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. 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
  2. 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.

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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