You Want It Darker

I came back to slightly edit my review when I read the discussion/comparison of Dylan and Cohen. My view? None. Cohen is a poet of the soul, a soul that turned itself inside out to tell us the truth. Truth is at the heart of every one of Cohen's masterworks - of which I agree, there were many, and many loved, and many sung. In his culminating album, I reprise the reviewer who wrote 'achingly' to add to my own. Cohen is an irreplaceable for all those who feel now inconsolable. That he was ready, consider "Treaty", consider "I'm Ready, My Lord. I stand with those who call You Want it Darker a masterpiece. In a single album we have the traveling light we all come to.May I detain you to recount a little story of the man's generosity. And, charm! And insouciant wry wit? Many years ago I'd read of a Canadian poet, not very known, a man who didn't perform. He was well educated but discovered poetry is the hardest art. I then saw him (you can, too) on You Tube in a panic. Judy Collins had invited him to sing with her. He wouldn't come out. The audience started to sing one of his songs.... I leave the ellipsis as he might have.Years later I learned Cohen was coming to my city. I felt sure the concert would be sold out. "No," said the ticket-taker. "Plenty of seats."There were fewer than 30. He came out in a raincoat, collar turned up, a fedora and leaned over the footlights. I'm paraphrasing: Hello. Come on down here where I can see you. Get right up close. What am I gonna do? (I noted he used more colloquial speech to join the disparate and diverse crowds he later gathered.) I'm gonna tell a few stories...sing a few songs...I'm gonna give you a full two and a/half hours. How many can you name who stands alone, in shadow, a man and his guitar .... those were there that night - no groupies ... knew unmistakably we were in the presence of a mystic who didn't disguise it. Those of us who heard Adam Cohen, who watched interviews over the years, didn't we feel the stab of his pain, of his painful, measured departure. We now know how the album was created. I don't understand those who wrote "not his best". Granted, each assessment is subjective. I write then for myself and any who may find this small eulogy to a man whose last songs were so intimate, human, vulnerable. I had the privilege of meeting the man when he was little known, when few showed up for his concert. He came out to the footlights, peered into the scattered 30 or fewer and said, "Come on up a little closer. Gather in. I'll tell a few stories, sing a few songs...we're gonna' have the whole two and a/half hours...." Unless you know the full story of Cohen's panic attacks (too long to recount here unless someone reading this queries in the box provided), I'll just say his rational fears and grief he talked of openlywere generated by being forced to view his beloved father in an open casket in his own parlor. This is not done in the culltural heritage he did actually follow all his life, calling himself spiritual. He ran to his father's closet to cry among his father's clothes. He later said in an interview, he didn't know why he'd gotten a scissors and cut the tip off one of his father's bow ties. He said he didn't know why. That rending of cloth is symbolic that the dead no longer need clothes. How I wish I'd written him of this. I can hear the song he might have written. I do feel that early loss deepened his sensibility, many times brought him to the brink, turned him to alcohol, drugs. But unlike the many - he fought on. He battled the demons until they quit him. Rather, he quit them. His songs are multi-layered, metaphysical, melodious. Oh those bridges, those shifting melancholy chords. We here on the side of profoundest praise doff our hats to his subtle genius, sardonic charm, his wit, his clear-sighted self-awareness. Praise his social activism, commentary, encompassed in a well-educated man of 'good family' whose deferential manner wrapped his in-person eloquence. His gravelly voice and truth-telling make him a forever star in the pantheon. Was he a force? I say, a multitude of one. A singularity. Listen to the interviews of which there are many. Hear, then read his last poignant message sent to Marianne (also dying), Marianne, his lifelong true-love. If you happen to be Jewish, (or even if you're not), there's a rabbi on You Tube who analyzes the meaning of every word of "You Want it Darker" -- most lines transliterated from the Old Testament. So, our great poet of the people came full circle. Cohen said he was never religious. You rarely find anything of the sort in his songs. All the Cohen songs you ever loved were glorious testimony to being alive - at whatever stage on the road. "Chelsea Hotel", "Bird on a Wire", "Dance me to the End of Love". So many. It's a cumulative mother-lode. Then came Hallelujah, possibly the legacy song for some as so many singers have made it their own.Of "You Want it Darker" - a testimony to love of life and acceptance of Death. "If you're the dealer, I'm out of the game." Here's to the high-hatted fedora tossed in the air. Here's to the man who danced near the end. "I'm ready, My Lord."

I love his cd's and this is my second one. I was not disappointed. Actually my wife does.

