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

Songs of Leonard Cohen

1968, later stamper · CBS SBPG 63241 · Stereo · UK · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	CBS
Catalogue number	SBPG 63241
Year	1968, later stamper
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	UK
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Folk/Singer-Songwriter
Producer	John Simon
Musicians	Leonard Cohen (vocals, guitar); uncredited on the jacket: John Simon (piano, organ, kazoo), Willie Ruff (bass), Nancy Priddy (backing vocals), Jimmy Lovelace (drums)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  D 4 S63241 A4
Side B:  S63241 B2 1 2  E

Condition

Cover: NM-
Vinyl: NM-

Variant chronology

1967 - UK CBS SBPG 63241, stereo, orange label, earliest stereo stamper run
1968 - UK CBS BPG 63241, mono
1968 - UK CBS SBPG 63241, stereo, orange label, later stamper run  <- this copy
1971 - UK CBS SBPG 63241, stereo, repress
1972 - UK CBS SBPG 63241, stereo, repress
1973 - UK CBS SBPG 63241, stereo, repress

This Pressing

UK CBS stereo pressing (orange one-eye label) of the 1967/68 SBPG 63241 series, a later stamper run (A4/B2) rather than the earliest A1-A2/B1 stereo copies.

The Album

Songs of Leonard Cohen was the debut album of a Canadian poet and novelist who had already published several acclaimed books before turning to songwriting in his early thirties. Signed to Columbia by John Hammond, Cohen recorded the sessions in New York in late 1967 after an uneasy start with unfamiliar session players, eventually settling into a spare, intimate sound built around his voice and guitar. The album introduced some of his most enduring songs, including 'Suzanne', already known through Judy Collins's recording, and 'So Long, Marianne', written for Marianne Ihlen, the muse who shaped much of his early work on the Greek island of Hydra. Cohen's plain-spoken, literary lyrics and unadorned melodies stood apart from the prevailing psychedelic and folk-rock currents of 1967, drawing on his background as a poet rather than a pop songwriter. The record was received more warmly in Britain and Europe than in North America, where it nonetheless built a devoted cult following that grew steadily over the following decades. It is now regarded as a foundational work of the confessional singer-songwriter tradition, and its songs have been covered by generations of other artists. The album remains the cornerstone of Cohen's long recording career and the record most closely identified with his emergence as a major songwriter.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Suzanne
2. Master Song
3. Winter Lady
4. The Stranger Song
5. Sisters Of Mercy

Side 2

1. So Long, Marianne
2. Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye
3. Stories Of The Street
4. Teachers
5. One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong

The Label

The labels are orange with dark brown-black print, the CBS wordmark set above a square-framed single-eye device centred on each side, with the full rights-reserved text running the rim; side 1 credits A1 to Essex Music and the remaining four tracks to M.A.M. Music Ltd, side 2 all five tracks to M.A.M. Music Ltd, and both sides carry the © 1967 / ℗ 1967 dates. This is the standard CBS UK orange “one-eye” album design used across the late 1960s and into the early 1970s before the company's later label redesign, so the design alone cannot separate an early stereo pressing from a subsequent repress carrying the same catalogue number. The stamped suffixes in the runout read A4/B2, later in the stereo run than the A1-A2/B1 stampers, placing this copy among the later stereo pressings in that long run rather than the first stereo pressing off the metal.

Fidelity

The session was cut for UK release from the Columbia stereo master tape onto the CBS one-eye label series; no separate UK mastering credit is printed on the labels or jacket. Collectors generally regard the early UK CBS stereo pressings of this title as a solid-sounding, slightly warmer alternative to the contemporary US Columbia stereo pressing, though neither is treated as a reference-grade audiophile cut. This copy's later stamper suffix places it a step down the pressing hierarchy from the earliest UK stereo stampers, which are generally preferred by collectors chasing the first metal off this release.

Notes

This is a UK CBS stereo pressing of Songs of Leonard Cohen, SBPG 63241, on the orange one-eye label with ©/℗ 1967 printed on both sides. The runout carries A4 and B2 stamper suffixes, later than the A1-A2/B1 stereo stampers, placing it within the stereo pressing run rather than at its head. The catalogue number is printed SBPG 63241 on the labels and simply 63241 on the sleeve, a normal discrepancy for this title rather than a variant marker. Nothing on the labels or jacket identifies a specific repress year beyond 1967 as the earliest possible date.

Documenting collections

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