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Thread: Lou Reed

  1. #1
    Member Staun's Avatar
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    Lou Reed

    Was listening to Busload of Faith which is a favorite tune of mine. Anyone care to line up the five best Reed albums?
    The older I get, the better I was.

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    Member Zeuhlmate's Avatar
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    These are good, but I'm not really into his works

    Rock&Roll Animal
    Berlin
    Transformer

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    Member Staun's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zeuhlmate View Post
    These are good, but I'm not really into his works

    Rock&Roll Animal
    Berlin
    Transformer
    Ya, it's funny. R&R Animal is a must have and I like Berlin along with a collection of songs. Had a friend who liked him a lot along with Warren Zevon. But no, I just never really explored much else.
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    Just wondering if you could put both Lou Reed and Iggy Pop in the same, "I feel luke warm about them", category?
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    I put Lou Reed in the same category as David Bowie; there is a smattering of tunes that I really liked, but I never really cared to buy any of the albums.

    He lost a lot of listeners with Metal Machine Music, which according to description seems to consist of tooling around with noise, and not much else. He redeemed himself somewhat with Mistrial and especially the follow-up, New York, which was quite successful commercially. I don't own them, but both have some decent songs.
    Last edited by bob_32_116; 02-01-2016 at 12:31 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Staun View Post
    Just wondering if you could put both Lou Reed and Iggy Pop in the same, "I feel luke warm about them", category?
    Interesting. For years I only liked a handful of songs from each but recently I've been streaming the entire discography of both. In both cases I expected a certain degree of inconsistency but was also rewarded with a few gems I never heard before.
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    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zeuhlmate View Post
    These are good, but I'm not really into his works
    Listening to Lou, it seems to me he wasn't that much into his works either.

    They all seem casual, somewhat sloppy, poorly sung, tossed off without any preparation as if he'd just woken up and hadn't had time to brush his teeth yet. I realize that was his personna, but I never cared for it.

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    Lou is a guy that I have grown to appreciate over the years. Back in my mid 20’s I had a girlfriend who was really into him, but the stuff never stuck with me that much, but over time I have learned to enjoy a lot of his stuff and have come to regard him as a bit of a musical genius in some ways. Of the albums I own I would rank them:

    1. Rock n Roll Animal.
    2. Transformer
    3. Berlin
    4. Lou Reed.
    5. Sally Can’t Dance.
    6. Cony Island Baby.
    7. Mistrial.

  9. #9
    I'm a fan and know all of his albums. A lot of wonderful stuff - his top 10 is very solid, IMO.

    I'd rate them:

    1. Rock and Roll Animal A (1974)
    2. Street Hassle A (1978)
    3. Coney Island Baby A- (1975)
    4. New York A- (1989)
    5. Legendary Hearts A- (1983)
    6. New Sensations A- (1984)
    7. Transformer A- (1972)
    8. The Bells A- (1979)
    9. Blue Mask A- (1982)
    10. Ecstacy B+ (2000)

    He's made quite a few albums that I think are pretty lousy, too, but that's what you got from Lou Reed: his albums were all very honest expressions of what he wanted to do at that particular time, trends or taste be damned.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by bob_32_116 View Post

    He lost a lot of listeners with Metal Machine Music, which according to description seems to consist of tooling around with noise, and not much else.
    A guy on another discussion group made a good suggestion to me a while back to listen to the Amazon samples of MMM, because you have essentially heard the whole album once you've listened to those.

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    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by pb2015 View Post
    A guy on another discussion group made a good suggestion to me a while back to listen to the Amazon samples of MMM, because you have essentially heard the whole album once you've listened to those.
    Yes, but having seen one tree you are not a forester.

    I advocate putting MMM on a continuous loop and listening to nothing else for at least a year.

  13. #13
    You need only five?

    His masterpieces:
    Berlin
    Metal Machine Music


    Then:
    Transformer
    Rock and Roll Animal
    The Bells
    Macht das ohr auf!

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  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by rcarlberg View Post
    I advocate putting MMM on a continuous loop and listening to nothing else for at least a year.
    You can simply play Side 4 of the album that has a locked groove at the end, to get this never–ending feedback bliss!
    Macht das ohr auf!

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    Quote Originally Posted by spacefreak View Post
    You can simply play Side 4 of the album that has a locked groove at the end, to get this never–ending feedback bliss!
    Playing time: infinity, which is longer than 6 minutes. I guess that makes it "prog".

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by bob_32_116 View Post
    He lost a lot of listeners with Metal Machine Music, which according to description seems to consist of tooling around with noise, and not much else.
    “Tooling around with noise”? More like “sticking his guitar in front of a loudspeaker, turning up the volume knob all the way, hitting ‘RECORD’ and leaving the room until the tape runs out, then sending the results to RCA in a prankish way of fulfilling the balance of his recording contract.” People who consider it “genius” need to stop smoking the wacky tobacky for a while. If you want to hear Lou Reed doing avant-garde music the right way (i.e.: with time and effort put into the making of it), the title track of The Bells is right there. I have to say, I find most of that album rather “meh,” but “The Bells” itself is brilliant, far more so than the insanely overrated April Fools’ gag that is MMM.
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  17. #17
    Member viukkis's Avatar
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    My top five (excluding live albums) probably looks something like this:

    Transformer
    The Blue Mask
    Berlin
    Magic and Loss
    Sally Can't Dance

    with honourable mentions to Coney Island Baby and New York.