Not good quality as documentory

Before Cohen created this final release of his lifetime, I felt that "I'm Your Man" was his best followed closely by "Various Positions". Then I listened to this. In my mind this is a biographical work. He lays it all out. His view of faith, life, love and evil which resides in us all. It is pure raw Cohen. I think it is his most personal and honest album he did. It is beautiful. It is sad. It is questioning. Cohen knew he was coming to the end and this would be his chance to make his statement. When I finished listening to it the first time, I just sat and thought about what I had just heard. I felt a lump in my throat realizing that this was his final message to the world. He manages to pack all of this into a mere 36 minutes. His voice is somber and emotional. I recommend this album to everyone I know. It is Cohen at his best. It is one of my go to albums when I need it. Perfect masterpiece to bring his body of work to an end. Part of me wishes that "Thanks For The Dance" would have been left on the shelf, but a little more Cohen is a good thing. But this, this was his true swansong. Thank you Mr.Cohen.

I love L Cohen. Anything he sings, all his writing and that deep voice that resonates so many emotions.

For me, Leonard Cohen is the oldest artist, currently alive, making music, that I have my music collection at age 82. I like that. Not only is it unique, but I am from Generation X, so I grew up listening to Baby Boomers (not that Leonard Cohen is a Baby Boomer), but, basically, most of the artists I grew up with are now 60+ years old, and I'd still rather listen to them, and their new music, than listen to something a 16-25 year old has made. I want experience in my music. I am over 40 now, I don't identify with the under 30 crowd at all.So, here is "You Want It Darker", not much of a departure from Cohen's last two albums, "Popular Problems" and "Old Ideas", or even "Dear Heather" and "Ten New Songs". That's musically. Lyrically, well, there's not that much different either.I like Leonard Cohen, but unfortunately, I could put his albums on shuffle and there wouldn't be a great deal of variation. On this album I liked the title track, "Treaty", "Steer Your Way" and "On the Level". The rest of the tracks were pleasant. In fact, the whole album was pleasant. Don't get me wrong, it's good, but I don't know if I can give it four stars this time. Three and a Half.I don't have much else to add here, except if you like Cohen, you will like this album too. If you are new to Cohen, and want to start here, it's not a bad place to begin, and then work your way back.I guess, what I'm really looking for from Cohen, at 82, is not just some poetic lines, but maybe a more direct approach to what's on his mind as he enters his final years. The poetry can often mask underlying feelings, and subvert them so that they aren't really raw and direct. I think Cohen has been more direct in the past, but not here, which I find interesting. I mean, why not? Why not let loose now. Get it all off your chest before you go. Maybe next time?ADDENDUM 11/19/2016: Well, that won't be happening now will it? "You Want It Darker" is a decent final album, period. 2016 is the worst year in music industry deaths ever, and we still have about six more weeks to go. I mean David Bowie, Glenn Frey, Colin Vearncombe (Black), Prince, Pete Burns (Dead or Alive), Leon Russell, Leonard Cohen, Sharon Jones, Merle Haggard, Maurice White (Earth, Wind & Fire), Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship), Bobby Vee, Vanity, Alan Vega (Suicide), Juan Gabriel, Prince Be (P.M. Dawn), Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake & Palmer), I mean just blow a hole through the industry this year.Here's how "You Want It Darker" compares with Cohen's previous works:1967 The Songs Of Leonard Cohen: Five Stars1969 Songs From A Room: Three and a Half Stars1971 Songs Of Love And Hate: Four Stars1974 New Skin For The Old Ceremony: Four Stars1977 Death Of A Ladies' Man: Three Stars1979 Recent Songs: Three Stars1984 Various Positions: Four Stars1988 I'm Your Man: Five Stars1992 The Future: Four Stars2001 Ten New Songs: Four Stars2004 Dear Heather: Four Stars2012 Old Ideas: Four Stars2014 Popular Problems: Four Stars2016 You Want It Darker: Three and a Half Stars

El que fue el último album en vida de Leonard Cohen, representa el fiel reflejo de su música y poesía. Es una clara muestra de la riqueza musical tan especial de este autor. Este es un disco que vale en exceso lo que cuesta.

My 3rd time of buying this album " You Want It Darker".It is SOOOOO atmospheric and emotional, knowing that "the great man was realising that HE was on the way out".Fantastic album. . . ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐This was also very fast dispatch and delivery the day after ordering it. 🍀👌🍀

Trovo il disco Veramente bello, molto intimista, un grande album

A la fin tout est plus sombre...

Ich war skeptisch, weil in einer Kritik sein Sprechgesang als "Brummen und Murmeln" abgekanzelt wurde, aber als ich das Video zum Titelsong sah, musste ich zuschlagen für 6,99 €Jeder "gealterte" Cohen-Fan wie ich weiss, dass nichts Schlechteres folgen konnte als das von Phil Spector unsäglich verhunzte "Dead of a Ladies Man".Danke Mr. Lost Canadien für Ihren würdevollen Abschied! Ich werde immer Ihr Fan sein und bleiben!Kleiner Tipp: Auf Youtube kann man immer noch Robert Altmans so genannten Antiwestern "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" mit Cohen-Songs seines 1. Albums streamen.