When Cohen became known as a musician in his late 30s with his albums Songs Of Leonard Cohen and the sophomore Songs From A Room, people were surprised that his music seemed to come out fully formed. Many were familiar with his work as an author and poet, but did not know that he had been a musician for most of his life. For Cohen, making music was another way to bring his poetry to the people. The dark thrall of his songs portray an artist that is ever able to trace the hidden contours of love, lust, sex, religion, politics and history. Live Songs was released in 1973; Cohen’s fourth album was a collection of recordings made at a number of concerts in Europe between 1970 and 1973. The collection consists of songs from 1969’s Songs From A Room, such as ‘Bird On A Wire’, ‘Story of Isaak’ and a new version of ‘Seems So Long Ago, Nancy’ (now simply dubbed ‘Nancy’), and a number of new songs. The epic climax is unmistakably the 13-minute ‘Please Don’t Pass Me By (A Disgrace)’, in which Cohen describes his personal descent into hell & oblivion. The song tormented Cohen to such a degree that he rarely sang it again. A beautiful collection of songs that shows Cohen in his most raw & vulnerable moments…