Lou f**cking Reed!!!

Wobbie

Just saw Lou mentioned in the "most depressing song" thread and I got to thinking...... "wow! Lou Reed."

"Rock and Roll Animal" was an all-time classic in 1974 (Heroin, White Light/White Heat, etc) and then, 15 years later, another classic in "New York." Still standing the test of time!

elmer

always thought John Cale was by a distance the most talented from Velvet Underground, at least from they're solo albums.

FinsburyParkCarrots

By several million miles, Cale. Reed was just a junkie hipster Dylan wannabe with a bit of ECT up his well trawled arse.

nowayimfaithfull

Lou reed was good.

PearlJamaholic

saw lou reed the other week in philly guy still rocks. lou's 70's stuff is all great, well not the feedback album but the other stuff.

catefrances

elmer wrote:

always thought John Cale was by a distance the most talented from Velvet Underground, at least from they're solo albums.

yep yep i too stand in the cale camp. way more to him than the casual observor realises.

Anon

got Street Hassle on vinyl

lisam

I much prefer Lou solo compared to the Velvets. And Transformer will always be in my 10 ten of must have albums. Still 36 years later it is pure genius

Jeremy1012

FinsburyParkCarrots wrote:

By several million miles, Cale. Reed was just a junkie hipster Dylan wannabe with a bit of ECT up his well trawled arse.

Agreed, though to quote Renton in Trainspotting, "Lou Reed? summae his solo stuff's no bad"

Transformer is overrated though. Has 4 or 5 great songs and the rest are just ok. Berlin is better and even that is preposterously overblown and pretentious. I like Lou but he's nowhere near as good as he thinks.

Cale went to my uni which is pretty cool. Certainly cooler than other alumni like Malcolm McLaren and Damon Albarn.

kdpjam

i like this thread

PearlJamaholic

Jeremy1012 wrote:

Agreed, though to quote Renton in Trainspotting, "Lou Reed? summae his solo stuff's no bad"

Transformer is overrated though. Has 4 or 5 great songs and the rest are just ok. Berlin is better and even that is preposterously overblown and pretentious. I like Lou but he's nowhere near as good as he thinks.

Cale went to my uni which is pretty cool. Certainly cooler than other alumni like Malcolm McLaren and Damon Albarn.

berlin is one of the greatest albums ever. nothing can change my mind on that. lou might have an ego but he really is that good. i remember reading something about the warhol days where andy was like you were supposed to right 3 songs today and lou responded with i wrote one really good song. i think his giant ego is the one of the reasons he's able to write songs like pale blue eyes and caroline says. if i was so sure of myself i could probably say alot more of what i felt easier.

Jeremy1012

PearlJamaholic wrote:

berlin is one of the greatest albums ever. nothing can change my mind on that. lou might have an ego but he really is that good. i remember reading something about the warhol days where andy was like you were supposed to right 3 songs today and lou responded with i wrote one really good song. i think his giant ego is the one of the reasons he's able to write songs like pale blue eyes and caroline says. if i was so sure of myself i could probably say alot more of what i felt easier.

Don't get me wrong, I think Berlin is brilliant but it's still ridiculous I'm no Lou-hater. I even think Metal Machine Music is quite good. It's not great, there are much better noise albums but it's fairly influential in that genre and nowhere near as bad as people make out.

lisam

Jeremy1012 wrote:

Agreed, though to quote Renton in Trainspotting, "Lou Reed? summae his solo stuff's no bad"

Transformer is overrated though. Has 4 or 5 great songs and the rest are just ok. Berlin is better and even that is preposterously overblown and pretentious. I like Lou but he's nowhere near as good as he thinks.

Cale went to my uni which is pretty cool. Certainly cooler than other alumni like Malcolm McLaren and Damon Albarn.

Transformer overrated? Holy shit.. It is the epitome of the perfect album. from the low, sombre tones of perfect day to the upbeat Hangin round. it embraces all that is/was controversial in a package that is perfectly put together to be socially acceptable whilst being risky at the same time. it covers topics that even by todays standards would be hard to get past the record companies but does it in such a way that is tactful and elegant.

Granted i dont know if it would of been the same album without Bowie's help but by jesus fuck it turned out as brilliant as can be

Jeremy1012

lisam wrote:

Transformer overrated? Holy shit.. It is the epitome of the perfect album. from the low, sombre tones of perfect day to the upbeat Hangin round. it embraces all that is/was controversial in a package that is perfectly put together to be socially acceptable whilst being risky at the same time. it covers topics that even by todays standards would be hard to get past the record companies but does it in such a way that is tactful and elegant.

Granted i dont know if it would of been the same album without Bowie's help but by jesus fuck it turned out as brilliant as can be

Most of the upbeat songs I can do without to be honest. Andy's Chest and Vicious are alright but they just seem like VU songs without the charm of Mo Tucker's drumming. I love Perfect Day, Walk on the Wildside and Satellite of Love however.

lisam

Jeremy1012 wrote:

Most of the upbeat songs I can do without to be honest. Andy's Chest and Vicious are alright but they just seem like VU songs without the charm of Mo Tucker's drumming. I love Perfect Day, Walk on the Wildside and Satellite of Love however.

Thats where we differ. Unlike most i prefer Lou solo. He seems over powered in the velvet, not so by talent but by ideas maybe, by John Cales influence maybe, or maybe it was Lou himself who wanted to go in a different, more experiment direction then he did with his solo stuff. And whilst it may have been more experimental and ground breaking for me it lacks the mellow, emotional feeling that Loou has on his own

Kann

FinsburyParkCarrots wrote:

By several million miles, Cale. Reed was just a junkie hipster Dylan wannabe with a bit of ECT up his well trawled arse.

