The Future
Encyclopedia
The Future is a studio album from 1992 by Leonard Cohen
. It has come to be recognized as his "film-score" album as nearly every one of the songs on the album has appeared in some notable form in a Hollywood film.
Widely recognized as one of Cohen's more accessible albums, The Future contains everything from gospel-choir choruses (title track) to synthesizer ballads ("Waiting for the Miracle"), to pop-country ("Closing Time"), to marching band, staccato-like rhythms ("Democracy").
While not his most commercially successful album internationally, The Future is definitely one of his most musically diverse outings. The album was, however, one of Cohen's biggest chart successes in his native Canada
, where "Closing Time" and "The Future" were both significant Top 40 hits . Cohen, whose singing voice is famously an acquired taste, won the 1992 Juno Award
for Best Male Vocalist. In his acceptance speech, he quipped that "Only in Canada could somebody with a voice like mine win Vocalist of the Year".
The Future was the last Cohen album to be recorded and produced entirely in analog
and then digitised after mixdown. Its working titles were Busted (after the line from "Closing Time") and Be for Real.
Cohen's then-girlfriend, actress Rebecca De Mornay
, co-produced the song "Anthem".
"Tacoma Trailer" is one of two instrumentals in the Cohen catalogue. The other is "Improvisation" from Live Songs
.
The album is silver in the UK and double-platinum in Canada
.
The Future was Cohen's longest album to date, at nearly sixty minutes.
1994 film Natural Born Killers
. Songs from this album have also appeared in the films Wonder Boys
starring Michael Douglas
and The Life of David Gale
starring Kevin Spacey
.
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
. It has come to be recognized as his "film-score" album as nearly every one of the songs on the album has appeared in some notable form in a Hollywood film.
Widely recognized as one of Cohen's more accessible albums, The Future contains everything from gospel-choir choruses (title track) to synthesizer ballads ("Waiting for the Miracle"), to pop-country ("Closing Time"), to marching band, staccato-like rhythms ("Democracy").
While not his most commercially successful album internationally, The Future is definitely one of his most musically diverse outings. The album was, however, one of Cohen's biggest chart successes in his native Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, where "Closing Time" and "The Future" were both significant Top 40 hits . Cohen, whose singing voice is famously an acquired taste, won the 1992 Juno Award
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
for Best Male Vocalist. In his acceptance speech, he quipped that "Only in Canada could somebody with a voice like mine win Vocalist of the Year".
The Future was the last Cohen album to be recorded and produced entirely in analog
Analog recording
Analog recording is a technique used for the recording of analog signals which among many possibilities include audio frequency, analog audio and analog video information for later playback.Analog recording methods store signals as a continual wave in or on the media...
and then digitised after mixdown. Its working titles were Busted (after the line from "Closing Time") and Be for Real.
Cohen's then-girlfriend, actress Rebecca De Mornay
Rebecca De Mornay
Rebecca De Mornay is an American film and television actress. Her breakthrough film role came in 1983, when she played Lana in Risky Business opposite Tom Cruise...
, co-produced the song "Anthem".
"Tacoma Trailer" is one of two instrumentals in the Cohen catalogue. The other is "Improvisation" from Live Songs
Live Songs
Live Songs was the Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen's fourth album, released during the three-year silence between Songs of Love and Hate and New Skin for the Old Ceremony. It is a compilation of live recordings, performed mostly in Europe in 1970 and 1972...
.
The album is silver in the UK and double-platinum in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
The Future was Cohen's longest album to date, at nearly sixty minutes.
Film soundtracks
Most recognizable is the use of three songs ("Waiting for the Miracle", "Anthem", and the title track) in Oliver Stone'sOliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
1994 film Natural Born Killers
Natural Born Killers
Natural Born Killers is a 1994 crime/black comedy film directed by Oliver Stone about two victims of traumatic childhoods who became lovers and psychopathic serial killers, and are irresponsibly glorified by the mass media...
