Albums by recorded by artists who knew they were about to die

Just listened back-to-back to Bowie's Blackstar and Brel's Marquises - both fantastic, both recorded following a cancer diagnosis. I guess Bowie might have thought he could he survive his cancer, but Brel recorded with one lung and basically knew he was a goner.

Anyway, there must be more of these...

Zevon

J Dilla — Donuts

Those last few Johnny Cash albums...

Queen - Innuendo

Speaking of Queen, weren't the vocals for Made In Heaven recorded on Freddie's deathbed?

George Harrison: Brainwashed

xpost yeah, I don't think they even had full-fledged songs to go with them, if I recall he instructed the band to use his recordings after he passed away

not an album recorded, but it always felt a little morbid to me how Don Decker and Anal Blast went on basically an "impending death farewell tour" because years of alcoholism had ruined Decker's liver and it was terminal. he announced it to his fans and went on tour. kudos for him living life like a shot in the wind

also really enjoyed The Big Bopper's "What's That Pointy Thing Our Plane is Heading Towards?"

Mal Waldron - One More Time
Gene Ammons - Goodbye

Schubert: String Quartet No. 14

also really enjoyed The Big Bopper's "What's That Pointy Thing Our Plane is Heading Towards?"

― Neanderthal, Friday, October 28, 2016 12:52 AM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's a good thing Valens had his iPhone on him that day or we might never have heard the finished song.

Joey Ramone - Don't Worry About Me

Gravediggaz - Nightmare in A-Minor

iirc wilko johnson's going back home was recorded after he'd been given a terminal cancer diagnosis which subsequently turned out to be incorrect, which i guess might squeak it into this category

ditto with Gordon Lightfoot's Harmony, written and (somewhat) recorded on what he thought would be his deathbed

what about albums recorded by artists who were aware they were already dead

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/42/Beatles_-_Abbey_Road.jpg

also really enjoyed The Big Bopper's "What's That Pointy Thing Our Plane is Heading Towards?"

Ah yes, the well known mountain in an Iowa cornfield.

Bill Dixon - Envoi

Albums recorded by artists who thought they were about to die, but didn't - Going Back Home by Wilko Johnson (w/ Roger Daltrey);

On 25 January 2013, he gave an interview to John Wilson on the BBC Radio 4 arts programme Front Row. He discussed his cancer, and said doctors had told him he had nine or ten months to live. He talked about his "farewell tour" of the UK set for March, and how his diagnosis had made him feel "vividly alive".[37] After the tour was over, he announced he would spend his final days recording a farewell album with the Who's lead singer Roger Daltrey.[38] The album, Going Back Home, was released in March 2014. "I thought that was going to be the last thing I ever did," he later told BBC News entertainment correspondent Colin Paterson in October 2014.

*ahem*

LOL sorry, it annoys the shit out of me when people do that!

heh, no problem

Frank Zappa - The Yellow Shark

(I think?)

Bill Hicks: "Rant in E Minor"

A subset of this is last albums by artists who were about to commit suicide, like In Utero, Reinkaos, Elegantly Wasted etc.

tt's own favourite From A Basement On A Hill although it's unclear how aforethought his suicide was

tt's own favourite From A Basement On A Hill although it's unclear how aforethought his suicide was

he was actively trying to kill himself in the studio, but survived another 2 years

Arthur Lee was convinced he was gonna die when Love recorded Forever Changes. He intended the album to be his epitaph. Of course, he lived for 39 more years.

Warren Zevon - The Wind

The Wind was the one with all the guest stars, right? I find it interesting that the year before, he put out a "meditation on death" album called My Ride's Here, and that was before his cancer diagnosis.

Yeah, that's right... Springsteen etc.

fwiw John Lennon told many people involved in the making of Double Fantasy that he was living on borrowed time and could be killed, and gave specific instructions about making sure the music he recorded got out in case he died.

I think all members of The Beatles were paranoid about crazy bastards to some degree - after all, they could have not been more famous.

I don't think when Lennon wrote and recorded his material on Double Fantasy that he was expecting to die.

Lee Hazlewood - Cake or Death

Leonard Cohen, "You Want It Darker".

(He's convinced, dunno yet if he's right.)

Warren Zevon - The Wind

― pen pineapple apple pen (Turrican), Friday, October 28, 2016 11:00 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Zevon

― brimstead, Thursday, October 27, 2016 9:37 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

everything I ever record but it never seems to work out

Prince withdrew the Black Album, just in case he died and that was his last.

so, every album ever made by somebody on cocaine, right?

The last Glen Campbell, right? "See You There?"

I don't think when Lennon wrote and recorded his material on Double Fantasy that he was expecting to die.

In his last radio interview, recorded the day before he was shot, Lennon said something to the effect that he and Yoko had a lot of plans and that it was "just a matter of getting them done". So definitely not expecting to die.

idk maybe he meant they'd get them all done the next afternoon, he was ambitious

how about curtis mayfield? he may not have been on the brink of death, but he was incurably paralyzed.

did Bernard Herrmann know he was ill? i know Taxi Driver was finished literally the night before he popped off.

thread desperately needs noodle vague

image bombing is underrated

image bombing more like fucking dying is underrated !

can we do a poll where we rank these artists from nearest to death-farthest to death?