Do it yourself.

with leonard cohen.
start with
songs from a room
songs of lave and hate
new skin for old ceremony.

and pick up a book of his poems whilst you're at it, the man's a genius.

I can think of where the greatest hits is so fucking good it's the only real place to start

http://www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?sku=98229&WT.mc_id=101447

Otherwise, Songs of Love and Hate, Songs of Leonard Cohen and Songs from his room. Which perhaps uncoincidentally were his first three.

in my opinion the first four albums (songs of leonard cohen, songs from a room, songs of love and hate, old skin for the new ceremony) are the best. or you could just get his first 'greatest hits' comp, which has a pretty good selection of the early stuff. after that, things start taking a turn for the keyboard.

He was great in Rising Damp though wasn't he.

so then bought Songs from a Room and liked it. But one day I noticed irritating ruler twanging on every song and now cannot listen to it.
Still love Love and Hate though. Nice story.

i thiunk there are a few floating about so make sure you get the one where the front cover is him looking in a mirror