Leonard Cohen - Songs Of Love And Hate (50th Anniversary) LP
50th Anniversary Edition on opaque white vinyl, with updated / re-typeset embossed packaging that includes a brand new 8-page 12x12 lyric booklet.
The audio has been sourced from the original analogue tapes via a new direct digital transfer.
It doesn't get darker than this. Though Leonard Cohen had already established himself as the doyen of doom with his first two albums, his third, "Songs of Love And Hate", finds him kicking off the 1970s with the sharpest repudiation of the '60s peace-and-love / flower-power ethic the world had yet seen from the 'sensitive troubadour' corner of the music map.
Though it's not really a concept album, it does feel like a guided tour through one man's battle-scarred love life. The utter emotional degradation of Avalanche, the suicidal frenzy of Dress Rehearsal Rag, and the bitter regret of Last Year's Man all sound like stops on the same ill-fated journey.
The arrangements are wisely based around Cohen's world-weary voice and hypnotic acoustic-guitar patterns, with occasional orchestrations rising like dark clouds in the background.
Possibly Cohen's finest album, it would stand as a monument to explorers of the musical dark side for decades to come - such as Nick Cave, who memorably covered Avalanche - and to anyone nursing a bitter, broken heart.
Tracklist:
1. Avalanche
2. Last Year's Man
3. Dress Rehearsal Bag
4. Diamonds in the Mine
5. Love Calls You by Your Name
6. Famous Blue Raincoat
7. Sing Another Song, Boys
8. Joan of Arc
About this product: this is the 50th Anniversary edition on 180g opaque white vinyl. Includes a 12"x12" booklet and a download code.