Songs of Love and Hate

They say his music is depressing? It’s far worse. A monotonous bass drawl drone, with a lot of it not even in tune. (But with some nice guitar, granted). If I wasn’t driving I’d have fallen asleep. Utterly dull and uninteresting. Never again.

I hear that Leonard Cohen is an amazing lyricist but I can't tell because this is so fucking DREARY. And my favourite band is Radiohead for fuck's sake. I like dreary. This is just... I mean, is he lying down all the time? No energy whatsoever. It's actually making me depressed, and I already am so that's something. Fuck me, gonna have to turn it off NOW.

Either I've grown and changed in the 11 months I've been doing this project, or I've developed something akin to Stockholm Syndrome for this variety of folksy poetry recital. Either way, I actually enjoyed listening to this album!

*Emotionally heavy- definitely need to be in the right mood for it
*Don't love his voice and several songs dragged at times- but there were some nice moments

Es ist ein düsteres, poetisches Meisterwerk, das die Tiefen menschlicher Emotionen auslotet – Liebe, Hass, Einsamkeit und Sehnsucht. Es ist kein leichtes Album, aber eines, das sich tief in die Seele eingräbt. Die Songs sind minimalistisch arrangiert, oft nur mit Gitarre und Cohens unverwechselbarer Stimme. Die Texte sind literarisch, fast wie Gedichte, die von gebrochenen Herzen und existenziellen Fragen erzählen. Es ist ein Album, das nicht tröstet, sondern herausfordert – und gerade deshalb so kraftvoll ist. Das Highlight: “Famous Blue Raincoat”. Dieser Song ist ein emotionaler Höhepunkt des Albums. In Form eines Briefes geschrieben, erzählt Cohen von Verrat, Vergebung und der melancholischen Schönheit vergangener Liebe. Die Zeile „Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes / I thought it was there for good, so I never tried“ ist ein Paradebeispiel für Cohens Fähigkeit, komplexe Gefühle mit schlichter Eleganz auszudrücken 😊.

𝘚𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘢𝘵𝘦 feels like Leonard Cohen sitting in a dimly lit room, whispering his secrets straight to you. The arrangements are bare, almost fragile — just guitar, a few strings, and that unmistakable, weary voice. It’s a dark record, but not in a dramatic way; more like the quiet ache that settles in after the storm. 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘙𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘢𝘵 still stops time, and 𝘈𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦 sounds like it’s carved out of stone. It’s an album that hurts a little, but in the most beautiful way possible.

Literally just Bob Dylan but with interesting chord choices.

2.0/5.0: Disappointing

enjoyed this way more than songs of leonard cohen. most of the songs are interesting but they do overstay their welcome by a significant margin

I'm so confused where were the songs of love

Leonard Cohen expands his stylistic palette with a sure sense of measure, avoiding the “cardinal sin” of trying to replicate his immaculate debut once again, like he did on his second album. Not all of the experiments work equally well: the live version of Sing Another Song, Boys doesn’t quite fit the album’s flow, mainly due to its noticeably different recording quality; and the somewhat more „aggressive“ vocal delivery on the otherwise excellent Diamonds in the Mine can be a little irritating. But most importantly, the songwriting is very much intact, consistently back to the level of his debut. And with The Avalanche, and Famous Blue Raincoat, the album even holds two of his finest songs. Wonderful!

This is the fifth Cohen album of this list so far. I assure you that no one — NO ONE — needs to hear five Leonard Cohen albums before they die.

Leonard Cohen has written some great songs, but god the man cant ding. Given this the decision to have him squawk over melodic backing singers such as on Diamonds in the mine is truly dumbfounding.

Famous blue raincoat is as good as it gets as at least that suits his vocals

It may be a bad sign that the thing that's stayed with me most from this album, is that I liked the female backing vocals a lot. I did not appreciate the children's choir in Dress Rehearsal Rag (gently but insistently I tap the "A children's choir never improved any song" sign) although I did enjoy finding out that the choir came from a school with such alumni as Dean Gaffney.

I quite liked when he decided to get a bit more upbeat (if you can consider a song including the lyric "And there are no letters in the mailbox, and there are no grapes upon the vine" as upbeat). But my word, Leonard drones on a lot of the time and everything is too long.

Maybe, one day, I'll "get" Leonard Cohen. But that day is not today.

2/5

Typical Cohen. Lyrically compelling but musically uninspired. I feel like Nick Cave and Mark Lanegan both listened the hell out of this one though.

Some funni lyrics

Songs of Love and Hate by Leonard Cohen isn’t, in my view, one of his strongest albums. The lyrics are as poetic and thoughtful as ever, but overall it feels slow and a bit directionless. Compared to something like I’m Your Man, it lacks the energy and momentum that make his work really gripping.

Joan of Arc stands out as a highlight, a haunting and deeply lyrical song that carries real emotional weight and is one of the few moments that truly connected with me.

Avalanche didn’t quite land in this version. The lyrics are strong, but the arrangement feels flat. I actually prefer the version by Nick Cave, which brings a darker, more intense atmosphere that suits the song better.

Favourite track: Joan of Arc
Least favourite track: Avalanche
Album artwork: A real highlight, stark, minimal, and striking, perfectly matching the tone even if the music didn’t fully connect

Tried a couple times, but the style and his vocals left me cold. Poetry is fine, but I'm not feeling it. Maybe a different context for me would help but I struggle to understand this, or the critical acclaim for Leonard Cohen - I suppose he's an alternative Dylan?

Soothing, but a bit boring.

Very uplifting.

good but who tf signed off on this kids' choir