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Leonard Cohen: Hallelujah: A New Biography |  | Author: Tim Footman
Publisher: Chrome Dreams
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $11.92
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Seller: pbshop
Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 59565
Media: Paperback
Pages: 300
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 0.8
ISBN: 1842404725
Dewey Decimal Number: 780
EAN: 9781842404720
ASIN: 1842404725
Publication Date: November 1, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| • | ISBN13: 9781842404720 | | • | Condition: NEW | | • | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
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Product Description
Chronicling the highs and lows that have punctuated the life of a musical genius, this in-depth biography reveals new insight into the legendary songs of Leonard Cohen. Covering each stage in his prolific career—his early years as a poet and author in Canada, his relocation to New York City and subsequent impact within the folk and rock scenes, his years spent in a Buddhist monastery, and his recent rediscovery by a new generation of fans—this definitive history combines perceptive research with previously unpublished photos. Balancing his literary and musical influences with themes of religion, depression, sex, politics, and complex interpersonal relationships, fresh perspectives are highlighted through interviews with colleagues who have never before gone on record. His recent release of new music, current revival in popularity, and first tour in 15 years are fully detailed and cited as one of the most dramatic periods in the life of this eloquent songwriter.
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| Customer Reviews:
 A top pick for anyone who is a fan of the man and his work February 8, 2010
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
One of the iconic songwriters of the twentieth century, Leonard Cohen is still going. "Leonard Cohen: Hallelujah" telling the story of a unique icon of music. Tim Footman examines the man who is multi talented with several novels under his belt and never boring, spending years doing what many would never even do for one. Tracing his life from his birth to over seventy years later to one of his most recent concert oturs, "Leonard Cohen" is a top pick for anyone who is a fan of the man and his work.
 A Career Review January 13, 2010
sh
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is not a biography so much as a review of Cohen's career. At that, there is little new here. And while one might expect that it would have a lot of information of Cohen's more recent concert tour, there is actually very little of substance. In fact, as a career review, this book is mildly acceptable -- very readable and relatively few typographical and editing errors, but much less substantial than one would expect now -- after, there has been plenty of time to take a look back at most of Cohen's career.
There are few new details in this book. Footman often talks about an album selling well or poorly but he doesn't have any information on what that means -- a few hundred copies? a few hundred thousand? And he repeatedly notes that Cohen was more popular in Europe than in the US, but he gives one very little info on what this mean in any solid terms -- did he have trouble filling 100-seat theaters in the US, did he fill 1,000-seat venues wherever he went in Europe? What's a lot? What's a little? In fact you hear on when he genrally went on tour but there is little to read aobut how any of the tours proceed. The firt few minutes of the recently released recording of the Isle of Wight conert reveals more about that event than anything in Footman's book, and that's a shame -- if only Footman had done more homework and put it into the book.
As a career review, it seems unevenly harsh in it's criticism of Cohen's work although Footman does toss Cohen an ocassional bone in a general way, suggesting he might be a genius -- but one is left with the impression from Footman's book that Cohen was a genius that never made a good record or turned in a good performance or a really good book of peotry -- one is left wondering, wherein does the genius lie? Unless you are actually familar with Cohen's work.
This seems more like a task Footman took up for the money rather than something he did out of strong interest in the subject. He's tacked together a reasonably well-formed bird house that obeys the basic rules of carpentry, but don't expect to ever find a bird inside.
Although it is a much older book, I think a person interested in Cohen's life would be better served by Various Positions: A Life of Leonard Cohen (Jewish History, Life, and Culture) (Paperback) by Ira B. Nadel. Nadel's book is not without its weak points, but it's a decent biography and ultimately tells you much more about Cohen than Footman's book.
Footman's book might serve as a companion piece to Nadel's, adding info on the career and while generally avoiding personal information, but it avoids too much info to be considered a necessary appendix, more as an add-on for the really avid Cohen fans that want it all.
 see it for what it is November 28, 2009
T. Legras (cayucos, CA)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I would not call this a good book, yet I would not say it is entirely unworthy of reading. I found myself enjoying it despite myself, sort of like fast food or a microwave TV dinner. After the difficult bit of swallowing the introduction, the rest went down with no trouble. I just settled into the reality that is was not a novel or literary masterpiece. It was alot of bits of information, placed in chronological order about an artist I admire, and it included some details of his 2008/2009 tour and life. I learned things I did not know beforehand and left with new references to explore more in the life/art of Leonard Cohen. For that reason, I do not regret reading this book and that is where I found value in it.
