R. I. P. Lou Reed

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Yep, fraid so. I always thought the old bugger was too cynical to die, but there you go.

We Shall Not See His Like Again.
 
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Corpsey

bandz ahoy
R.I.P.

I would like recommendations for stuff he did. I have heard a bit of Velvet Underground but nothing much else.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
R.I.P.

I would like recommendations for stuff he did. I have heard a bit of Velvet Underground but nothing much else.

Berlin might just be the bleakest album recorded by anyone, ever. You can imagine Ian Curtis or Kurt Cobain listening to it and thinking "Cheer up mate, it might never happen".
 

Leo

Well-known member
"coney island baby" was one of the first albums i ever bought, love it to this day. my first exposure to him was my older brother's copy of "rock'n roll animal", those eight minutes of ringing guitars courtesy of the old alice cooper band guys on "intro/sweet jane" were the ultimate live rock jam. then went backwards to "transformer" and velvets. disliked everything after "blue mask" (quine!) but that's just me.
 

Leo

Well-known member
I just can't get along with this album, the dueling guitars are so hair metal. Sounds like a Poison record at times.

hey, it was the 70s!

actually forgot about a major lou album: "street hassle". still doesn't sound like anything else, the title track still pretty freaky.
 

paolo

Mechanical phantoms
Don't know much about his solo stuff but it's hard to imagine any decent post-60s guitar music without VU

:(
 

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
hey, it was the 70s!

actually forgot about a major lou album: "street hassle". still doesn't sound like anything else, the title track still pretty freaky.

street hassle is a good album, especially the title track, but also when lou's voice was becoming quite ugly. Up to that point in his career he's neck and neck with Iggy as my favourite rock singer of all time.

RIP
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
I would like recommendations for stuff he did. I have heard a bit of Velvet Underground but nothing much else

the obvious: + Nico and WL/WH are both as essential as any music recorded by anyone anywhere ever. they are the primordial ooze from which, in one way or another, virtually any later interesting guitar music springs. the 3rd LP is great but not quite on that level. Loaded is half great and half meh.

there are a million VU bootlegs and live recordings, many of which overlap. essential: 1969, The Quine Tapes and Legendary Guitar Amp. also great: 1966, Sweet Sister Ray, La Cave 1968, and so on.

not nearly as big a fan of LR solo, but still: Transformer, Berlin, MMM + R'n'R Animal. MMM my fav of those but don't make sense to compare it to his other work, just a different thing.

in general his best work was w/Cale, which works the other way round too. Cale's post-La Monte Young avant drone thing with Lou's pop instincts and songwriting was the ultimate combination. this is one of the best examples (and one of my favorite songs ever) pre-VU Reed/Cale laying down the drone + melody blueprint

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/zyDIa8C-V30" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
also think Lou deserves as much recognition for his style as for his music. he has as much as much anyone to do with creating the archetype of rock frontman, the whole standoffish, brittle, knowing side of which he is pretty much wholly his. in the same way everyone who heard VU started a band centered on one aspect of VU (i.e. The Feelies = What Goes On) a helluva lot of dudes who saw Lou Reed modeled themselves on him one way or another: Jonathan Richman = innocent waif Reed, Peter Laughner (of Rocket from the Tombs and catalyst for the whole Pere Ubu etc Cleveland scene, which was cultishly devoted to VU) = drunken self-destructive Rust Belt Reed, David Byrne = whiny cerebral Reed and so on all the way down to Cobain, Malkmus, a thousand other people.

Peter Laughner doing a take on Heroin (in the same way Road Runner is Sister Ray)
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/3PlK8FKCEYI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

and the mighty Blitz (big up New Mills) doing my favorite LR solo song
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/dg4OlnSIjHI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
and finally, what an amazing collection of talent that was. not just Reed and Cale but Tony Conrad, Angus Maclise, not to mention all the other people floating around that downtown early 60s scene, all the big minimalist guys and Cage as elder statesman, Henry Flynt, as well as all the Fluxus people (including pre-Lennon Yoko Ono) on the high arts side. granted the downtown late 70s scene probably equals it but still, what an incredible concentration of genius.
 

viktorvaughn

Well-known member
i swear he looks a bit like eddie izzard here
Lou+Reed+-+Transformer+-+LP+RECORD-237385.jpg
 
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