Well, here’s somebody we haven’t heard for (checks notes) 17 years. Cohen has updated his sound to a more synthesiser-backed form from the early acoustic albums, and the tracks on here are all really solid and varied.
First We Take Manhatten has a bit of a Kraftwerk/Eurobeat feel to it, a sinister pulsing beat backing a track about world domination – as ever with Cohen’s lyrics they are simultaneously playful and serious, a trend that he continues across the album. The other thing that he does is blend the personal and the political (and it feels like he’s become more politically focussed compared to the Sixties/Seventies albums, or maybe he’s just that little less opaque in his poetry).
Everybody Knows, for example, tells us in one verse that “Everybody knows that the war is over. Everybody knows the good guys lost. Everybody knows the fight was fixed. The poor stay poor, the rich get rich” and in the next verse that “Everybody knows that you love me baby. Everybody knows that you really do. Everybody knows that you've been faithful ... give or take a night or two”. The track is an atmospheric and slightly sultry one.
Cohen is accompanied by a range of female co-vocalists (including Jennifer Warnes and Anjani Thomas) and backing singers, that provide a nice contrast to his deep, deep growl of a voice (I reckon if him and Tom Waits had ever performed a duet they would have caused concrete to fracture). Take This Waltz felt like it was an early version of Dance Me To The End Of Love, but when I looked it up, that track was released in 1984. So, other way around. I notice that among the session musicians is drummer Vinnie Coliuta (who featured with Frank Zappa) on the quite Zappa-esque track Jazz Police.
Of the Cohen albums so far, this is probably his most easily accessible, and a really good updating of his musical style to the times, good enough that it doesn’t sound dated to the Eighties despite the synth elements.
[Noted in edit: Cohen currently equals Muddy Waters for a 17-year gap between albums in the 1001 Albums list].
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