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Leonard Cohen
Songs of Love and Hate
(Columbia/Legacy)
First Appeared in The Music Box, June 2007, Volume 14, #6
Written by Douglas Heselgrave
Songs of Love and Hate, Leonard Cohen’s difficult third album, is
perhaps the most neglected and challenging collection of songs in his whole body
of work. Even the cover itself is uninviting: Cohen’s unshaven face — bent and
twisted into maniacal laughter, with drool plainly visible — is enough to turn
the fainthearted away.
In 1970, on the heels of his first concert tour, Cohen returned to Nashville
to resume his relationship with Bob Johnson, the legendary producer who oversaw
his previous effort Songs from a Room. Jettisoning the bright
arrangements and sympathetic instrumentation that muted the darker edges of
Cohen’s reports from the interior of his soul, Songs of Love and Hate has
no adornments anywhere that can lighten the proceedings. The compositions on the
album don’t play themselves as much as they cavort — wheezing and puffing, like
a demented carnival parade on the road to Hell. They ooze malice, malaise, and
discomfort. Taken in full, they are sick and thick — a kind of bacchanalian
vaudeville that charts the confessions of wayward and defeated souls. There are
no moral lessons or satisfying conclusions. If these were meant to be folk songs
or even literate dirges, something happened along the way; the lyrics seem
invaded by a Satyricon of oiled bodies swirling through the trenches of "some
forgotten war" to a dress rehearsal for a play no one will ever see. There is
nothing about the set that is happy or uplifting, and the tearing and straining
at convention — even those that Cohen invented himself — projects an uneasiness
that is palpable. Songs of Love and Hate is an uncompromising Cupid’s
arrow that flies out the window of the asylum.
Whether it was the copious amount of speed, the LSD, the fatigue that he felt
at the end of his first tour, or demons that were unseen and unfathomable, it’s
hard to determine just what the reasons were that led Cohen to embed such
discomfort within his work. One thing, however, is for certain: In order to
listen to Songs of Love and Hate, it is necessary first to gird one’s
loins and to steel one’s mind.
The songs, themselves, are among Cohen’s best. Most notably, Famous Blue
Raincoat and Joan of Arc — which were given a second life and an
airing out by Jennifer Warnes in the late ’80s — are presented in all of their
original, dark glory. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending upon one’s
perspective, Warnes’ uplifting voice and interpretations are nowhere in
evidence.
Many of the lyrics presented on Songs of Love and Hate are spoken —
barked out rather than sung — and it’s easy to see why Cohen refers to the
endeavor as his ode to "European blues." The tone set by the opening track
Avalanche, a tale of desperate arrogance and hopelessness in the face of the
swirling caprices of fate, is maintained throughout the endeavor. The collection
ultimately comes off as somber, bleak, and unrelenting.
Perhaps time will recast Songs of Love and Hate in the light of the
work that Cohen has done since the album’s initial release. His eventual
rehabilitation and re-invention, from the coolest, bad-ass crooner this side of
the River Styx into a Canadian cultural icon, may allow critics to see this
outing as a stepping stone on his artistic journey, and it may give them an
opportunity to take his lyrical gifts and musical ideas in context. Whatever the
case, Leonard Cohen is the real thing, the maker of the mold into which artists
from Nick Cave to Lou Reed have poured themselves with varying degrees of
success. Given time and patience, Songs of Love and Hate, as difficult
and as grating as it can be, must be considered an unqualified success and an
aesthetic triumph. In the end, it is as horrible as it is excellent. Play it
repeatedly, and then go take a walk. Get some fresh air. You’ll need it. 
Songs of Love and Hate is available from Amazon.com.
To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please
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For UK orders, please
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2007 The Music Box
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