Otherwise, it had the flavor of someone quickly putting it all together in order to capitalize on Leonard Cohen's recently successful return to the public. While reading it I wondered if Mr. Cohen had read it or endorsed it? I also wondered about the age of the author, as it had a "green" (NOT as in the evironmental sense . . .) feeling about it.
One of the other reviews stated that Leonard deserves better, and I would agree. Although, a better product will require some time and thoughtfullness, so I am confident that something of that nature is around the corner for us.
I Don't Like Books That Overuse the Word Eponymous November 22, 2009
Lightman (New York)
19 out of 19 found this review helpful
This one is no exception.
Also priapic. It appears repeatedly as Tim Footman editorializes about Cohen's amorous exploits. Why choose an obscure word that MS Word returns as a spelling error?
Beats me.
Who is this guy (Footman) anyway?
Apparently the former managing editor of the Guiness Book of World Records has morphed into a cultural oracle of surpassing significance.
Or at least that's what he would want us to believe.
The problem with this book is that the author really doesn't seem to have very much to say. The florid and pompous prose seems designed to confer a kind of intellectual gravitas and draw attention away from this lack of thoughtful content.
Here are some examples of this pretentious gobbledygook:
* He realized that becoming involved in Zen practice was compatible with his Jewish identity and beliefs, and even with his enjoyment of the bacchanalia that constituted life as a rock musician.
* For the moment, however, Cohen's rutting urges were sublimated into his growing interest in literature and music.
* Romantically unattached when he arrived on Hydra, Cohen was at first an amused observer of the coital merry go round on the island, until he met a Norwegian named Marianne Ihlen.
* Which leads into problematic territory, where we ask, whether some performers of some genres of music are to be classed as priests, while others are merely supplicants.
* As he powers through his eighth decade - and he's still singing Hallelujah on tour, he wouldn't be permitted to leave it out - new generations are waking up to the particular charm of that deep, growly miaow; an acclamation of a special kind.
"Particular charm of that deep, growly miaow"? Come on, gimme a break.
There are also what appear to me as astounding editing blunders. For example in the discussion of Cohen's novels The Favorite Game and Beautiful Losers, references to "The Beautiful Game" and "Beautiful Strangers" inexplicably crop up. Maybe I'm missing something (if so let me know with a comment) but this looks like flagrant errors.
Cohen is a great artist. He deserves better.
So don't waste your time with this book. If you're looking for a good biography of LC read Various Positions: A Life of Leonard Cohen by Ira Bruce Nadel instead.
"So This Is Between You and Me, the People Who Care" November 22, 2009
H. F. Corbin (ATLANTA, GA USA)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
In the "Conclusion: End of My Life in Art" Tim Footman in the new biography of Leonard Cohen says the question is not how good Leonard Cohen is but rather how great he is and wonders if we can even ask that question. After all there are those who would say "it doesn't matter what anybody thinks anyway; that nobody's opinion is more important than anybody else's. .. we should just enjoy what we enjoy, right?" Not really. Mr. Footman concludes that persons who think that way wouldn't be reading this most informative biography of Leonard Cohen anyway. "So this is between you and me, the people who care." (I couldn't agree more.) He then goes on to enumerate some of the qualities that make Cohen great: he is a brilliant lyricist in the company of Bob Dylan and even the likes of Cole Porter, he is extremely well read (a lover of William Butler Yeats and Lord Byron), and he is often quite funny in spite of his dark lyrics. Footman quotes as an example the lyrics from his favorite Cohen song:
"Well my friends are gone and my hair is grey.
I ache in the places where I used to play."
There is a wealth of information about Cohen in Footman's biography. The essential details are all here: Cohen's birth in 1934 in Montreal, his early beginnings as a writer, his poetry, his novels, his travels, his relationships with women, his time spent in a monastery, his highly successful concert tour in 2009. Although it is obvious that the writer is besotted with Mr. Cohen, he presents him with all his warts-- his drug use, his not-always-successful relationships: "I was very poor at relationships. . . I wasn't good at marriage, and I wasn't good at husbandhood or fatherhood."
In addition to what one would expect in a biography, Mr. Footman includes as list of his 10 favorite Cohen songs, a chapter on the popularity of "Hallelujah," a discography that includes bootlegs and a list of practically everyone who has ever recorded a Cohen song, a list for further reading that includes Nabokov's novel PALE FIRE and finally a chapter comparing Bob Dylan and Cohen. Footman concludes that in a hundred years from now Dylan will be the artist who defines the second half of the 20th century. Leonard Cohen, on the other hand, is loved. "And Cohen and surely Dylan as well--knows which is more important."
The people who care about Cohen will find much to like in this biography.
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