Judy Collins – Sings Leonard Cohen: Democracy

The first the world knew of Leonard Cohen was when Judy Collins recorded his “Suzanne”in 1966. She’s been plundering his songbook ever since, and Cohen pens a lyrical thank-you in the sleevenotes to this collection. Eight of the songs come from Cohen’s first three albums, but we also get “Priests”and “Song Of Bernadette”. Collins’ renditions are on the demure side. But because the songs were recorded over a period of almost 40 years, there’s plenty of variety that makes for a superior collection to the album of Cohen covers recorded by Jennifer Warnes a few years ago.