Various Positions

Various Positions
Studio album by Leonard Cohen
Released	Canada: December 1984 U.S.: February 1985
Recorded	June 1984, Quadrasonic Sound, New York
Genre	Folk-rock
Length	35:29
Label	Columbia, Passport Records
Producer	John Lissauer
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Piero Scaruffi link Rolling Stone (mixed) link Yahoo! Music (favorable) link
Leonard Cohen chronology
Recent Songs (1979) Various Positions (1984) I'm Your Man (1988)

Various Positions, the seventh studio album by Leonard Cohen, was released in December 1984 (and February 1985). It marked not only Cohen's turn to the modern sound and use of synthesizers (particularly on the opening track), but also - after her work on harmonies and background vocals on the previous Recent Songs (1979) - an even greater contribution from Jennifer Warnes, who is credited equally to Cohen as vocalist on all of the tracks.

Release history

After the abandoned 1975 project Songs for Rebecca Cohen again joined forces with producer John Lissauer. However, Cohen's label Columbia Records refused to release Various Positions in the United States. Walter Yetnikoff, president of the company, called him to his office in New York and said, "Look, Leonard; we know you're great, but we don't know if you're any good"^[1]. It was subsequently picked up by the independent label Passport Records. The album was finally included in the catalogue in 1990 when Columbia released the Cohen discography on compact disc. A remastered CD was issued in 1995.

Track listing

All songs were written by Leonard Cohen.

1. "Dance Me to the End of Love" – 4:38
2. "Coming Back to You" – 3:32
3. "The Law" – 4:27
4. "Night Comes On" – 4:40
5. "Hallelujah" – 4:36
6. "The Captain" – 4:06
7. "Hunter's Lullaby" – 2:24
8. "Heart With No Companion" – 3:04
9. "If It Be Your Will" – 3:43

Personnel

• Arranged By [Piano And Keyboard Orchestrations] - John Lissauer
• Backing Vocals - Anjani Thomas, Crissie Faith, Erin Dickins, John Crowder, John Lissauer, Lani Groves, Merle Miller, Ron Getman, Yvonne Lewis
• Bass - John Crowder
• Drums - Richard Crooks
• Engineer [Assistant] - Lee Friedman
• Guitar - Leonard Cohen, Sid McGinnis
• Photography [Polaroid Shot] - Leonard Cohen
• Producer, Arranged By - John Lissauer
• Recorded By [Additional] - Jon Smith
• Recorded By, Mixed By - Leanne Ungar
• Violin [Fiddle] - Kenneth Kosek
• Vocals - Jennifer Warnes, Leonard Cohen

Songs

"Dance Me to the End of Love", which Allmusic calls "Serge Gainsbourg-esque" in their review of the album,^[2] remains one of Cohen's signature songs. In 2004, jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux covered the song in her album "Careless Love"; the version even became a hit in Brazil. The unusually straightforward love song "Coming Back to You" was covered by both Trisha Yearwood and Martin L. Gore on the Cohen tribute album Tower of Song. Ron Sexsmith performed "Heart With No Companion" on his eponymous 1995 release. The best-known, and most-covered song on the album, however, is the fifth track, "Hallelujah". "If It Be Your Will" also appears on Tower of Song, performed by Jann Arden. The song was further covered by Antony and the Johnsons frontman Antony Hegarty for the 2005 documentary, 'I'm Your Man'.

References

1. ^  Cohen, quoting Yetnikoff, in "Yakety Yak, 1994". http://www.webheights.net/speakingcohen/yakyak.htm. Retrieved on October 8 2005. 
2. ^  "Various Positions". http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:dudfyl48xpsb. Retrieved on October 8 2005.