Leonard Cohen - BBC Sessions, Volume 2: Leonard Cohen Sings Leonard Cohen, Paris Theatre, London, Britain, 3-20-1968

Leonard Cohen released his first album in 1967. For the first few years of his musical career, he played very few concerts, because he was self-conscious about his voice. He did some in the summer of 1967, but I don't think he did any at all in 1968 or 1969. So this 62-minute-long BBC performance is significant for being the first and only known full concert recording from his early years. What's amazing is that, because it was recorded for the BBC, its sound quality is excellent, the same as other BBC recordings from the era. The fact that this has never been officially released is criminal.

Cohen mostly played songs from his first album, 1967's "Songs of Leonard Cohen," but he also played four songs that would end up on his second or third albums. Plus, there's "There's No Reason Why You Should Remember Me," which is more of a singalong chorus than a full song. Also, "So Long, Marianne" has an extra verse. But another nice aspect of this recording is that he talked before most of the songs. I've put those speaking parts on separate tracks.

This concert was recorded on a single day in March 1968, in front of a small studio audience. But because it was so long (for the BBC for the era), it was broadcast in two parts, in August and September 1968. Both parts were called "Leonard Cohen Sings Leonard Cohen."

He did play some other songs for the BBC, both before and after this. But since this is one long performance I'm presenting it as such. I'll post that other BBC stuff on another album in the future.

UPDATE: On November 18, 2023, I changed the title of this album. I added the "BBC Sessions, Volume 2" part, because I have plans to add other BBC volumes, including a Volume 1.

01 You Know Who I Am (Leonard Cohen)
02 talk (Leonard Cohen)
03 Bird on the Wire (Leonard Cohen)
04 talk (Leonard Cohen)
05 The Stranger Song (Leonard Cohen)
06 talk (Leonard Cohen)
07 So Long, Marianne (Leonard Cohen)
08 talk (Leonard Cohen)
09 Master Song (Leonard Cohen)
10 talk (Leonard Cohen)
11 There's No Reason Why You Should Remember Me (Leonard Cohen)
12 talk (Leonard Cohen)
13 Sisters of Mercy (Leonard Cohen)
14 Teachers (Leonard Cohen)
15 talk (Leonard Cohen)
16 Dress Rehearsal Rag (Leonard Cohen)
17 Suzanne (Leonard Cohen)
18 talk (Leonard Cohen)
19 Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye (Leonard Cohen)
20 talk (Leonard Cohen)
21 Story of Isaac (Leonard Cohen)
22 talk (Leonard Cohen)
23 One of Us Cannot Be Wrong (Leonard Cohen)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15964961/LeonardC_1968_BBSessonsVolum2LeonrdCSingsLeonrdCPriTheatrLondnBitain__3-20-1968_atse.zip.html

As far as I know, there are no known photos of Cohen from this concert, since it was broadcast on the radio, not TV. But he played a couple of songs for a BBC TV show at the end of 1967 (and I'll post those later, as I mentioned above). Luckily, the TV footage of that has survived, so I've used a screenshot from that for the cover art.