    It's probably worth mentioning that Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman played on Reed's debut album, although the arrangements are quite undercooked on that one.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Progbear View Post
    “Tooling around with noise”? More like “sticking his guitar in front of a loudspeaker, turning up the volume knob all the way, hitting ‘RECORD’ and leaving the room until the tape runs out, then sending the results to RCA
    I'll let Lou Reed answer this one.

    “Anybody can get feedback, right? But getting controlled feedback is another story, and that gets a little bit involved, though it’s not nuclear physics. Heavier gauge strings are better. Wood, tubes are probably better. A cabinet that can carry bass — you need at least 1x12. But the way you set it up is essentially by distance. As you’re getting the feedback, you can control it, like if the sound was a bull coming at you, you bob and weave with it. What I like to do is get what I call the good harmonics. I’ve spent years trying to get the ones that are just pure noise out, and have the musical ones in. I personally like the bass notes, because you can sound like a cello section, and then if you do it right it’s kind of like Metal Machine, it can set off another harmonic that’ll bounce into it and they cause another one, but the real problem is you’re achieving it by volume, you get a loud sound soft, that’s the idea.”

    Nothing is unintentional there. Metal Machine Music throbs, with layers of droning or squalling feedback in constant modulation, and that’s part of what makes it sound so alive.
    Macht das ohr auf!

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  19. #19
    Berlin
    Coney Island Baby
    Street Hassle
    Transformer
    The Blue Mask

    Obviously, there's a bit of dross throughout his canon, but when he got it right, he really nailed it.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by rcarlberg View Post
    Yes, but having seen one tree you are not a forester.

    I advocate putting MMM on a continuous loop and listening to nothing else for at least a year.
    With streaming services the Amazon suggestion is now moot for many of us, including me. Listening to a few minutes of it, it's okay, but nothing I want to explore further.

  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Progbear View Post
    “Tooling around with noise”? More like “sticking his guitar in front of a loudspeaker, turning up the volume knob all the way, hitting ‘RECORD’ and leaving the room until the tape runs out, then sending the results to RCA in a prankish way of fulfilling the balance of his recording contract.” People who consider it “genius” need to stop smoking the wacky tobacky for a while..
    He did perform it live at least once. Whether or not this is actual music from the album or pure improvisation can be debated of course.


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    Quote Originally Posted by spacefreak View Post
    Nothing is unintentional there. Metal Machine Music throbs, with layers of droning or squalling feedback in constant modulation, and that’s part of what makes it sound so alive.
    Yup, if you've ever fiddled around with feedback you know MMM is not simple. There's NO WAY to get that sound by setting a guitar in front of an amp and walking away.

    MMM is one of the most controlled, carefully-crafted, layered and intentional 'noise albums' ever released. That doesn't make it easy to listen to or soothing or tuneful, but for what it is, it's an incredible achievement.

  23. #23
    ^ This. At different points in my life, depending on my state of mind at the time or the company I am in, I have found it completely pointless or totally fucking righteous.
    And it's not as if I have matured from one to the other.
    As divisive as it may have been to Lou Reed fans, It's a completely divisive record for me and continues to be! I can't think of too many albums I can say that about.
    In fact I can't think of any.

    I have no idea what I'll think next time I listen to it.

  24. #24
    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    It's like Trout Mask Replica times 100 for me. I greatly admire the craft that went into it, but I can't listen to it all the way through.

    In both cases I think that was intentional too.

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    Quote Originally Posted by spacefreak View Post
    I'll let Lou Reed answer this one.

    “Anybody can get feedback, right? But getting controlled feedback is another story, and that gets a little bit involved, though it’s not nuclear physics. Heavier gauge strings are better. Wood, tubes are probably better. A cabinet that can carry bass — you need at least 1x12. But the way you set it up is essentially by distance. As you’re getting the feedback, you can control it, like if the sound was a bull coming at you, you bob and weave with it. What I like to do is get what I call the good harmonics. I’ve spent years trying to get the ones that are just pure noise out, and have the musical ones in. I personally like the bass notes, because you can sound like a cello section, and then if you do it right it’s kind of like Metal Machine, it can set off another harmonic that’ll bounce into it and they cause another one, but the real problem is you’re achieving it by volume, you get a loud sound soft, that’s the idea.”

    Nothing is unintentional there. Metal Machine Music throbs, with layers of droning or squalling feedback in constant modulation, and that’s part of what makes it sound so alive.

    Yeah, and people also get deep meaning out of reading Finnegan's Wake. I think Reed (and Joyce) were pulling people's leg. This is not to say serious thought was put into it, but for me, it recalls some art student putting a paintbrush on a donkey's tail, allowing him to swipe a canvas a hundred or so times, then take it to a gallery and call it "art." I can occasionally appreciate the fringe of expression, but not THAT far out...

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