Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep with the record.

— Paul, Vinyl Curator

Leonard Cohen

Live Songs

c. 1977-1983 · CBS CBS 32272 · Stereo · UK (rim text reads “MADE IN ENGLAND”) · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	CBS
Catalogue number	CBS 32272
Year	c. 1977-1983
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	UK (rim text reads “MADE IN ENGLAND”)
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Rock - Folk Rock (live album)
Producer	Bob Johnston
Composer	Leonard Cohen
Musicians	1972 sessions: Ron Cornelius (acoustic and electric guitar), Peter Marshal (stand-up and electric bass), David O’Connor (acoustic guitar), Bob Johnston (organ), Leonard Cohen (acoustic guitar), Donna Washburn (vocals), Jennifer Warren (vocals). 1970 sessions: Ron Cornelius (electric guitar), Charlie Daniels (electric bass and fiddle), Elkin Fowler (banjo and guitar), Bob Johnston (harmonica and guitar), Leonard Cohen (acoustic guitar), Aileen Fowler (vocals), Corlynn Hanney (vocals).

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  32272 CBS-S-65224-A4 1 C
Side B:  CBS-32272 B4 B

Condition

Cover: NM-
Vinyl: NM

Variant chronology

1973 - UK first pressing, CBS orange/yellow “walking-eye” label, no label code -
1973 - US Columbia KC 31724 -
1973 - Netherlands/Europe CBS S 65224/32272 pressings -
c. 1977-1983 - UK CBS “Sunburst” orange-to-yellow label with square eye logo and LC 0149 code, Made in England  <- this copy
1982 - Spain CBS 32272 reissue -
1984 - Greece CBS 32272 reissue -

This Pressing

Later UK CBS pressing (Sunburst gradient label, LC 0149 code) - not the 1973 first pressing; the code dates manufacture to 1977 or after.

The Album

Live Songs gathers performances taped on Leonard Cohen’s European tours of 1970 and 1972, including a searing reading from the Isle of Wight festival, and was assembled as a deliberately raw counterpoint to the polished studio records that preceded it. Coming after three carefully produced studio albums, it captures Cohen at his most exposed, stretching songs like “Please Don’t Pass Me By” into long improvised confessions and bantering with audiences between numbers. The record extends his reputation as a songwriter who treated the concert stage as a place of ritual and risk rather than simple performance, reinforcing his status as one of the era’s most literary and emotionally unguarded singer-songwriters. Its inclusion of the posthumous writing of Daphne Richardson on the packaging underscored the album’s preoccupation with intensity, transfiguration and loss, themes that run through Cohen’s work of the period. Critically it has long been viewed as a transitional, demanding entry in his catalogue - less immediately welcoming than the studio albums but prized by devoted listeners for its unvarnished intimacy. It remains a touchstone for how Cohen’s songs could be reshaped and extended in live performance.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Minute Prologue
2. Passing Thru
3. You Know Who I Am
4. Bird on the Wire
5. Nancy
6. Improvisation

Side 2

1. Story Of Isaac
2. Please Don’t Pass Me By (A Disgrace)
3. Tonight Will Be Fine
4. Queen Victoria

The Label

The labels on this copy show CBS’s orange-to-yellow “Sunburst” gradient design with the boxed eye logo and large CBS wordmark, dark print, “MADE IN ENGLAND” rim text and an LC 0149 label-code oval beside the speed line. CBS UK used this gradient “Sunburst” center label with the catalogue-number-based LC code from the late 1970s into the early 1980s, replacing the plain orange “walking-eye” label used on the 1973 first pressing of this title. A label code did not exist before 1977, so this copy cannot be the 1973 first issue despite carrying the same catalogue number and jacket; it sits among the later UK reissues of CBS 32272 pressed with the Sunburst labels. The runout carries an S 65224 lacquer reference, showing the reissue drew on the same mastering lineage as the original UK cutting rather than a fresh remaster.

Fidelity

The album was produced by Bob Johnston from stage recordings made on Cohen’s 1970 and 1972 tours, and the mastering lineage on this pressing traces back to the original UK S 65224 lacquers rather than a fresh cut. Collectors generally regard the UK CBS pressings of this title as solid, unfussy transfers of a recording whose rough concert ambience is part of its character rather than a sonic showcase. No audiophile remastering of Live Songs exists, so this later Sunburst-label UK pressing sits a modest step behind the 1973 first pressing in collector esteem, though it carries essentially the same mastering.

Notes

This is a later UK CBS pressing of Live Songs, not the 1973 first issue. The orange-to-yellow Sunburst label with the boxed eye logo and the LC 0149 code is a design CBS UK introduced no earlier than 1977, replacing the plain walking-eye label used at release. “Made in England” on the rim confirms UK manufacture even though the same catalogue number was also used for other European pressings. The runout’s S 65224 reference shows the reissue stems from the same lacquer lineage as the original UK cutting rather than a new mastering.

Documenting collections

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