You Want It Darker
| You Want It Darker | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Leonard Cohen | |||||
|
Publication |
October 21, 2016 |
||||
| Label (s) | Columbia Records | ||||
|
Format (s) |
CD, LP, download |
||||
|
Title (number) |
9 |
||||
|
running time |
36:07 |
||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
You Want It Darker is the 14th and final studio album by the Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen . It was released 17 days before Cohen's death, on October 21, 2016, on the Columbia Records label .
Emergence
After giving 387 concerts around the world as part of a five-year tour between 2008 and 2013, Cohen withdrew from the public due to his increasing health complaints. According to his son Adam Cohen, he suffered from multiple fractures of the spine and was severely restricted in his mobility. However, in 2015 he started recording a new album. When producer Patrick Leonard , who had already produced Cohen's last two albums Old Ideas and Popular Problems , left the project due to personal problems, Adam Cohen took over production.
For You Want It Darker , Cohen's house was converted into a recording studio by Adam equipping the living room with speakers and computers and placing a Neumann U87 microphone on the dining room table so that Cohen could record all of his vocal parts at home. This was a good distraction from his pain, according to Adam, and acted as a form of therapy for Cohen: “Occasionally, in bouts of joy, he would even, through his pain, stand up in front of the speakers, and we'd repeat a song over and over like teenagers. "(German:" Occasionally, in swings of joy, he even stood up in front of the loudspeakers despite his pain, and we repeated a song over and over again, like teenagers. ")
Due to his immobility, he was unable to attend the instrumental recording sessions in the studio in person, but he always gave his son detailed instructions for the studio musicians .
Track list
All texts by Leonard Cohen.
| No. | title | music | length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | You Want It Darker | Patrick Leonard | 4:44 |
| 2. | Treaty | Leonard Cohen | 4:02 |
| 3. | On the level | Sharon Robinson | 3:27 |
| 4th | Leaving the table | Leonard Cohen | 3:47 |
| 5. | If I Didn't Have Your Love | Patrick Leonard | 3:35 |
| 6th | Traveling Light | Patrick Leonard, Adam Cohen | 4:22 |
| 7th | It Seemed the Better Way | Leonard Cohen | 4:21 |
| 8th. | Steer your way | Leonard Cohen | 4:23 |
| 9. | String reprise / treaty | Leonard Cohen | 3:26 |
reception
Due to Cohen's old age, his health problems and the topics he dealt with on the album, You Want It Darker was referred to as a kind of "musical testament" in many places even before his death and was considered to be his probably last release.
The album was extremely well received by critics and was also very popular with Cohen's fans.
Chart placements
| Charts | Top ranking | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Chart placements | ||
 Germany (GfK)
|
2 (21 weeks) | 21st |
 Austria (Ö3)
|
1 (19 weeks) | 19th |
 Switzerland (IFPI)
|
2 (25 weeks) | 25th |
 United Kingdom (OCC)
|
4th (13 weeks) | 13 |
 United States (Billboard)
|
7th (10 weeks) | 10 |
Individual evidence
- ^ Andy Greene: Inside Leonard Cohen's Late-Career Triumph 'You Want It Darker'. In: Rolling Stone. November 2, 2016, Retrieved May 9, 2019 (American English).
- ↑ Gesa Ufer: Leonard Cohen: "You want it Darker" - Dark dialogue with the creator. In: Deutschlandfunk Kultur. November 3, 2016, accessed on May 9, 2019 (German).
- ↑ Wolfgang Luef: Leonard Cohen sings his last love song . In: sueddeutsche.de . October 25, 2016, ISSN 0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed on May 9, 2019]).
- ↑ https://www.offiziellecharts.de/album-details-314708
- ↑ https://austriancharts.at/showitem.asp?interpret=Leonard+Cohen&titel=You+Want+It+Darker&cat=a
- ↑ https://hitparade.ch/album/Leonard-Cohen/You-Want-It-Darker-314708
- ↑ https://www.officialcharts.com/search/albums/you-want-it-darker/
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/music/Leonard-Cohen/chart-history/billboard-200/song/998876