Customer Reviews

The Future

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When the air turns cold and the daylight hours diminish, I think of when I became familiar with Leonard Cohen's the Future. One December, my mother, whose love of unconventional, eclectic music I inherited, used Christmas money from my grandparents to expand her CD collection, including the purchase of the Future, an album from which the two best songs of her adored Natural Born Killers soundtrack were taken. I gave the album a few trial listens, as I had always expanded my tastes by waltzing through Mom's tape and CD collection.

The Future, however, was much different from the Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin I picked-up from her. To a high school student whose favorite bands were mostly FM radio staples, Cohen sounded dark, sober and distant. The Future's simplistic arrangements, slow pace and Cohen's gritty, tuneless voice made the Future a failure on the scale that I rated Led Zeppelin IV and Hot Rocks as classics. Yet, the brooding articulateness of the album was something I slowly found to be spell-binding. Lines such as "Things are going to slide/Slide in all directions/Won't be nothing/Nothing you can measure anymore/The blizzard, the blizzard of the world/Has crossed the threshold/And it has overturned/The order of the soul," had both an immediate impact and an abstraction and complexity about them that made the lyrics mysterious and affecting after several listens, even after memorization. Songs of love and of anger I had heard but the precise lyrics of Cohen, speaking of that disappointed feeling of one who loosens-up in celebration and struggles to find a hand to hold ("Closing Time"), of desperate patience ("Waiting for the Miracle") and intellectualized hope ("Deocracy") were fresh, exotic and intriguing to me. Even the slow-paced music began to engage me, with its sleekness, craftiness and exact appropriateness to the song. All in all, to a high school student whose favorite bands were mostly FM radio staples, Cohen was somebody bizarre and astonishing.

He was a musical persona more multifaceted and more vibrant than any other I had known, a writer of consciously futile protest mantras; a desperate romantic always embraced by love to the point of entanglement, a witty old man (three times my age) sitting lonesome at the edge of a bar waiting for someone to pour his wisdom and wry observations into. This was the person I saw as a listened to the Future, relentlessly - with headphones on the bus, driving to my part-time job, alone in my room - always surrounded by cold air, falling snow and the sense of wonderment only a poet can provide. The Future was my introduction to a more cerebral, more mature side of popular music. Even today, after absorbing the Velvet Underground and Nico, Astral Weeks and Blood On the Tracks, I have yet to hear an album that stimulates me in the way the Future does. I am thankful that I discovered Leonard Cohen's best album during that lush, white Pennsylvania winter at the age in which every new discovery in music seemed supernatural.

You simply cannot fault this album. Some say it's a far cry from his earlier recordings but it has to be said that the wistful, sad, , incisive, cutting, dark, and romantic Mr Cohen is still alive and well. Majority of the songs on the album are over 5 minutes long, but you never seem to notice, in fact, I often wish they were longer! The rythmn and melody, accompanied by the deft, poetic story telling of Cohen, takes you on a ride that can be exhillarating (The Future, Closing Time), profoundly moving (Anthem, Tacoma Trailer, The Miracle) cutting and ry (Democracy), and incredibly sexy and erotic (Light as the Breeze, Be For Real). There simply has never been a more angelic song than Anthem. I still am moved by it after literally thousands of listenings, particularly the final instrumental break where the strings pluck and the vocals soar. Incredible. Classical music purists generally only consider the obvious greats as musical geniusses, (Beethoven, Mozart, Bach etc) but I put this question to you, Was musical genius confined only to previous centuries? With The Future, Leonard Cohen prooves that he is up there with the best of them. If he had written this album in the 1700s, it would be played today by The London Philharmonic, Sung by Pavarotti, performed in The Met, and Royal Albert Hall, it would be played at Royal funerals, and after hundreds of years, would still move people. I re-iterate this point, you cannot fault this album, and if there was a fault, it has to be said, "...there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in."

