New Album announced: 'You Want It Darker'

Leonard Cohen's last studio album (2016)
User avatar
lightning
Posts: 1355
Joined: Fri Jul 19, 2002 4:54 am
Location: New York City
Contact:

Re: New Album announced: 'You Want It Darker'

Post by lightning »

The review is by Sylvie Simmons, author of I'm Your Man . She covers Leonard as she plays uke.
JudasPriest
Posts: 282
Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2008 9:42 pm

Re: New Album announced: 'You Want It Darker'

Post by JudasPriest »

Ms. Simmons also tweeted at one point that after 4 plays she was upgrading her one word review of the album from "great" to "magnificent". I don't know whether that upgrade post dates the writing of her review in Mojo or not.
Bennyboy
Posts: 97
Joined: Tue Oct 07, 2014 3:35 pm

Re: New Album announced: 'You Want It Darker'

Post by Bennyboy »

JudasPriest wrote:Ms. Simmons also tweeted at one point that after 4 plays she was upgrading her one word review of the album from "great" to "magnificent". I don't know whether that upgrade post dates the writing of her review in Mojo or not.
I imagine she gave it more than 4 spins before reviewing - at least one would hope so.
hadley
Posts: 60
Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2010 11:21 pm

Re: New Album announced: 'You Want It Darker'

Post by hadley »

Bennyboy wrote:
JudasPriest wrote:Ms. Simmons also tweeted at one point that after 4 plays she was upgrading her one word review of the album from "great" to "magnificent". I don't know whether that upgrade post dates the writing of her review in Mojo or not.
I imagine she gave it more than 4 spins before reviewing - at least one would hope so.
I'd hope so but I remember a review in Mojo one time of a Waterboys album where the reviewer settled on 3 stars due to the fact that the first time he heard it when he just happened to stick the thing on his car stereo while caught in traffic he hated it and would have given it 1 star, yet the second and seemingly final listen which took place in more agreeable conditions he thought it sound 'magical' and deemed that in those circumstances it was worth 5 :lol:
Bennyboy
Posts: 97
Joined: Tue Oct 07, 2014 3:35 pm

Re: New Album announced: 'You Want It Darker'

Post by Bennyboy »

hadley wrote:

I'd hope so but I remember a review in Mojo one time of a Waterboys album where the reviewer settled on 3 stars due to the fact that the first time he heard it when he just happened to stick the thing on his car stereo while caught in traffic he hated it and would have given it 1 star, yet the second and seemingly final listen which took place in more agreeable conditions he thought it sound 'magical' and deemed that in those circumstances it was worth 5 :lol:
That's ridiculous.

Anyway, it just struck me a new Leonard Cohen album is being released this month. Not often you can say that eh.
JudasPriest
Posts: 282
Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2008 9:42 pm

Re: New Album announced: 'You Want It Darker'

Post by JudasPriest »

It's all gone a bit quiet on the review front. Once the embargo was lifted and the Uncut/Mojo reviews dropped, I figured there'd be a load of them but not much joy as yet...
meglos2000
Posts: 98
Joined: Fri Feb 15, 2008 9:41 am
Location: Kent UK

Re: New Album announced: 'You Want It Darker'

Post by meglos2000 »

I wonder how best to help the new CD do well in the charts?

I'm in the UK and I heard that buying from HMV contributes to the chart figure, whereas buying through Amazon does not.

I want to make a contribution to it ideally becoming a No.1 album!
Bennyboy
Posts: 97
Joined: Tue Oct 07, 2014 3:35 pm

Re: New Album announced: 'You Want It Darker'

Post by Bennyboy »

meglos2000 wrote:I wonder how best to help the new CD do well in the charts?

I'm in the UK and I heard that buying from HMV contributes to the chart figure, whereas buying through Amazon does not.

I want to make a contribution to it ideally becoming a No.1 album!
I didn't know Amazon sales didn't contribute to chart stars. Where did you discover that?
Bennyboy
Posts: 97
Joined: Tue Oct 07, 2014 3:35 pm

Re: New Album announced: 'You Want It Darker'

Post by Bennyboy »

Florian wrote:Short (german) review of "You Want It Darker" by Arne Willander of the german Rolling Stone magazine. He votet
it his "record of the month":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXz6XDa-45w
Cheers - can you translate?
Florian
Posts: 112
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:59 pm
Location: Germany

Re: New Album announced: 'You Want It Darker'

Post by Florian »

Bennyboy wrote: Cheers - can you translate?



I will try to give some quotes, so you get an idea:

-record contains typical LC songs, with a voice even deeper and more broken then before
-more natural instruments than on the last records
-contains a lot of "last words"
-Willander likes this record more then the last two wich sounded a bit "routine" to him
-the record has a final and urgend tone
-the lyrics are shortend to be maximal laconic
User avatar
jerry
Posts: 466
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2004 12:23 am
Location: New Jersey USA

Re: New Album announced: 'You Want It Darker'

Post by jerry »

What the heck does maximal laconic mean??
Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.
Leonard Cohen
User avatar
Goldin
Posts: 2480
Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 9:57 pm
Contact:

Re: New Album announced: 'You Want It Darker'

Post by Goldin »

For me, "maximally laconic" is an opposite to garish imagery of Stories of the Street and similar lyrics.
With The Sweetest Little Song as an apotheosis.
Sounds not bad at all!
Lungtas
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Jul 30, 2014 2:38 pm

Re: New Album announced: 'You Want It Darker'

Post by Lungtas »

שנה טובה Mr Cohen .
User avatar
B4real
Posts: 7184
Joined: Sun Jun 07, 2009 4:49 am
Location: Q'ld, Australia

Re: New Album announced: 'You Want It Darker'

Post by B4real »

Thanks again, Marie for keeping us informed.
I have to say that my breathing was perfectly normal and somewhat measured reading known LC history until near the end when once again, not only did my heart skip a beat or two but I have a very queezy feeling in my stomach!

Reading this helped -

Cohen said he had a “sweet little song” that he’d been working through, one of many, and, suddenly, he closed his eyes and began reciting the lyrics:

Listen to the hummingbird

Whose wings you cannot see

Listen to the hummingbird

Don’t listen to me.



Listen to the butterfly

Whose days but number three

Listen to the butterfly

Don’t listen to me.



Listen to the mind of God

Which doesn’t need to be

Listen to the mind of God

Don’t listen to me.


Another Sweet Little Song comes to mind -

The Sweetest Little Song
"You go your way
I'll go your way too"

......Just be happy, and the rest is taken care of......
It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to B4real ~ me
Attitude is a self-fulfilling prophecy ~ me ...... The magic of art is the truth of its lies ~ me ...... Only left-handers are in their right mind!
JudasPriest
Posts: 282
Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2008 9:42 pm

Re: New Album announced: 'You Want It Darker'

Post by JudasPriest »

That is some article, thanks so much for posting... As primarily a Bob fan, huge bonus that the interviewer has managed to coax Uncle Bob into giving detailed quotes as to how highly he rates Leonard - but there's so much more in there. My only tiny regret is that the new album itself isn't discussed very much.
Post Reply

Return to “You Want It Darker”