RIP Lou Reed
10-31-13 | 10:53 AM
#76
Banned by request
Re: RIP Lou Reed
I'm a big fan of Nico's solo stuff, too. Managed to see Cale twice live, including one performance where he did all of Paris 1919 in order.
10-31-13 | 12:59 PM
#77
DVD Talk Hero
10-31-13 | 01:02 PM
#78
DVD Talk Hero
Re: RIP Lou Reed
Granted and good point...
Let me clarify my views on VU / Lou Reed.
The first three VU albums are epochal masterpieces. Reed is clearly the main driver of those albums and deserves the credit. Speaking for myself, "White Light / White Heat" in particular is up there with Love's "Forever Changes", The Who's "Sell Out" and Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks" as my personal favorite album of the mid-late sixties.
"Loaded" and "VU" are maybe a half step lower but still amazing albums. The edge goes to "Loaded" because "Sweet Jane" and "Rock and Roll" can't be denied.
It's his solo career that I just don't care for. I like some of his stuff. Granted, his "classics" like "Transformer", "The Blue Mask" or "New York" have some great moments... but they're nowhere near as good as the VU stuff. None of them are even my favorite post-VU solo album (probably John Cale's "Paris 1919").
Reed reminds me a bit of Iggy Pop, he demonstrably needed a great band to support him and possibly rein in his impulses. Iggy also made some great (arguably classic) solo music but it never quite captured the magic of The Stooges. Likewise, Reed lost a step or two when VU broke up.
Let me clarify my views on VU / Lou Reed.
The first three VU albums are epochal masterpieces. Reed is clearly the main driver of those albums and deserves the credit. Speaking for myself, "White Light / White Heat" in particular is up there with Love's "Forever Changes", The Who's "Sell Out" and Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks" as my personal favorite album of the mid-late sixties.
"Loaded" and "VU" are maybe a half step lower but still amazing albums. The edge goes to "Loaded" because "Sweet Jane" and "Rock and Roll" can't be denied.
It's his solo career that I just don't care for. I like some of his stuff. Granted, his "classics" like "Transformer", "The Blue Mask" or "New York" have some great moments... but they're nowhere near as good as the VU stuff. None of them are even my favorite post-VU solo album (probably John Cale's "Paris 1919").
Reed reminds me a bit of Iggy Pop, he demonstrably needed a great band to support him and possibly rein in his impulses. Iggy also made some great (arguably classic) solo music but it never quite captured the magic of The Stooges. Likewise, Reed lost a step or two when VU broke up.
By VU are you referring to the outtakes collection? That's not really a proper "album".
10-31-13 | 01:10 PM
#79
Re: RIP Lou Reed
Oh, and I would disagree that Lou Reed was the main driver behind Velvet Underground & Nico and White Light White Heat. They were clearly as close to 50-50 between Reed and Cale as you can get.
By VU are you referring to the outtakes collection? That's not really a proper "album".
By VU are you referring to the outtakes collection? That's not really a proper "album".
White Light White Heat - Cale gets 3rd credit behind Morrison on 3 of 6 tracks.
10-31-13 | 01:15 PM
#80
DVD Talk Hero
Re: RIP Lou Reed
So what? I didn't say anything about songwriting. The sound of those first two albums were clearly heavily influenced by Cale.
I may have to pick up that issue.
11-06-13 | 05:25 PM
#84
Banned by request
Re: RIP Lou Reed
The Laurie Anderson tribute to Reed in that issue is incredibly moving: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...usive-20131106
11-08-13 | 02:56 PM
#86
Banned by request
Re: RIP Lou Reed
Finally getting around to watching the Transformer classic album DVD. What amazes me the most about this is how generous Lou Reed is to all of his collaborators. He spends more time singing the praises of Bowie, Ronson, Warhol, and other people in his life than he does talking about himself. You'd just assume a guy who wrote about himself as much as Reed did would be like that in conversation, but he's quick to credit everyone around him.
11-18-13 | 03:27 PM
#87
Re: RIP Lou Reed
Because when the smack begins to flow
I really don't care anymore
About all the Jim-Jim's in this town
And all the politicians making crazy sounds
And everybody putting everybody else down
And all the dead bodies piled up in mounds
I really don't care anymore
About all the Jim-Jim's in this town
And all the politicians making crazy sounds
And everybody putting everybody else down
And all the dead bodies piled up in mounds
11-19-13 | 10:58 AM
#88
DVD Talk Special Edition
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,675
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Re: RIP Lou Reed
As someone who was only a casual follower of Reed, I've spent the last few weeks picking up CDs from various points of his career. Here's what I've been spinning (in order of release)
Velvet Underground & Nico (40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)
Transformer
Berlin
Rock "N Roll Animal
Street Hassle
New York
Magic & Loss
Set the Twilight Reeling
Lulu
I really have been enjoying most of what I've bought, especially "Berlin" ,"Street Hassle", and "New York". Any other recommendations from V.U. or solo that I should check out?
