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I've been listening to records made by people who were close to death and knew it. I know that sounds morbid; I'm not dying, but someone close to me died recently, and he was a drummer who never got to do anything with his talent and I think listening to this records is helping me work through...something. I don't know. Anyway here are the records I've been listening to:

• "Blackstar," by David Bowie
  "You Want It Darker," by Leonard Cohen
  "Donuts" by J Dilla

Do you know any other albums made my people who were dying and were aware of it? Not final albums made by people who died unexpectedly, but "final statement" albums.

There is an album someone recorded w/Steve Albini. There is a doc about it too. Currently trying to find it.

karmablock wrote:There is an album someone recorded w/Steve Albini. There is a doc about it too. Currently trying to find it.

viewtopic.php?f=150&t=24410&hilit=john

This is what immediately thought of as well!

The last couple of Queen albums.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdJyScC5xPc[/youtube]

Released posthumously, recorded a couple of years before Sarah Kirsch died, though I believe she was ill for a long time. Sad loss. She was involved in a number of my favourite bands, namely Please Inform The Captain This Is a Hijack and Torches to Rome.

If you are into French, there is this Alain Bashung’s haunting album.
He recorded his voice in studio and asked his wife and fellow musicians to finalize the album after he passed away.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E5rIb1t6Ukw

karmablock wrote:There is an album someone recorded w/Steve Albini. There is a doc about it too. Currently trying to find it.

I dunno if it's it, but Magnolia Elecric Co. had "Josephine", recorded as a tribute to a member who had recently died, at Electrical Audio, and was made right before Jason Molina started to really dip in health, and they've got a doc on it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDaEb-7pEPQ)

Also, obviously, Warren Zevon's "The Wind" was recorded when he knew he was dying of cancer, as well as this nice song after he found out about the cancer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbhYqV17CoQ). Plus, his last show with David Letterman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7Mirkd3CT4).

Edit: Also, just because you might find it interesting, Bottomless Pit had a song called had a song called "Sirens Sing" and the drums for the song were all samples from the drummer that had been part of their old band Silkworm, which dissolved after he was killed.

Johnny Cash, his last several albums. He knew he was on his way out for a long time.


Donuts and Black Star both fuck with me too though. I love those albums.


Queen is a good mention as well!

Thanks guys, y'all are great

It's not a masterpiece but I have a deep fondness for Joey Ramone's deathbed album Don't Worry About Me. It feels incomplete and cornball but that's fitting for Joey.

The vocalist was dying of cancer while recording and passed before this album's release:

[youtube]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sTAYLA6hIis[/youtube]

it really doesn't meet the criteria of albums made by artists who knew they were dying, but this last Derek Bailey album is an interesting case:

Ironically the last recording released in his lifetime, Carpal Tunnel, documented what was thought to be a bout with carpal tunnel syndrome, and Bailey’s forced discarding of the plectrum and initial explorations of playing purely fingerstyle. Sadly, the carpal tunnel syndrome turned out to be a misdiagnosis of motor neuron disease, the complications of which resulted in his death.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMTnNanbMKE[/youtube]