Songs of Love and Hate - Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen has made some beautiful albums — this, Songs of Leonard Cohen, and Ten New Songs my three favourites. There's some extremely melancholy guitar work, but one thing I don't like is there's only eight tracks, eight fantastic tracks, maybe. But, maybe twenty or thirty, would be better. I mean, The Magnetic Fields managed 69. Leonard Cohen has made his most beautiful album to date, not his best, but his most beautiful, even though, Leonard has not made a single album which was not beautiful, but not all of them have been good, just they have all been beautiful.

"Avalanche" has harsh, fast, jarring guitar, and melancholy vocals. "Last Year's Man" is amazing, also melancholy, in fact, all of these tracks are melancholy, goddammit. All of them are beautiful as well. I don't need to say that with every track: beautiful and melancholy. Anyway, "Last Year's Man" has some backing vocals. I point that out, because I don't usually like Leonard's backing singers. There made great use of here, though. "Dress Rehearsal Rag" has some witty, Bob Dylan-esque lyrics. Dylan and Cohen are very wise. In fact, I'm surprised they never met.

Well, "Diamonds in the Mine" isn't that melancholy. It's got a melancholy theme. Except, it's also a kind of silly theme. In fact, it's almost humorous! I don't like that in a Leonard Cohen song, but it is used well. I'm going to admit something here. The vocals are pretty mediocre, but the rest of the song makes up for it. Ah, good, a return to melancholy: "Love Calls You by Your Name". It's a really fantastic song. It's got some more great guitar. I mean listen to him: "Like a gun you will not learn to aim". That's one of the best lyrics ever. The title lyric
is sung as if, it's a moral to the story. "I journey down a hundred steps, But the streets are still the same". Another great lyric. There's also some elements of classical music here: horns and violins. But, now to the next song: "Famous Blue Raincoat" is probably maybe (that bad grammar was deliberate) the most melancholy. He questions the listener (or maybe himself): "Did You Ever Go Clear?" The delicate acoustic guitar is enough to make you love the song.

The last two songs,"Sing Another Song, Boys" and "Joan of Arc" are both pretty flawless. Perhaps, Cohen's best use of harmonies. I don't know what Dan87 was thinking giving this a 2, but calling this song beyond pathetic. Now I wish there was a "Thumbs Down" feature on reviews, comments, lists, etc. When I first heard, the song, I could tell by the title it would be quite bad quality. MonsterBeatle was wrong, yet again. "Joan of Arc" sounds like a more personal song, less hands-on. It's a very beautiful song. It's also a great way to finish the album. If this was never created, neither would I have been. I think my grandparents would have been to depressed to have my parents.

I've described each track in depth, but there's still more. The album as whole is fantastic. I'm glad my mother introduced me to this soon enough, because if she hadn't, then who knows WHEN I would have discovered it? Leonard Cohen is underrated. He's rated fairly highly, but underrated still. This is better than Highway 61. Some people rated this 0.5 because they (A) never heard it or (B) don't have a soul. I love all the songs with all my heart. But, my two least favourites are *drumroll*… "Diamonds in the Mine" and ... That's the only song I have a problem with. I guess I just prefer his melancholy, ballad-y tracks.

I have a queary with Cohen. I don't know why he is so often compared to . They're pretty much opposite ends of the (folk) spectrum. Anyway, they're both great. This album, however, is better than Bobby D.'s supposedly best album. D is better than C, but S is better than H if you know what I mean. My point is this is much better than Highway 61. I already said that, I know, but, my last word is I love this album with my heart and soul, and if you don't, there must be something wrong with you.

Track picks: "Avalanche", "Love Calls You by Your Name", "Famous Blue Raincoat", "Sing Another Song, Boys", "Joan of Arc"

EDIT (Courtesy of krobsh): Dylan and Cohen did in fact meet.

Artist   
Type    Album
Released    March 17, 1971
Rating    4.16 from 3723 ratings
Ranked    #8 for 1971 , #104 overall
Genres   
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