I don't think I know anything about Leonard Cohen. Judging from just the first song on this album, "Bird On A Wire," which is the first Leonard Cohen song I'm aware of hearing, Leonard Cohen either has a terrible singing voice or is going for a bit of the Bob Dylan style. He doesn't go all the way like Bob Dylan does, so he really just sounds like he's got terrible tone. It might have something to do with the quiet nature of the song. His voice might just not be appropriate for a reserved number.
"A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes" is more in his wheelhouse. A song with some power behind it lets Cohen fill out his vocals. It blends together much nicer and it sounds like he's actually on-key. "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" is quite lovely. Usually I tell artists to turn down the echo effects, but Cohen's voice is really strong, so the echo helps smooth it out for a gentler song like this.
So I feel bad for saying Leonard Cohen was going for a Bob Dylan impersonation at the start of this review. To be fair to me, this album was released in the late 60s, and anyone who could play an acoustic guitar in the late 60s would try to be Bob Dylan. At least that's the stereotype I've been exposed to. The more I listen to Songs From A Room I get the sense that Leonard Cohen really just wants to relax on a couch with his guitar and play quiet old-school folk-country ballads, and I can't really complain about that. His sound is varied enough that I didn't get bored. So I kinda like it. Yay! 3 stars.
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