This record is an amazing achievement.. It would be a nightmare to pick "Cohen's Best record", since each one has its own strengths. ( Like a lot of people I own them all, most of them on twelve inch plastic frisbees, and I'm not sure I'd like to get involved in the debate over which one is the weakest.) But "The future" is an astonishing performance from someone who has been writing his own songs and recording them for over thirty years. There's none of the tiredness that characterises the recent productions of some of his contemporaries, and while you could, if you wanted to, trace the development of certain songs here back to earlier concerns, there's little in the earlier albums that prepares you for this one. If there's a leap from "Various Positions" to "I'm your man" then there's an equal leap to here. No one writes erotic songs with the subtlety, humour or blatant enjoyment of sex that Cohen does. And no one makes images the way he does either. If you want sly humour, poetry, biting social commentary, it's all here. Someone else might be able to write something as mesmeric and disturbing as the title song, or as lyrically beautiful as Anthem, but I doubt there's many people (anybody) who could do both on the one album and throw in a "closing time" and a 'Waiting for the Miracle" too. For a man with such a limited vocal range, his songs manage to be distinct. And not only that but the rhythms and arrangements that made "I'm your man" are used here to support the voice and give the words pride of place. This makes them even more compelling than usual. Like all Cohen's albums, this one repays endless listening. Muzak it ain't.

Lyrically he must be one of the most interesting songwriters of the twentieth century. (I'd claim the most interesting but I'm biased) He's always had the ability to make beautiful, memorable images, that seem to sum up profound insight and then write glibly with his tongue firmly in his cheek (or someone else's). This ability to work on several levels of meaning and seriousness is elevated to genius on "Closing time' which sounds at first like a joke, until you realise that like most of Cohen's jokes, this one song contains enough thought provoking lines to pack any other writer's life work. "I loved you for your beauty/that doesn't make a fool of me/you were in it for your beauty too/I loved you for your body/there's a voice that sounds like god to /declaring that your body's really you" Those of us who always said Cohen had a sense of humor are provided with ample evidence on this cd The old sardonic wit is still alive and kicking: I raise my glass to the awful truth/which you can't reveal to the ears of youth/except to say it isn't worth a dime" At the same time he writes adult love songs like no one else ever has or does, and he can be bitterly perceptive. The whole of "democracy' is a thought provoking attack on America, The future with its hideous opening images and mesmeric arrangements is successfully disturbing while anthem is simply beautiful. And the version of "always" is a good joke, that brings back great memories of Cohen concerts. The real problem with this record is that once you've heard it, everything else seems more than a little inane. It's a painful reminder that you cannot manufacture talent or produce masterpieces by following formulas.

I don't know how many would agree with me on this, but I think The Future is undoubtedly Leonard Cohen's best album. The lyrics on this album are absolute poetry - mastery, sheer mastery. From the dark satire of the title track to the cynical but all-too-true Waiting For The Miracle, to the appropriately titled Anthem, to the poetic and highly erotic Light As The Breeze, Cohen's lyrics stand nearly unrivaled in music. However, the real lyrical standout of the album is Democracy, a biting satire that stands up favorably to anything he has ever written. The covers Be For Real (and especially) Always are also very well-done, and the latter even features a nice Cohen vocal. Tacoma Trailer, an instrumental, is a nice way to round up the album. You won't find bombastic musical arrangements or overbearing vocals here, though. What you will find are Cohen's great lyrics sung in an intensely personal and moving way. And that, surely, is enough.

When a young girl in Canada, I became a fan of Leonard Cohen after buying his first record, Songs of Leonard Cohen, released in 1968. He was in his early 30's then. He has released a series of recordings since and published novels and books of poetry. Themes he initiated in his writing in those early days have evolved throughout the years, still apparent in his recent work but with a more overt gentleness and cautious hope. Take, for instance, Suzanne, from 1968, in which he wrote "And Jesus was a sailor/when he walked upon the water/...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." Compare this to the powerful lines in Anthem, a song on The Future. "There is a crack in everything./That's how the light gets in." Both express the belief that life's afflictions (another of his themes (!)) teach and ultimately free us.

The caution that the lyrics on The Future are explicit surprised me. I had not noticed. He was almost 60 when The Future was released in 1992, but he remains, in my estimation, one of the sexiest men around. I'm Your Man, on the CD of the same name, is the most romantic, erotic song I have ever heard. On The Future, the song Closing Time has a different take on desire. It describes the yearning within a Saturday night bar crawl ("And the moon is swimming naked/and the summer night is fragrant/with a mighty expectation of relief") as well as the fun ("So we're drinking and we're dancing/and the band is really happening/and the Johnny Walker wisdom running high"). But the disheartening side of quick romance and love affairs in general is woven throughout ("and I swear it happened just like this:/a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss/the Gates of Love they budged an inch/I can't say much has happened since"). The mixture of laughter and loss is ultimately sad but the song is such tightly written, vivid poetry, its beauty and insight are stunning.

I don't have a Leonard Cohen favorite CD-they all include songs I love, but The Future is surely a terrific addition to the collection.