. Songs from this album have also appeared in the films Wonder Boys
Wonder Boys (film)
Wonder Boys is a dark comedy film based on the 1995 novel of the same title by Michael Chabon. Directed by Curtis Hanson, it stars Michael Douglas as professor Grady Tripp, a novelist who teaches creative writing at an unnamed Pittsburgh university...
starring Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...
and The Life of David Gale
The Life of David Gale
The Life of David Gale is a 2003 American drama film directed by Alan Parker and written by Charles Randolph.Kevin Spacey stars as the eponymous character, a college Professor and longtime activist against capital punishment who is sentenced to death for killing a fellow capital punishment opponent...
starring Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey, CBE is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television...
.
Track listing
All tracks written by Leonard Cohen, except where noted.- "The Future" – 6:41
- Arranged by [Strings, Backing Vocals], Conductor [Strings, Backing Vocals] - David Campbell
- Drums - Steve Meador
- Engineer, Mixed by - Leanne Ungar
- Guitar - Bob Metzger
- Producer, Arranged by - Leonard Cohen
- Programmed by, Performer - Leonard Cohen, Yoav Goren
- Tambourine - Lenny CastroLenny CastroLenny Castro is an American freelancing percussionist in the studio recording industry in the Los Angeles area.-Early life:Castro is a percussionist of Puerto Rican descent and was born and raised in New York City. His father, Hector Castro, played the keyboard in a Latin style and gave his son...
- "Waiting for the Miracle" (Cohen, Sharon Robinson) – 7:42
- Arranged by - Leonard Cohen, Rebecca De MornayRebecca De MornayRebecca De Mornay is an American film and television actress. Her breakthrough film role came in 1983, when she played Lana in Risky Business opposite Tom Cruise...
, Yoav Goren - Arranged by [Additional Strings Arrangements] - David Campbell
- Backing Vocals - Anjani Thomas
- Engineer, Mixed by - Leanne Ungar
- Mandolin - Dean ParksDean ParksDean Parks is an American session guitarist and record producer from Ft. Worth, TX.-Albums:Dean was member of The North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los Angeles to work with Sonny and Cher in 1970. Dean is best-known through his many contributions to albums by Steely Dan...
- Percussion - Lenny Castro
- Producer [Additional] - Steve Lindsey
- Producer, Programmed by, Performer - Leonard Cohen, Yoav Goren
- Violin - Bob Furgo
- Arranged by - Leonard Cohen, Rebecca De Mornay
- "Be for Real" (Frederick Knight) – 4:32
- Arranged by [Strings] - David Campbell
- Backing Vocals - Jacquelyn Gouche-Farris, Tony Warren, Valerie Pinkston-Mayo
- Drums - James GadsonJames GadsonJames Gadson is an American drummer and session musician. Beginning his career in the late 1960s, Gadson has since become one of the most-recorded drummers in the history of R&B music....
- Engineer [Additional] - Eric Anest
- Engineer, Mixed by - Leanne Ungar
- Guitar [Pedal Steel] - Bob Metzger
- Organ, Keyboards [Wurlitzer, Mellotron] - Steve Lindsey
- Percussion - Lenny Castro
- Piano - Greg PhillinganesGreg PhillinganesGreg Phillinganes is an active session keyboardist in Los Angeles, California. He is a graduate of Cass Technical High School, Detroit Michigan....
- Producer, Arranged by - Steve Lindsey
- "Closing Time"– 6:00
- Arranged by, Programmed by, Performer - Leonard Cohen, Yoav Goren
- Backing Vocals - Julie Christensen, Perla Batalla
- Bass [Intro] - Bob GlaubBob GlaubBob Glaub is an American bass player and session musician. He's played with such artists and bands as Journey, Jackson Browne, Bee Gees, Eric Carmen, Linda Ronstadt, Leo Sayer, Warren Zevon, Rod Stewart, Donna Summer, Bonnie Raitt and many others....
