Songs of Love and Hate by Leonard Cohen (Vinyl record album review)

Album name: Songs of Love and Hate

Artist name: Leonard Cohen

Year: 1971

Number of discs: one

Label: Columbia Records

Collection: Brenner / Gessner

Who owned it: I thought this would have been my mother’s, but my father was into Leonard Cohen too, so it could have belonged to either of them

Buy it on Amazon: $43.99

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve only listened to one Leonard Cohen record before this, Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967) in July, and I liked it!

What I expected

More mumbly, morose folk rock.

What it was actually like

This record was pretty boring, and I mostly didn’t like it.

The two songs I liked the best were the first tracks on each side, Avalanche on side one and Love Calls You by Your Name on side two. They both used a classical style guitar, and I especially liked how the former started the record with a dark tone and how the guitar built tension throughout the song.

Diamonds in the Mine was the weirdest son on the record, with a sort of reggae type beat, and terrible vocals that were half yelling, half growling.

Dress Rehearsal Rag was also an un-favorite since it sounded rather atonal, with vocals that were kind of proto-punk or proto-rap.

Joan of Arc made me think of The Smiths’ Bigmouth Strikes Again, but it didn’t sound like that at all.

Grade

2/5: weak, but I was able to listen to the whole thing