nancy
6. The Old Revolution
7. The Butcher
8. You Know Who I Am
9. Lady Midnight
10. Tonight Will Be Fine

Considered too dark to be deemed a commercial success in the most obvious sense of the phrase, the Songs Of Leonard Cohen, while largely being a commercial failure, did earn Cohen a sizeable cult following among folk's audience of the day, particularly in the UK where it beat the odds to peak at #13 in the album charts and then remain there for over a year. Upon the buzz about it fading, it was high time to record the followup.

For the Nashville sessions in October '68, Cohen opted to hire Bob Johnston (who'd work with Dylan, Cash, Simon and Garfunkel over the years) instead of reacquainting himself with John Simon (with whom he'd had a bone or two to pick regarding the mixing of his debut). Despite what I'd call the success of the fuller, more well-honed sound of his debut, this was in a bid to give Cohen's second effort a more uncluttered, rootsy and kind of spartan appeal. So it was that, armed with a dozen-odd new songs, a host of suitably subtle session musicians and the expectation of his new audience, Songs From a Room was recorded.

What results is a good enough although not spectacular album in my opinion. In a musical sense, all the songs from a room bar the magnificent Lady Midnight have that very sedated feel that one could easily expect from any lo-fi, late-60s folk album, in this case even more so given the fact that Cohen ditches the more lavish production style of his debut. Clocking at a mere 35 minutes, things do fall a little on the short side too, which makes it clear from the outset that this is where Cohen, being a published poet at the time and all, wanted melody, extended instrumental breaks and all that mumbo-jumbo to take a back seat to the messages he wanted to get across.

So, basically, the strength of this album isn't in the heart-warming style and lush delivery like the Songs Of Leonard Cohen, but instead the focus is on the lyrics that Cohen sings gently over the top of some very reined-in backing tracks. Seeing as what tends to catch my attention in a piece of music is some kind of musical hook more than an eloquent lyric, this made this album quite a tough pill to swallow for me at first. On the first listen then, besides the smooth-as-bread-and-butter guitar on Story Of Isaac, the ear-opening parallel between the acoustic and bass guitar on You Know Who I Am and the bright chords that underpin Lady Midnight, not a lot really stuck in my head after finishing with it. In that way, then, it's not really an album I'd recommend to those who don't really have an ear for a lo-fi acoustic folk. It definitely does reward repeated listening though, as the story of the suicidal Nancy Challies of Montreal in Seems So Long Ago Nancy, the biblical reference of Story Of Isaac, the beauty of the Partisan and the flair of the lovesong Tonight Will Be Fine unravels as the album starts to make that much more sense as a unit.

All in all, Songs From a Room makes for a very sedated listen, and goes well with an airing in the dead of night. Seeing as the strengths and hooks are in the lyrics and not always the music though, I don't think this'll hit the spot if you don't have a lot of patience for its sound. At least not immediately anyway - while I do appreciate it a lot more than I used to, I'd say the following rating does it justice, at least the way I see it.

7/10