- Engineer, Mixed by - Leanne Ungar
- Guitar - Bob Metzger
- Producer - Leanne Ungar, Leonard Cohen
- Violin - Bob Furgo
- "Anthem" – 6:09
- Arranged by - Leonard Cohen, Rebecca De Mornay, Yoav Goren
- Arranged by [Strings, Backing Vocals], Conductor [Strings, Backing Vocals] - David Campbell
- Bass, Guitar [Electric] - Bob Metzger
- Choir - LA Mass Choir
- Conductor [Choir] - Donald Taylor
- Drums - Steve Meador
- Engineer - Leanne Ungar, Richard Cottrell
- Mixed by - Leanne Ungar
- Percussion - Lenny Castro
- Producer - Leonard Cohen, Rebecca De Mornay
- "Democracy" – 7:13
- Arranged by, Programmed by, Performer, Keyboards - Jeff Fisher
- Backing Vocals - David Morgan, Jennifer WarnesJennifer WarnesJennifer Jean Warnes is an American singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer. She is known for her interpretations of compositions written by herself and many others, as well as an extensive playlist as a vocalist on movie soundtracks.Between 1979 and 1987 Warnes surpassed Frank Sinatra as...
, Julie Christensen - Drums - Vinnie Colaiuta
- Engineer - David Shober, Ian Terry, Leanne Ungar, Richard Cottrell
- Guitar, Mandolin - Dean Parks
- Keyboards [Additional] - Randy Kerber, Steve Lindsey
- Mixed by - Leanne Ungar
- Producer [Additional], Arranged by [Additional] - Steve Lindsey
- Producer, Arranged by [Additional] - Leonard Cohen
- Synthesizer [Bass] - John Barnes
- "Light as the Breeze" – 7:17
- Acoustic Guitar, Guitar [Electric] - Bob Metzger
- Arranged by [Backing Vocals], Backing Vocals - Jennifer WarnesJennifer WarnesJennifer Jean Warnes is an American singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer. She is known for her interpretations of compositions written by herself and many others, as well as an extensive playlist as a vocalist on movie soundtracks.Between 1979 and 1987 Warnes surpassed Frank Sinatra as...
- Engineer, Mixed by - Leanne Ungar
- Producer - Bill Ginn, Leonard Cohen
- Programmed by [Synclavier] - Bill Ginn, Steve Croes
- Programmed by, Performer - Bill Ginn
- Violin, Saxophone - Bob Furgo, Leonard Cohen
- "Always" (Irving BerlinIrving BerlinIrving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
) – 8:04- Acoustic Guitar, Guitar [Weissenborn] - Dean Parks
- Arranged by [Horns], Trumpet, Trombone - Lee R. ThornburgLee ThornburgLee Thornburg is a trumpeter who has played with many artists, and also has been a member of Supertramp and Tower of Power. Thornburg also played with Wayne Cochran and the C.C. Riders in the 1970s.-Biography:...
- Backing Vocals - Edna Wright, Jean Johnson, Peggy Blue
- Bass - Lee Sklar
- Drums - Ed GreeneEd Greene (musician)Ed Greene is an American drummer and session musician.An early recording in 1971 has him as a member of the Donald Byrd Group, together with Thurman Green Harold Land Bobby Hutcherson Joe Sample and Wilton Felder , among others....
- Engineer, Mixed by - Leanne Ungar
- Guitar [Electric] - Dennis Herring
- Organ [Ice Rink] - Steve Lindsey
- Organ [Pad] - Michael Finnigan
- Piano - Jim Cox
- Producer - Steve Lindsey
- Saxophone [Baritone] - Greg Smith
- Saxophone [Tenor] - Brandon Fields, Lon Price
- Tambourine - Lenny Castro
- "Tacoma Trailer" – 5:57
- Arranged by - Leonard Cohen
- Engineer, Mixed by - Leanne Ungar
- Producer, Programmed by, Performer - Bill Ginn
- Synthesizer [Synclavier] - Steve Croes