The Future

by Leonard Cohen

The Future is one of the most popular Leonard Cohen recordings. It's his essential film-score album. Almost all its songs appear in Hollywood films. Relatively accessible, it contains everything from gospel-choruses (title track) to synthesizer ballads (Waiting for the Miracle), to pop-country (Closing Time), to marching band rhythms (Democracy). While not his most commercially successful album internationally, it's one of his most musically diverse outings. However, it was one of his biggest chart successes in his native Canada, where Closing Time & The Future were both Top 40. Cohen, whose singing voice is famously an acquired taste, won the '92 Juno Award for Best Male Vocalist. In his acceptance speech, he quipped that "only in Canada could I win a Best Vocalist award". The Future was his last album produced entirely in analog, then digitised after mixdown. Its working titles were Busted (after a line from Closing Time) & Be for Real. His then-girlfriend, actress Rebecca De Mornay, coproduced Anthem. Tacoma Trailer is one of two instrumentals in the Cohen catalog. The other is Improvisation from Live Songs. The album is silver in the UK & double-platinum in Canada. Almost 60 minutes, it was his longest album to date.
"The Future" – 6:41
"Waiting for the Miracle" (Cohen, Sharon Robinson) – 7:42
"Be for Real" (Frederick Knight) – 4:32
"Closing Time"– 6:00
"Anthem" – 6:09
"Democracy" – 7:13
"Light as the Breeze" – 7:17
"Always" (Irving Berlin) – 8:04
"Tacoma Trailer" – 5:57

Genres: Poetry

171 pages, Paperback

First published November 24, 1992

About the author

Leonard Norman Cohen was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963.

Cohen's earliest songs (many of which appeared on the 1968 album Songs of Leonard Cohen) were rooted in European folk music melodies and instrumentation, sung in a high baritone. The 1970s were a musically restless period in which his influences broadened to encompass pop, cabaret, and world music. Since the 1980s he has typically sung in lower registers (bass baritone, sometimes bass), with accompaniment from electronic synthesizers and female backing singers.

His work often explores the themes of religion, isolation, sexuality, and complex interpersonal relationships.

Cohen's songs and poetry have influenced many other singer-songwriters, and more than a thousand renditions of his work have been recorded. He has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour. Cohen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10, 2008 for his status among the "highest and most influential echelon of songwriters".

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erik Badger, my stepbrother, gave this and another Cohen tape to me for Christmas during the brief period our parents lived in Schaumburg. I, a fan of Cohen's since high school, was delighted as I had heard neither of his most recent recordings. Subsequently, I obtained a further copy of The Future as a gift for my old friend Martin.

Except for the covers of the Berlin and the Knight songs, I like the material, especially the dytopian-prophetic Anthem and weakly hopeful title song. Sometime after release I was at the local Heartland Restaurant and The Tonight Show was on. By happenstance, Cohen was being interviewed by Jay Leno, then put on stage to play Anthem. The performance was interrupted by a commercial. When Cohen got back to his seat, Leno said something about how much he liked the artist's work. Cohen shot back angrily with a complaint about the preemption. So much for sycophantic Leno and his advertising vehicle. I'm proud to say that that is the only time I've seen Leno's program.