When he takes the stage at the Beacon Theater in New York City on Feb. 19, it will be Canadian songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen's first show on American soil in 15 years.

This absence is unfortunate, but what is profoundly more unfortunate is the 74-year-old's relative obscurity among the younger, college-age crowd. It wouldn't be too much of a leap to say that the only song they know of Cohen's is "Hallelujah," which was popularized in a breathtaking extended take by Jeff Buckley on 1994 album Grace and later by Rufus Wainwright, Damien Rice and a whole slew of others.

Beyond that, some older music fans would probably be familiar with "Suzanne," "Bird on a Wire," and "Chelsea Hotel No. 2" (concerning a sexual rendezvous with Janis Joplin), but even these songs were popularized by artists like Judy Collins, Tori Amos and Joe Cocker. He has never had "hit singles," his voice is unremarkable, and he considers himself more of a poet than musician.

That said, he currently sits atop my list of favorite artists. In the years he has left, he will likely never gain the recognition and appreciation that has been heaped upon Bob Dylan, Neil Young, etc., but the least I can do for now is recommend a fraction of his work to you.

Choosing an album to start out with is tricky, but your best bet would be to start from the beginning, 1967's Songs of Leonard Cohen, which features unbelievably well-written songs like "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye" and "Suzanne." As someone who dabbles in poetry and lyric-writing every now and then, verses like the second one in "Suzanne" never cease to blow my mind:

"And Jesus was a sailor when he walked upon the water,
And he spent a long time watching from his lonely wooden tower,
And when he knew for certain only drowning men could see him,
He said all men will be sailors then until the sea shall free them.
But he himself was broken long before the sky would open,
Forsaken, almost human, he sank beneath your wisdom like a stone.
And you want to travel with him,and you want to travel blind,
And you think maybe you'll trust him, for hes touched your perfect body with his mind."

From there, a personal favorite of mine is the darker Songs of Love and Hate from 1971. Themes of suicide and marital affairs are wrapped in dense string arrangements and Cohen's unique style of acoustic finger-picking. "Famous Blue Raincoat" and "Dress Rehearsal Rag" would be the ones
to preview this masterpiece.

I could ramble on and on about every line from every verse of every album, but I'll provide with you several more songs absolutely worth tracking down for the picky listeners: "Tonight Will Be Fine," "Take This Longing," "Hotel Chelsea No. 2," "You Know Who I Am," "So Long Marianne," and "Memories." The latter is featured on 1977's Death of a Ladies' Man, an album concerning sex and excess with production that sounds like both; Phil Spector's grating "wall-of-sound" horns, strings and overproduced rhythm sections compliment Cohen's tales oddly. Not really an easy listen, but it has aged better than most thought it would.

Though some of today's bands (The Walkmen, The National, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Antony, etc.) have either covered Cohen's songs or have shown obvious signs of his influence, his music needs to be shared to the fullest extent. Some sort of full US tour is expected from Cohen, so keep your eyes open for dates and on-sale times if you're a fan, new or old.

-Kyle