Mr Cohen’s Encore

Any attempt to write words of my own while listening to Mr Cohen is an attempt doomed to dangle from the precipce of lost causes: imposter syndrome pervasive, the alpha form thereof, with each useless word I write in life indelibly if unfairly compared, in real time, to each profundity Mr Cohen utters from the beyond.

Much of the credit for making THANKS FOR THE DANCE more than just another posthumous cash-in belongs to Adam Cohen and his tasteful, evocative production and arrangements: "The Goal," 1:12, instrumentation sublime; the title track; the opening number, "Happens to the Heart..." To hear him, to hear Mr Cohen one more time, with new, unheard words, three years hence, it's just ... just.

And, while YOU WANT IT DARKER is rivaled only by Bowie's BLACKSTAR in the "perfect farewell to the artist's artist and goddammit I'll cry if I want to whenever I listen to it" department, THANKS FOR THE DANCE is a welcome addition: I see him, fedora perfectly tilted, coming back on stage for just a few more songs, a raise of the hand to the audience as the lights focus just one more time, for one final encore.

Farewell, Mr Cohen – and welcome home.