Songs of Love and Hate

For the 1996 album by Godflesh, see Songs of Love and Hate (Godflesh album)
Songs of Love and Hate
Studio album by Leonard Cohen
Released March 19, 1971
Recorded September 22–26, 1970 at Columbia Studio A, Nashville (Second mix)
August 31, 1970 at Isle of Wight, Trident Studios, London (First mix)
Genre Folk, folk rock
Length 44:21
Label Columbia
Producer Bob Johnston
Leonard Cohen chronology

Songs from a Room
(1969)		 Songs of Love and Hate
(1971)		 Live Songs
(1973)

Songs of Love and Hate is the third studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. Produced by Bob Johnston, the album was released on March 19, 1971, through Columbia Records.

Album history

The album was mainly recorded in Columbia Studio A in Nashville September 22–26, 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 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 front of the album is a sparsely detailed black and white photo of Cohen with a several days' beard growth, and he is smiling. The back cover of the album has no track listing and quotes Cohen's short poem "They Locked Up A Man":

They locked up a man
 Who wanted to rule the world
 The fools
 They locked up the wrong man.

Release

The album reached no. 145 on the US Billboard 200, but was his most commercially successful album in many other parts of the world, reaching no. 4 in the UK and no. 8 in Australia.[1]

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".

In 2009, the album (including its bonus track) was included in the 8CD box set Hallelujah—The Essential Leonard Cohen Album Collection, issued by Sony Music in the Netherlands.

In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked the album no. 295 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of all Time,[2] the only Cohen album to make the list. It was ranked no. 74 on Pitchfork Media's 2004 list of the 100 best albums of the 1970s.[3]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic link
Music Box link
Pitchfork Media (8.2/10) link
Robert Christgau A–[4]
Rolling Stone April 2007
Q [5]
Uncut [6]

Track listing

All songs written by Leonard Cohen.

Side one

  1. "Avalanche" - 5:07
  2. "Last Year's Man" - 6:02
  3. "Dress Rehearsal Rag" - 6:12
  4. "Diamonds in the Mine" - 3:52

Side two

  1. "Love Calls You by Your Name" - 5:44
  2. "Famous Blue Raincoat" - 5:15
  3. "Sing Another Song, Boys" (Live at the Isle of Wight Festival, August 31, 1970) - 6:17
  4. "Joan of Arc" - 6:29

Bonus track on 2007 remastered edition

  1. "Dress Rehearsal Rag" (Bonus track, early version, an outtake recorded during the Songs From a Room sessions, 1968) - 5:37

Songs

With the exception of "Last Year's Man", Cohen has performed every song live. Because of its depressing content, he has played "Dress Rehearsal Rag" in concert on only 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.

The Art Of Time Ensemble featuring Sarah Slean recorded "Dress Rehearsal Rag" for their 2009 album Black Flowers.

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 him, 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. Allison Crowe recorded "Joan of Arc" for release on her 2004 album Secrets and this version also appears on the Mojo 2008 tribute compilation CD Cohen Covered. Anna Calvi has also covered "Joan of Arc" live and in the studio, available as a B-side to her single "Desire".

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ Kent, David; The Australian Chart Book, 1970–1992. ISBN 0-646-11917-6
  2. ↑ "500 Greatest Albums of All Time," Rolling Stone. Accessed March 10, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Top 100 Albums of the 1970s," Pitchfork Media, June 23, 2004.
  4. ↑ Christgau, Robert (October 14, 1971). "Consumer Guide (19)". The Village Voice (New York). Retrieved April 14, 2013.
  5. ↑ Dave Everley Q, May 2007, Issue 250.
  6. ↑ David Cavanagh Uncut, May 2007, Issue 120

External links