That's harsh. Reed had good lyrics, Cale mostly brought in great music, but the velvet's greatness was due to the mix of both.

Wobbie

kdpjam wrote:

i like this thread

Why, thank you! God knows I've started my share of dismal ones !

lisam wrote:

it embraces all that is/was controversial in a package that is perfectly put together to be socially acceptable whilst being risky at the same time. it covers topics that even by todays standards would be hard to get past the record companies but does it in such a way that is tactful and elegant.

I feel the same way about "New York."

Blind3

Excellent thread. Was just watching an Exploding Plastic Inevitable/ Velvet Underground/ Songs for Drella dvd this morning. My preference is for The Velvets and Nico , with the great mix of John Cale's viola and Lou Reed's guitar, but I do like Transformer and Berlin alot. Saw Lou Reed in Philly also and enjoyed everything but the crowd around me; which jumped around ,to run to the beer lines ,and chattered like organ grinder's monkeys. No wonder Lou got pissed off during several slow numbers where Laurie Anderson accompanied him and his band.

Cosmo

imalive wrote:

Just saw Lou mentioned in the "most depressing song" thread and I got to thinking...... "wow! Lou Reed."

"Rock and Roll Animal" was an all-time classic in 1974 (Heroin, White Light/White Heat, etc) and then, 15 years later, another classic in "New York." Still standing the test of time!

...
'Rock N' Roll Animal' is one of the greatest guitar rock albums of all time. The dual leads of Steve Hunter/Dick Wagner, especially in 'Intro/Sweet Jane' are classic.

PearlJamaholic

Blind3 wrote:

Excellent thread. Was just watching an Exploding Plastic Inevitable/ Velvet Underground/ Songs for Drella dvd this morning. My preference is for The Velvets and Nico , with the great mix of John Cale's viola and Lou Reed's guitar, but I do like Transformer and Berlin alot. Saw Lou Reed in Philly also and enjoyed everything but the crowd around me; which jumped around ,to run to the beer lines ,and chattered like organ grinder's monkeys. No wonder Lou got pissed off during several slow numbers where Laurie Anderson accompanied him and his band.

i was at that philly show too. how cool was ecstacy??? i was front row and i remember during talking book lou stopped and was like you want me to sing or would you rather talk. and he closed the set with magic and loss, wow!

Blind3

I got there late. Not too late that I missed the start of the show. Just too late to be down front on the floor. Stupid me, I made the mistake of going to the balcony. Never again. At least never at a Lou Reed show. Talking Book and Ecstasy , and of course a jammin' version of Sweet Jane, were among many highlights for me.

Tizoffthechain

I prefer VU to Lou Reed (tho' I still love the man and his music...He's one of my fave artists) but I want to listen to Cale, where should I start from?
Is it him singing with Lou in "the mystery murder" or "the murder mystery" (whatever the name of the song is?)?
Nico solo stuff was depressing...

Jeremy1012

Tiziana wrote:

I prefer VU to Lou Reed (tho' I still love the man and his music...He's one of my fave artists) but I want to listen to Cale, where should I start from?
Is it him singing with Lou in "the mystery murder" or "the murder mystery" (whatever the name of the song is?)?
Nico solo stuff was depressing...

Check out Paris 1919 by Cale. Brilliant sort of avant-pop album. And yes it was him singing on The Murder Mystery.

Also, Nico's solo stuff is amazing. It's not all depressing either, some is more scary.

Tizoffthechain

Cheers Jeremy, I'll check it out! I like his voice...

smithnic

I think the debate between Cale and Reed is more interesting debate than Lennon/McCartney!

elmer

Jeremy1012 wrote:

Check out Paris 1919 by Cale. Brilliant sort of avant-pop album. And yes it was him singing on The Murder Mystery.

Also, Nico's solo stuff is amazing. It's not all depressing either, some is more scary.

yeah thas a classic. Hobosapiens is also right up there for me, makes an interesting contrast to Paris.
Nico did a haunting cover of The End that I heard on some live album.

rhinomagic

lisam wrote:

And Transformer will always be in my 10 ten of must have albums. Still 36 years later it is pure genius

I have this on vinyl and enjoy it occasionally.

Good record, to say the least.

.

Pearl Jam and toast

BRILLIANCE.

I'm on a huge Lou Reed / VU kick right now.. It's a tragedy that the indie kids who subscribe so blindly to "The VU and Nico" aren't even aware that the Velvet Underground made more than one album. They don't know that the man behind the music is Lou Reed (or who he is for that matter). Bah!

Pearl Jam and toast

FinsburyParkCarrots wrote:

By several million miles, Cale. Reed was just a junkie hipster Dylan wannabe with a bit of ECT up his well trawled arse.

Reed was pretty much the only songwriter... His writing and his voice made the VU. Not to put down Cale in any way..

PearlJamaholic

Pearl Jam and toast wrote:

BRILLIANCE.

I'm on a huge Lou Reed / VU kick right now.. It's a tragedy that the indie kids who subscribe so blindly to "The VU and Nico" aren't even aware that the Velvet Underground made more than one album. They don't know that the man behind the music is Lou Reed (or who he is for that matter). Bah!

its better to just ignore these people, same thing with the misfits. if they sell it at hot topic its cool. the andy warhol thing makes things worse since the scensters are all into that pop art garbage. yes i called warhol garbage, ha!

and for that matter lou has said from as early as any interview i can remember reading, that he makes records for adults, so i dont think these kids really are getting... its not a scene thing or a trend thing. youre supposed to just listen to record.

Purple Puppy

I almost met him. He was on the phone and wouldn't sign my Hudson River Wind Meditations. Same with Eddie. I almost met Eddie