Entertainment For Lively Minds
Leonard Cohen Greatest Hits: Goat officially got
Flicking idly through the papers yesterday, I saw an advert for Leonard Cohen's Greatest Hits. I thought 'ah, I remember that', I'd originally bought it for about a fiver and it had all the original Len one would need. The tracklisting was a perfect microcosm of a time I wasn't born in, but somehow I, like, really felt it (man).
ANYWAY, this NEW and UPDATED Greatest Hits uses the original artwork and now has a further six tracks on it. The advert uses quotes from Nirvana and Bono on it to, I dunno, 'make it edgy and appealing'.
I know it wouldn't be Len's doing, this all smells of record company bollocks, but after The Essential (£8 and around 34 tracks), why must they muck about with it?
The end times are near when some bright spark thinks 'ah! Leonard Cohen is playing a car showroom this summer - what product can we flog?'
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Two things
1. When an artist seeks any kind of additional support from a record company (for a tour or promotional campaign or a TV co-production) the record company usually demand some sort of concession on a release in exchange. This may involve the re-packaging of an old record because....
2. People overwhelmingly buy things that are new. When I used to work in a record shop people used to ask "which is best?" and "which is newest?" They always bought the newest one. Therefore, to hedge their bets, record companies are always trying to make sure that the Greatest Hits is as "new" as possible, no matter how much it may annoy the purists.
Oh Lordy
I'm a purist. I appreciate it needs doing. I would've repackaged it slightly with a different picture or something. Mind you, people would naturally(?) be wanting Hallelujah and so this serves them. Seeing the sheer amount of Michael Jackson compilations that have re-entered the charts in the last fortnight suggests Sony likes them
Even 'Greatest Hits' avoiders like me...
...have that one of Len's. It has been around for ever with the same magnolia cover and with Len looking like a young Al Pacino reflected in that circular mirror. Somehow it has always seemed part of the canon, rather than a record company cash-in. Until now.