Ten New Songs
by Leonard Cohen
  • Record Label: Sony
  • Release Date: Oct 9, 2001
User Score
8.4

Universal acclaim- based on 19 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 19
  3. Negative: 2 out of 19

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  1. PeterB
    Apr 2, 2007
    10
    One exquisite poem/song, "Alexandra Leaving", makes this album a 10. The rest of the songs are very fine, but few songs of the last hundred years are as fine as "Alexandra".
  2. WodekS.
    Oct 25, 2001
    10
    Sensitive without denying his masculinity. This album and a bottle of wine and you're guaranteed to get some action. Thank you, Leonard. A triumph.
  3. GQ
    Apr 7, 2004
    0
    I stepped into an avalanche...an avalanche so sticky I couldn't move. All around me I hear how moving it all is, but I can't breathe for all this goo. It is an unremitting stinker, an album so bad that it occuies a golden space in my musical mythology. I just can't throw it away. No, I throw it on whenever I need to get something done quickly or to urge guests to hurry up I stepped into an avalanche...an avalanche so sticky I couldn't move. All around me I hear how moving it all is, but I can't breathe for all this goo. It is an unremitting stinker, an album so bad that it occuies a golden space in my musical mythology. I just can't throw it away. No, I throw it on whenever I need to get something done quickly or to urge guests to hurry up an leave. It really is that purgatorial. Sharon Robinson has bought the emperor a new synthesizer which sounds as if it got damaged in the post. I hate to think of the clothes she makes him wear. … Expand
  4. GE
    Dec 6, 2005
    10
    Wisdom and depth - a masterpiece
  5. ChuckR.
    Feb 9, 2002
    9
    This record fills my soul. May the lights in the Land of Plenty shine on the truth someday, indeed.
  6. ZoranM
    Jan 13, 2007
    10
    Absolutely fresh, from expierienced fox Leonard the great soul builder!
  7. EddieM.
    Dec 26, 2001
    10
    you must have travelled a long, long way through life to be able to look at it from such a considerable distance, but without impersonal detachment ! I hope I get somewhere near that point someday ...
  8. AK
    Nov 25, 2006
    10
    I love it
  9. KimKim
    Feb 27, 2006
    9
    Just superb. Dreamy, sensual music and just gorgeous listening. My first Leonard Cohen album, someone lent it to me and i'm now a big fan!! 9 out of 10 because there's one song I don't like (Boogie Street).
  10. Shiira
    Oct 12, 2012
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. "..we met when we were almost young/deep in the green lilac park..."

    I think about you every day. And I hope you are well. There's this version of "C'mon, Marianne" by Bill Callahan that just kills me. It makes me wonder what it would be like to be loved by you. But it's really a Leonard Cohen song. I have read so much about your condition. I'm a compulsive reader. Take care. Not in the cliched sense, but really, take care. If we ever see each other on the street, I hope you won't turn the other way.    … Expand
  11. alecvl08
    Dec 12, 2014
    3
    Cohen's songs are devoid of emotion, he sings like a robot with bronchitis. Every track follows a horribly simple cadence, and Cohen doesn't seem to know what he wants to write about. The instrumentals could've been made by some dude on GarageBand, and Cohen's backup singer outsings Cohen himself. If not for a handful of lyrical details, this album could be a complete failure.
  12. lorem
    Apr 2, 2020
    8
    A superb and emotional soft album released after a long wait, a duet that really works and brings some of Leonard Cohen's most memorable modern songs.

Awards & Rankings

87
#87 Best Album of 2001
56
#56 Most Discussed Album of 2001
71
#71 Most Shared Album of 2001

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 14
  3. Negative: 1 out of 14
  1. Pitchfork
    80
    [Robinson's] kind of soft rock-- closer to "I Want to Know What Love Is" by Foreigner than I'm comfortable with-- probably isn't going to score many points with the indie crowd, but it's not going to throw off your concentration for very long.
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  2. Rolling Stone
    80
    Ten New Songs manages to sustain loss's fragile beauty like never before and might just be the Cohen's most exquisite ode yet to the midnight hour.
    Read full review
  3. Mojo
    70
    His relentless intelligence is itself a consolation, bearing gifts of order and sly humour -- though not so many haunting tunes as on, say I'm Your Man. [Nov 2001, p.100]
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