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Gets four stars from me.

LC is one of those singer-songwriters who seem to elicit strong opinions; there are those who really like him and those who can't stand him, but I haven't run across many who feel lukewarm about him either way. You'll rarely hear said about Leonard Cohen, "Yeah, he's ok."

Accordingly, listening to any Leonard Cohen album should give one an idea of how they'll feel about him in general. This being a later album, it's more highly produced than the early albums, many of which have an almost raw sound to them.

I didn't like all the songs equally when I first listened to it, but repeated listenings have had nearly all of them grow on me to one degree or another. My least favorite is his cover of Irving Berlin's "Always", where Cohen tries to both undercut and transcend Berlin's cloyingly sentimental lyrics with a sly, lounge-lizard cool. Just doesn't work for me.

On the other hand, "Closing Time" utterly succeeds in pulling off the same trick in reverse; undercutting and transcending a Country Top 40 sound with sneakily subversive lyrics, suggesting something just a wee bit more existential than just another tears-in-my-beer lament over a broken love affair. "Looks like freedom but it feels like death / it's something in between, I guess / it's closing time." skirts dangerously close to the edge of Deep Thoughts.

"Waiting for the Miracle" is one of the standouts of the album, and certainly the darkest. It evokes a bleakness in the vein of an Ennio Morricone score for a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It was used, in fact, as the opening theme for Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killer's", which also used the album's title cut, "The Future", as it's closing credits theme. Another upbeat piece subverted by dark, jagged lyrics.

The other cuts are all good, with my personal other real standout being his "Anthem", which is as close to spiritual hopefulness as you're likely to hear LC get, a quiet, nearly peaceful ode to faith in the Good, and True.

If you like Leonard Cohen, you'll get him on this album, if you don't know him and want to check him out, this is as good an album as any of his to start with, and you'll certainly get to hear him in his stride. He hits it enough times here.

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Ever satirical, Cohen asks for the return of the Berlin Wall, compares the coming of Christ to Hiroshima, describes a coming communist revolution and demands complete control of every living soul on this album and that's just the first track. Even if the voice used is obviously not Cohen's but that of a character with a distinct and twisted view of a not-too-far-fetched future, the song ranks as one of the most evil, brooding and brilliant tracks I have ever heard. Be it the pain and unhappiness of longing (Waiting for the Miracle); that semi-disappointed, carefree, erotic sense after a memorable celebration (Closing Time) or pure smitten love (Light as a Breeze) there is no odd sensation or state of mind too difficult for Cohen's poetic voice to display brilliantly. I had the same reaction to hearing the Future for the first time that I did when hearing David Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World or Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. "How could I go so long without this is my CD collection!?!"

Most of this great album is featured on "The Essential Leonard Cohen", which I've owned for a few years. Still, I bought "The Future" to enjoy the great songs I knew in their original order and context and to hear the few tracks that aren't on the later compilation. In whatever order, songs like "The Future", "Democracy", "Waiting for the Miracle", "Anthem" and "Closing Time" are all Cohen classics--each with its unique element of anger, irony, longing, reverence or joy. It's a dream of mine for someday, someone to sing "Anthem" at my church, perhaps even me. Of the "non-essential" songs, "Light as a Breeze" was the best--perhaps Cohen's most erotic song ever, though I haven't heard everything. "Be For Real" was a very loving cover--right down to the closing "Thanks for the song, Mr. Knight". Being a fan of lyrics, "Tacoma Trailer" didn't do as much for me. I'll excuse "Always" as a paean to Irving Berlin and a chance to loosen up in front of the mike. It doesn't sound like this one was done in very many takes. I haven't listened to all of Cohen's albums to be able to say that "The Future" is the best, but with its concentration of great songs, it's got to be right up there.

The online reviews are usually misleadingly high because too many people give 5 stars too easily, but this is not the case. This album is a major masterpiece. Everything in this recording is in a way that places it at a different level with respect to the other discs, being something that really enters in your life, like the true Art does. It is almost shocking to hear such strong lyrics, but it is a good shock that most of us need. This is food for our brain and our soul. Have this at all costs; it won't make you a better person, but will make you feel alive.

"Closing Time" is a masterpiece. Leonard Cohen is a genius. Give yourself a little time to get use to his voice if it puts you off at first. I believe he is the best songwriter ever, but I know some Dylan fans who would want to beat me up for saying that. After you listen to this, get a "greatest hits" album. Then, you'll be ready to continue your Cohen odyssey.