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Feb 2, 2012Old Ideas is a very good Cohen album; it may be great, but only time reveals that when it comes to his work.
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Jan 23, 2012He comes across as a man still deep in the throes of religious and romantic upheaval, invigorated rather than intimidated by the nearness of death.
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Feb 23, 2012All told, Old Ideas might be Cohen's strongest effort since taking Manhattan.
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Jan 20, 2012There's a distinct valedictory tone to his customary musings upon life, love and the spirit, with one track titled "Amen" and another "The Darkness". But if it is to be his last communiqué, at least the old smoothie's going down swinging.
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Feb 2, 2012Old Ideas is not the man's latter-day masterpiece but its title is as bluntly honest as any you'll see this year, in more ways than one.
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Feb 1, 2012The sparse production recalls Cohen's 1988 release, "I'm Your Man," by throwing the Canadian balladeer's ever-deepening voice and his mix of poetic flair and pitch-black humor into satisfyingly stark relief.
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Feb 6, 2012Leonard Cohen has made the best full album of his career (song for song, sound for sound, lyrical point for point; yes, this is true) and most certainly the best album of 2012.
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Jan 24, 2012Still feisty after all these years, his entanglements with love and aging [are]documented with wicked wit and an attitude that is anything but sentimental.
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Jan 30, 2012Old Ideas, however, succeeds in largely keeping the music subservient, buoyant enough to keep things moving but not distracting any attention from the lyrics, the true star of the show.
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Jan 24, 2012He filters these gifts of poetry and keen observation through his bruised, romantic outlook, into a fully-formed album that sounds as if it was always in there, waiting to see the light of day. Or the darkness.
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Entertainment WeeklyJan 30, 2012The man in the suit still commands a room, telling tales of forgiveness, heaven, and alcohol. [3/10 Feb 2012, p.112]
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Feb 2, 2012Give it its long chance and you'll find that Cohen's sense of humor alive and kicking from the first words.
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MojoFeb 27, 2012Old Ideas remain a quietly surprising album, full of grace, full of sadness, but also, most importantly, full of life. [Mar 2012, p.90]
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Jan 25, 2012With simple, delicate moments of memorable poignancy such as Banjo or Amen, he has now made a late masterpiece.
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Jan 26, 2012Old Ideas feels like you're hearing Cohen performing live at a small club with a top-notch band of veteran players, and this new level of intimacy suits him perfectly.
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Feb 1, 2012In an era of hype and hyperbole where such a word has lost its meaning, Old Ideas is in the truest sense a masterpiece.
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Feb 1, 2012The songs are decent, the singing is stunning.
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Jan 31, 2012The new album is a willfully modest affair, its tracks stripped to their most basic elements: a synthesized keyboard and drum machine here, an acoustic guitar or violin there, meticulously arranged female voices everywhere as a counterpoint to Cohen's own increasingly cavernous growl.
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Jan 25, 2012The 10-track album is heavily front-loaded--while the texture and tone remain relatively consistent, the writing "relaxes" a bit about halfway through, and there's little in the record's second half that's as intensely arresting as any of the aforementioned songs.
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Q MagazineFeb 22, 2012Leonard Cohen sounds like a performer at the peak of his game. [Mar 2012, p.107]
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Jan 26, 2012The lyrics on Old Ideas reach for the stark power of prayers, hymns and religious riddles.
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Feb 1, 2012Wonderfully unsentimental, beautifully tuneful.
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Feb 1, 2012Fittingly, the album is all warmth, putting Cohen's improbably expressive smoker's purr in the middle of simple yet sumptuous instrumentation.
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Jan 20, 2012if it is to be his last communiqué, at least the old smoothie's going down swinging.
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Jan 23, 2012It is not wild hyperbole to say that he might be the finest master of his craft alive today.
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Feb 8, 2012Old Ideas is the most musically considered Leonard Cohen album yet, and perhaps the first that sounds like the kind of thing you'd expect from an old master of the 1960s and 70s.
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Jan 27, 2012It is, in short, and as we might have expected, a work of genius.
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Jan 31, 2012For all its flaws, Old Ideas remains Cohen's strongest work for some time.
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UncutJan 13, 2012An album that pores over the passing and the past with such defiant, deadpan nobility. [Feb 2012, p.78]
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Under The RadarMar 21, 2012Old Ideas goes beyond serving as a solid-bookend, revealing the singer/songwriter's gifts to be entirely undiminished. [Mar 2012, p.83]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 25 out of 28
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Mixed: 1 out of 28
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Negative: 2 out of 28
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Feb 3, 2012
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Feb 3, 2012
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Dec 14, 2014