Velvet Underground & Nico (40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)
Transformer
Berlin
Rock "N Roll Animal
Street Hassle
New York
Magic & Loss
Set the Twilight Reeling
Lulu
I really have been enjoying most of what I've bought, especially "Berlin" ,"Street Hassle", and "New York". Any other recommendations from V.U. or solo that I should check out?
11-20-13 | 03:42 AM
#90
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 7,935
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
From: Atlanta
Re: RIP Lou Reed
IMO the VU stuff towers above his solo work (save maybe Transformer). That's not a slag on solo Reed, but the VU is just that good. There are very few box sets I own that contain so many worthy tunes. You can get all of it in one fell swoop with this:
http://www.amazon.com/Peel-Slowly-Se...ground+box+set
The first disc is extreme demo material that I don't listen to, but the other discs not only contain full albums, but plenty of extras that at times are as good as what made proper albums. If you don't want to go that direction you should definitely seek out the other three albums plus the two outtakes discs, "VU" (1985) and "Another View" (1986). I've never heard extras/outtakes as good as those two albums.
http://www.amazon.com/Peel-Slowly-Se...ground+box+set
The first disc is extreme demo material that I don't listen to, but the other discs not only contain full albums, but plenty of extras that at times are as good as what made proper albums. If you don't want to go that direction you should definitely seek out the other three albums plus the two outtakes discs, "VU" (1985) and "Another View" (1986). I've never heard extras/outtakes as good as those two albums.
11-20-13 | 08:44 AM
#91
Re: RIP Lou Reed
The box set is a must.
I really don't enjoy Transformer. Seems out of place with the rest of his stuff.
The Blue Mask - Lou's best album
Ecstasy - the last 'basic' Lou album is very good
Lou Reed - his first solo album is great
Perfect Night: Live in London is a good listen
I really don't enjoy Transformer. Seems out of place with the rest of his stuff.
The Blue Mask - Lou's best album
Ecstasy - the last 'basic' Lou album is very good
Lou Reed - his first solo album is great
Perfect Night: Live in London is a good listen
11-20-13 | 03:33 PM
#92
Banned by request
Re: RIP Lou Reed
Lou Reed's catalog is so varied that saying an album is "out of place" is a pointless criticism.
And I'd say skip his first solo album and check out The Bells instead. Also, his Live In Italy disc from 1983 is exceptional.
And I'd say skip his first solo album and check out The Bells instead. Also, his Live In Italy disc from 1983 is exceptional.
11-21-13 | 09:19 AM
#93
Re: RIP Lou Reed
It was a weird foray into glam. He followed it up with Berlin which is pretty much the opposite of glam. That's all I'm saying. It does have some classic songs on it though.
10-12-15 | 03:18 PM
#95
DVD Talk Godfather & 2020 TOTY Winner
Re: RIP Lou Reed
Rock legend Lou Reed — a monster of a man who abused women and hurled racial slurs, according to new book
BY Rich Schapiro
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Saturday, October 10, 2015, 11:40 PM
SUNDAY, AUG. 9, 2009 FILE PHOTO 1979: Singer and musician Lou Reed. Used on the cover of the album 'The Bells'. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) Not to be licensed for wall decor or fine art prints ARCHIVE;
Lou Reed performs at the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago in 2009.
Rock legend Lou Reed was a monster of a man who abused women, frequently hurled racial slurs and once described Bob Dylan as a “pretentious k---,” according to a new book.
The damning portrait emerged after author Howard Sounes interviewed more than 140 of Reed’s friends, bandmates, girlfriends and relatives following his 2013 death.
“I loved his music, but you have to go where the story goes,” Sounes told The Daily Beast.
“The obituaries were a bit too kind; he was really a very unpleasant man. A monster really. I think truly the word monster is applicable.”
Sounes’ book, “Notes from the Velvet Underground,” is filled with accounts of Reed getting physical with his girlfriends and wives.
Bettye Kronstad, who married Reed in 1973, said he treated her as his personal punching bag. “He would, like, pin you up against a wall,” she said. “Tussle you. Hit you… shake you… And then one time he actually gave me a black eye.”
“She would say something. He’d get pissed off at what she said and smash her around the back of the head,” Hyman is quoted saying in the book.
“[My wife said,] ‘Lou, if you continue to hit her, you have to leave.’ And then he smacks her in the back of the head. So she said, ‘Get out!’”
Paul Morrissey, who was close with Reed during his Velvet Underground years, didn’t mince words when asked to describe the “Walk on the Wild Side” singer.
“You need a good title like The Hateful Bitch [OR] The Worst Person Who Ever Lived,” Morrissey said.
“Something that says this isn’t a biography of a great human being, because he was not… He was a stupid, disgusting, awful human being
10-12-15 | 03:51 PM
#96
DVD Talk Hero
10-12-15 | 05:03 PM
#97
Moderator
Re: RIP Lou Reed
I can't say I'm surprised either, but expected it to be during his "darker" periods and not, necessarily, when he was such a young lad in the VU days.
