Leonard Cohen Albums in Order: Fifteen Records, and the Company He Kept
Most people picture Leonard Cohen alone with a guitar. The credits say otherwise, and that gap is the reason I wanted to draw this map: fifteen studio albums from 1967 to 2019, with every credited musician running as their own line.
The Shape of It
The map runs narrow and quiet for a decade, swells enormously in 1977, then thins out again for the rest of his life. That is not a description anyone would arrive at from listening. It only appears once the credits are drawn.
Death of a Ladies' Man Is the Busiest Station by a Distance
The 1977 album carries more than forty credited musicians, which is more than the first four records put together. That is Phil Spector's production, and the roster reads like a Wrecking Crew reunion: Hal Blaine on drums, Jim Keltner on drums, Jesse Ed Davis on guitar, Emil Richards and Terry Gibbs on percussion, a full horn section, and a wall of background vocalists including Clydie King, Venetta Fields and Sherlie Matthews.
And two names nobody expects on a Cohen record. Bob Dylan and Allen Ginsberg both sing background vocals on it. On the print they are two short branch lines arriving at one station and stopping, which is a fairly good visual joke about that whole period.
Jennifer Warnes Runs Forty Years
She first appears on Recent Songs in 1979 and is still credited on Thanks for the Dance in 2019. Six albums, four decades, and the longest line on the map after Cohen's own.
A small group of players give the later records their particular character. John Bilezikjian's oud and Raffi Hakopian's violin each recur across three albums, and Garth Hudson of The Band appears on two. Anjani Thomas sings across four, from I'm Your Man onward.
The Early Records Are Nearly Empty
By comparison the first four are sparse. Songs from a Room leans on Charlie Daniels, Ron Cornelius and Elkin Bubba Fowler. Songs of Love and Hate adds Paul Buckmaster's string and horn arrangements and the children's voices of The Corona Academy, London, which is one of the more unexpected credits in the range.
New Skin for the Old Ceremony brings in Janis Ian on backing vocals and Lewis Furey on viola. Then 1977 arrives and the map changes shape entirely.
The Last Album Is Its Own Gathering
Thanks for the Dance, released in 2019 after his death, brings in Beck on Jew's harp and acoustic guitar, Damien Rice and Jessica Staveley-Taylor on vocals, Daniel Lanois on piano, Javier Mas on Spanish laud, the Berlin choir Cantus Domus, and Cohen's son Adam Cohen on classical guitar.
Alison Krauss sings on "Steer Your Way", from You Want It Darker in 2016.
Designed from the Credits Up
Every line, colour and connection on this print comes out of my own Leonard Cohen research spreadsheet, built album by album from sleeve credits and cross-checked against published sources. Nothing on it is inferred.
What Is Not on the Map
Live albums and compilations. The map plots studio records only, an editorial rule I apply right across the range, so Cohen Live and the various best-of collections have no station on it.
Sizes and Print Detail
The Leonard Cohen Discography Map Art Print is a museum-quality Giclée on 230gsm premium acid-free matte fine art paper, available in A2 (420x594mm / 18x24in) and A1 (594x841mm / 24x36in), unframed or ready to hang in a black wood frame, from £42.00.
With more than forty names at a single station, A1 is the size I would point most people at.
Related Music Maps
For another literary songwriter with a long credit list, the Nick Cave Discography Map works on the same principle. The Kate Bush Discography Map is the closer comparison for a solo career built around a small constant core. Browse the full range in the music wall art prints collection.
Designed and researched by Mike Bell, turning musical history into visual art.
