Death of a Ladies' Man

Unfairly maligned upon its release for not being what a "typical" Leonard Cohen album sounded like, Death of a Ladies’ Man has received an open-eared reassessment over the years by new generations of listeners (including Cohen’s daughter Lorca), who deem the album an important and overall pleasing release. The controversy started when stories flew that producer Phil Spector had locked Cohen out of the recording process and mixed the album without his cooperation, featuring in many cases, rough “guide” vocals that were to be rerecorded before the album’s completion. It does sound like that in spots; however, the songs overall are very strong, and a tune like “True Love Leaves No Traces” benefits from its pop arrangement. “Iodine” excels with its female vocal choir and saxophones adding to the chaos, while songs like “Paper Thin Hotel,” “I Left a Woman Waiting,” and the title track would be classics on any album that featured them. Had Spector pushed Cohen’s voice to the front of the mix, perhaps the album would be heard as the rightful classic it is.