A flawlessly original masterpiece, Songs of Leonard Cohen, exports to a dusty, forgotten time and place populated with lovers, gamblers, the sick, and the incurably troubled. On his debut album, Leonard Cohen is the worried narrator of these somber tales.

Opening with "Suzanne," Cohen sets the mood with his booming voice backed only by finger-picked acoustic guitar, haunting background vocals, and the occasional swell of orchestral strings. Religious iconography weaves in and out of the album like marijuana or LSD did in so many second-rate albums recorded that same year (1968). It's a beautifully dark album and religion acts as the life preserver for a man "with one hand on (his) suicide."

The first time I heard "Stranger Song" I really didn't know how to feel. It was gorgeous and exciting, but so lonely and sad at the same time. I was haunted and probably listened to the song five times in a row the next morning. It's the story of a woman that continues to be used by drifting gamblers seeking temporary comfort. Three years later it was perfectly appropriated by Robert Altman in his 1971 film McCabe & Mrs. Miller.

After nine exceptional tracks, the album closes with what's become my absolute favorite Leonard Cohen song. "One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong" recounts the longing of a broken man obsessed with a seductress that seems to destroy every man in her path. After the final lyric, "But you stand there so nice in your blizzard of ice / Oh, please let me come into the storm," Cohen lets out a heartbreaking wail that kills me every time.