Leonard Cohen

Songs of Love and Hate

The greatest Canadian album I have ever heard!

Review Score:

(10/10)
Very rarely has the marriage of Cohen's lyrics and music been in bonds of such holy matrymony as it is on "Songs of Love and Hate". And even those albums that come close - most notably "Recent Songs (1979)" - can still not match the brilliance of the songs on "SOL+H". This is by far Cohen's greatest album.

I even love the album's ugly cover of a jaggedly cut-out B+W picture of Cohen against a stark black backdrop amidst large bold white lettering - it rightfully gives the impression that what you are about to hear is Leonard Cohen in it's purest form.

The album opens with the chilling "Avalanche"; and then moves onto one of my all-time favourite Cohen songs: an elegantly gorgeous piece called "Last Year's Man".

The album then drastically shifts gears with an angry, brilliant, statrtlingly unflinching look at the mind-set of a man contemplating his own death in "Dress Rehearsal Rag". The next song is a curious and ultimately funny song called "Diamonds in the Mine" which states that everything has gone to hell, including Cohen's voice which he sings deliberately loud and off-key.

And then comes another quiet, excellent song called "Love Calls You By Name". Then, on track six, comes Cohen's mastepiece: a song about a man writing, what is more or less a love letter to the man who had an affair with his woman in "Famous Blue Raincoat".

The album is then capped off by a great song performed live called "Let's Sing Another Song, Boys" and finally, the classic Cohen tune, "Joan of Arc".

This album is certainly a singular achievement in Cohen's career. And one which he will most-likely never match.

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