Really enjoyable record. Cohen has a way of arriving at a wonderful lyric and leaving you thinking about it over a musical flourish. Acerbic and forthrightly well rounded, to use a Cohen-inspired euphemism, it’s a really quality, punchy, but complete record. Once again proving that all good music came out on 1977.

He’s just the boss isn’t he. Amazing on the small pared back tracks and the huge arrangements.

A real departure from his usual more minimalistic sound, I'm not sure it's surprising that this album was so divisive in its day. But it's really interesting hearing the poetic lyricism of Cohen with the full throated production of a strong armed producer like Phil Spector. Stringing Cohen's usual tendency to sing about love affairs into a full concept album was also a great move, topped off by a fantastic closing track.