Various Positions
by Leonard Cohen
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Leonard Cohen bestography
Various Positions is ranked 7th best out of 27 albums by Leonard Cohen on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Leonard Cohen is Songs Of Leonard Cohen which is ranked number 140 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 9,453.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to Various Positions on YouTube
Various Positions track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 82 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Various Positions rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 5 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  AAL2014 | Top 53 Music Albums of 1984 | 29/53 | 2 |
| 2026 | bonnequestion | Best albums from '75 to '84 | 91/100 | - |
| 2026 |  junodog4 | Best 100 of Canada | 89/100 | - |
| 2026 | lanadeleswift | Top 26 Music Albums of 1984 | 13/26 | 3 |
| 2026 | bonnequestion | Top 22 Music Albums of 1984 | 4/22 | 4 |
| 2026 |  sszwalbenest | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 85/100 | 3 |
| 2026 | craab | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 3/100 | 20 |
| 2026 | Foxforce5 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 85/100 | 3 |
| 2026 | JamesMowbray | Top 99 Music Albums of 1984 | 88/99 | 1 |
| 2026 |  ExTeaSea | Top 72 Music Albums of 1984 | 20/72 | 4 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 129 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 534 | |||
Various Positions collection
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Various Positions ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 162 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/06/2026 16:32 |  identifer | 1,007 | 82/100 |
| ! | 08/25/2026 10:21 | AledJames | 1,712 | 69/100 |
| ! | 08/13/2026 19:47 | Jakor | 5,550 | 70/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 7% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 75.2/100, a mean average of 74.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 75.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.9.
Various Positions favourites
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Various Positions forum mentions
Rhyner 09/06/2026 17:15 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)Various Positions comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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Really great album. Contains 3 Cohen classics, "Hallelujah", "If it be your will" and "Dance me to the end of love". All other tracks are good as well with some great poetry; the lyrics to "Night Comes On" especially resonate with me. I'm surprised it isn't regarded higher by more reviewers. A must listen for poetry fans and one of Cohen's best.
jnfbn 02/28/2018 18:10 | #209797 | TOP COMMENT
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This is one of the most criminally underrated albums ever, it contains 3 best songs of Cohen; Hallelujah, If It Be Your Will, and Dance Me To the End of Love as well as other great songs.
Lyrically amazing and I love how he retooled his sound in the 80s. This was the first "casio" album and though it was a little out of left field it rejuvenated his career. I'm Your Man might be the more perfected version but Leonard 2.0 really starts here with Various Positions. In addition to the big three songs ("Dance Me," "Halleluiah," and "If It Be Your Will") there are some other great tracks. "Heart with No Companion" is a simple song with some of LC's best lyrics. "The Law," "Coming Back to You," and "Night Comes On," are some of his most theological/mystical meditations. "Hunter's Lullaby" and "The Captain" involve great story telling. When I first heard this album it showed me that pop music could go places spiritually that I had not imagined. There really is not a skip track.
Absolutely underrated, this album! Then again, aren't all of Leonards?
Crumpet 02/16/2018 17:12 | #208456 | TOP COMMENT
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Really great album here, the only problem is the production, setting Dance me to the End of Love to such a heavy drum beat ruins it and this isn't the best version of Hallelujah (that would be the beautifu 7 minutel live performance that can be found easily on Youtube) but the songs are still great. The other songs are all good The Captain and When the Night Comes In being particularly good.
The best track her is the stunning finale "If it be Your Will", a lyrical masterpiece that really hits hard.
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