Songs of Love and Hate
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| Songs of Love and Hate | |||||
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| Studio album by Leonard Cohen | |||||
| Released | March 1971 | ||||
| Recorded | September 22-26, 1970, Columbia Studio A, Nashville (1st mix); August 30, 1970 Isle of Wight; Trident Studios, London (2nd mix) | ||||
| Genre | Folk-rock | ||||
| Length | 44:21 | ||||
| Label | Columbia Records | ||||
| Producer | Bob Johnston | ||||
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| Leonard Cohen chronology | |||||
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Songs of Love and Hate is Canadian singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen's third album. It was mainly recorded in Columbia Studio A, Nashville, from September 22 to 26, 1970. "Sing Another Song, Boys" was recorded at the Isle of Wight Festival on August 30, 1970. Further recording took place at Trident Studios in London). The album reached #145 on the Billboard list, but was his most commercially successful album in many other parts of the world, reaching #4 in the UK and #8 in Australia[1].
The album title is descriptive, outlining its main themes. The songs contain emotive language and are frankly personal; "Famous Blue Raincoat" ends with the line "Sincerely, L. Cohen". The back cover of the album bears the lines:
They locked up a man
Who wanted to rule the world
The fools
They locked up the wrong man
A remastered CD was released in 1995. Simply Vinyl issued a short-lived remastered edition on vinyl in 2002, making it the last Cohen album (aside from Ten New Songs, which was pressed in limited quantities) to go out of print on vinyl.
In 2007 Columbia/Legacy released a newly remastered CD with a new book style packaging and a bonus track: a 1968 recording of Dress Rehearsal Rag.
It was ranked 74 on Pitchfork Media's list of the 100 best albums of the 1970s.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
All songs written by Leonard Cohen.
[edit] Side one
- "Avalanche" – 5:07
- "Last Year's Man" – 6:02
- "Dress Rehearsal Rag" – 6:12
- "Diamonds in the Mine" – 3:52
[edit] Side two
- "Love Calls You by Your Name" – 5:44
- "Famous Blue Raincoat" – 5:15
- "Sing Another Song, Boys" (live at the Isle of Wight Festival 30 August 1970) – 6:17
- "Joan of Arc" – 6:29
[edit] Interconnected Sides
Interestingly, the observant listener may notice that the title of the album will tell you the nature of each side of the album. As it was originally designed to be listened to on vinyl record, there is a "hate" side and a "love" side, rather than necessarily being just sides 1 and 2 (though on the records themselves, they are still listed as 1 as hate and 2 as love). Even more interestingly, each song seems to have a corresponding counterpart. For example, "Avalanche" and "Love Calls You by Your Name" are stylistically very similar, with familiar structures to each other. The same holds true for all the other songs ("Joan of Arc" to "Last Year's Man", "Diamonds in the Mine" to "Sing Another Song, Boys", and "Dress Rehearsal Rag" to "Famous Blue Raincoat").
[edit] Bonus tracks on 2007 remastered edition
- "Dress Rehearsal Rag" (bonus track, early version, an outtake recorded during the Songs From a Room sessions in 1968) – 5:37
[edit] Songs
With the exception of "Last Year's Man", Cohen has performed every song live. Because of its depressing content, Cohen has played "Dress Rehearsal Rag" in concert only on two occasions, two years before Songs of Love and Hate.
Judy Collins recorded "Dress Rehearsal Rag" in 1966 on the album In My Life, years before it would appear on Songs of Love and Hate.
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds recorded a version of "Avalanche" for their 1984 album From Her to Eternity.
"Famous Blue Raincoat" has been covered numerous times, notably by Jennifer Warnes, who once toured as a back-up singer for Cohen, on her 1987 tribute album to Cohen, Famous Blue Raincoat. It has also been covered by Tori Amos on the Leonard Cohen tribute album Tower of Song. Warnes also covered "Joan of Arc" on Famous Blue Raincoat as a duet with Cohen.
[edit] Personnel
- Leonard Cohen – acoustic guitar, vocals
- Ron Cornelius – acoustic and electric guitars
- Charlie Daniels – acoustic guitar, bass, fiddle
- Elkin «Bubba» Fowler – acoustic guitar, banjo, bass
- Bob Johnston – piano, production
- Corlynn Hanney – vocals
- Susan Mussmano – vocals
- The Corona Academy, London – children's voices
- Michael Sahl – strings (3rd verse of "Last Year's Man")
- Paul Buckmaster – string and horn arrangements, conducting
[edit] References
- ^ Kent, David; The Australian Chart Book, 1970-1992. ISBN 0646119176
[edit] External links
- Album lyrics, from The Leonard Cohen Files
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