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10.0
36551
10.0 |
Daily Telegraph
Embraces not just his own age but ageless themes, mocking idealised serenity with reminders of his very human weaknesses
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10.0
36977
10.0 |
Blurt
Leonard 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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9.5
36817
9.5 |
Paste Magazine
In 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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9.1
36727
9.1 |
A.V. Club
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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9.0
36503
9.0 |
musicOMH
A late masterpiece
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9.0
36520
9.0 |
BBC
A quite brilliant release from an unmissable artist
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9.0
36523
9.0 |
Rolling Stone
Tempos are at a kingsnake crawl and the sound is full of caresses, variations on the classy but louche cabaret tunes Cohen once dubbed the European blues
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9.0
36718
9.0 |
PopMatters
It’s good to know the old boy still has some fight left in him
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9.0
37116
9.0 |
The Quietus
In some ways Old 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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8.0
37388
8.0 |
Q
By the end, it's like Cohen's ready to take on the world. Print edition only
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8.0
36775
8.0 |
Spin
Cohen uses Old Ideas to subvert what we expect from an alter kocker like him. Namely, easy answers or pat wisdom
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8.0
36532
8.0 |
Evening Standard
Sparkles grimly from the opening
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8.0
36536
8.0 |
The Guardian
Lust and loss; failure and redemption; the appalling comedy of existence and its inescapable end
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8.0
36546
8.0 |
The Irish Times
It’s a delight. Some old guys just never lose it
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8.0
36318
8.0 |
The Observer
More of the stuff that has made Cohen indispensable for six decades: desire, regret, suffering, misanthropy, love, hope, and hamming it up
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8.0
36319
8.0 |
The Independent
If it is to be his last communiqué, at least the old smoothie's going down swinging
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8.0
36320
8.0 |
Uncut
An album that pores over the passing and the past with such defiant, deadpan nobility
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8.0
36434
8.0 |
Drowned In Sound
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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8.0
36457
8.0 |
NME
Cohen has lost none of his passion - which, as usual, is impeccably restrained
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8.0
36460
8.0 |
The Scotsman
These days he can manage a stage whisper, or stretch to a gruff growl. But it suits the hangdog tone of the record and brings out even more of a beauty/beast contrast with his exquisite backing chorus
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8.0
36632
8.0 |
Mojo
A quietly surprising album, full of grace, full of sadness, but also, most importantly, full of life. Print edition only
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7.6
36744
7.6 |
Beats Per Minute
Old 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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7.5
36627
7.5 |
Pretty Much Amazing
A return to form for Mr. Cohen
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7.5
36484
7.5 |
Prefix
Old Ideas is stripped down to the bone, giving both Cohen's legendary lyrical prowess and his five-metric-tons-of-cigarettes voice plenty of room to work their magic
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7.4
36733
7.4 |
Pitchfork
The songs are decent, the singing is stunning
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7.0
36680
7.0 |
Consequence Of Sound
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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7.0
36692
7.0 |
Tiny Mix Tapes
Cohen’s strongest work for some time
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7.0
36972
7.0 |
Rave Magazine
You’ll still find yourself hanging on to the great man’s words
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6.0
38531
6.0 |
State
Though he thinks of himself as “a lazy bastard living in a suit”, Cohen finds himself, yet again, entertaining a newer generation
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6.0
36599
6.0 |
Independent on Sunday
The songs, such as they can be described as songs, are almost uniformly more affected than affecting
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5.0
36597
5.0 |
Slant Magazine
The album's title might seem like a hint, but whatever the explanation behind it, Old Ideas remains lyrically strong but otherwise disappointing
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