― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 21 March 2003 21:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 21 March 2003 21:46 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 21 March 2003 21:46 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 21 March 2003 21:53 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 21 March 2003 21:59 (twenty-one years ago) link
― gary k (gary k), Friday, 21 March 2003 22:40 (twenty-one years ago) link
Well, that's not necessarily true, but Lou's happens to be great. :-)
― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 21 March 2003 22:43 (twenty-one years ago) link
― gary k (gary k), Friday, 21 March 2003 23:04 (twenty-one years ago) link
― girl scout heroin (iamamonkey), Friday, 21 March 2003 23:39 (twenty-one years ago) link
Of course, the title track is simply beautiful and its one the few times in his solo career where Lou is actually is good as he thinks he is.
― Dadaismus, Saturday, 22 March 2003 12:56 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Saturday, 22 March 2003 13:03 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Mary (Mary), Saturday, 22 March 2003 13:07 (twenty-one years ago) link
Still not a big fan of the album, but I'm having an earwig moment right now with the title track. That "it's called bad luck" moment keeps me coming back.
― Suzy Creemcheese (SuzyCreemcheese), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 06:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― Dom iNut (donut), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 07:42 (eighteen years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 10:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― controversial buffalo stance (haitch), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 10:43 (eighteen years ago) link
Also, what the hell is Bruce Springsteen muttering about?
― Ned T.RIfle II (Ned T.Rifle II), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 10:52 (eighteen years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 11:00 (eighteen years ago) link
― Jack L., Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:57 (eighteen years ago) link
― Huk-L (Huk-L), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 15:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― reacher, Tuesday, 31 January 2006 15:15 (eighteen years ago) link
When Lou sings "I need you baby" it's the most pathetic sound in the world.
Classic.
― senseiDancer (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 15:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 15:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 15:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 15:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― Hillary Brown (Hillary Brown), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 16:50 (eighteen years ago) link
I don't mind Lou Reed, Sally Can't Dance, Rock N' Roll Animal, Legendary Hearts, etc. but I wouldn't call these albums "must-gets", but I would say that of the above four.
― Dom iNut (donut), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 18:01 (eighteen years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 18:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― senseiDancer (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 18:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― shookout (shookout), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 18:50 (eighteen years ago) link
It's been a regular listen for me. Great just before bed.
― Dom iNut (donut), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 19:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 19:06 (eighteen years ago) link
Er, you mean once or twice a month? But, this thread isn't about MMM. But, as long as we're talking other LReed albums, I think that Coney Island is kind of awful, aside from the KLASSIC title track.
And I hate to say it, but I think the Bruce bit at the end might be dud. It's an interesting artifact, though.
― Suzy Creemcheese (SuzyCreemcheese), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 22:56 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tyler W (tylerw), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 23:17 (eighteen years ago) link
And I love the Take No Prisoners version .. especially "know what it's called? ...Bad Luck... (BASS)"
― Dave will do (dave225.3), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 23:20 (eighteen years ago) link
And does it make a difference to people that it's Springsteen circa 1978, when you could find him lounging on a LES couch struggling through some French Symbolist poetry? I never carp about the cameo at the end b/c Springsteen sounds so blokey. Eh, I can live w/ it if everyone else can.
― Suzy Creemcheese (SuzyCreemcheese), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 23:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― subgenius (subgenius), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 00:02 (eighteen years ago) link
The bad luck line is unfortunetly true.
― Tom Canick, Friday, 28 April 2006 18:21 (eighteen years ago) link
I got love for you Alfred but if you mean The Blue Mask, Legendary Hearts and New Sensations then wtf
the middle one there has maybe two good songs on it
― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 28 April 2006 19:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Friday, 28 April 2006 19:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― flea market economy (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 28 April 2006 19:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― flea market economy (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 28 April 2006 19:55 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 28 April 2006 20:13 (eighteen years ago) link
And say what you will be MMM is so relaxing.
― andrew b (klik99), Friday, 28 April 2006 23:08 (eighteen years ago) link
― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Saturday, 29 April 2006 01:14 (eighteen years ago) link
Also likely everyone here knows already I'm insane over Take No Prisoners so that version bears mention too. There's one more song on the Street Hassle album, though, that I want to mention...must pull it out to see...you know I'm not sure which one it is. I'll have to play it again to figure it out.
― honorary joy division roadie (Bimble...), Saturday, 29 April 2006 03:50 (eighteen years ago) link
Look I had a bad dream about Hitler last night give me a break.
― honorary joy division roadie (Bimble...), Saturday, 29 April 2006 03:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― honorary joy division roadie (Bimble...), Saturday, 29 April 2006 06:24 (eighteen years ago) link
― honorary joy division roadie (Bimble...), Saturday, 29 April 2006 06:40 (eighteen years ago) link
― Fastnbulbous (Fastnbulbous), Saturday, 29 April 2006 16:36 (eighteen years ago) link
this was a lie, hoorah! wonderful what a half-decent turntable will do.
― H2-H4 (H2-H4), Monday, 2 October 2006 06:55 (seventeen years ago) link
I love this alb - there's something abt this sound of this rec, the vocals and shit, that's unique in Lou's discog - pisses all over any of his 80s albs (blue mask, r. quine solos and all, is SERIOUSLY overrated, esp. the stuff abt him getting outing his ouija board to contact delmore schwartz, now that's what i call bad luck)
― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Monday, 2 October 2006 21:42 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 2 October 2006 21:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Monday, 2 October 2006 21:50 (seventeen years ago) link
Unfortunately H2-H4, my own turntable has broken as of a few days ago. Suddenly wouldn't pick up the needle off the record. I can still play records, but if I forget to pick it up off the record before the end, I risk scratching the entire record and ruining my needle. Oh joy.
Thank goodness I have Street Hassle on CD.
― John Cougar Mellencamp sucks and you know it (Bimble...), Monday, 2 October 2006 22:35 (seventeen years ago) link
1) For the record I believe I was the first person to go by Suzy Creamcheese on this board, though I did spell it entirely differently than whoever posted above.
2) The Bruce Springsteen part of SH totally rules and I hate Springsteen with a passion.
― John Cougar Mellencamp sucks and you know it (Bimble...), Monday, 2 October 2006 22:42 (seventeen years ago) link
2) Bruce's part still sucks, and I'm totally indifferent to BRUUUUUCE
― JamesyCreemcheese (SuzyCreemcheese), Monday, 2 October 2006 23:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― real savage-like (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 2 October 2006 23:05 (seventeen years ago) link
I <3 this album.
― Tape Store, Sunday, 25 May 2008 03:39 (sixteen years ago) link
esp. the title track
― Tape Store, Sunday, 25 May 2008 03:40 (sixteen years ago) link
yeh, this record is beautiful. i have no further insight at the moment, regrettably.
― dell, Sunday, 25 May 2008 03:47 (sixteen years ago) link
Oh my god I could talk about this song all day.
― Bimble, Sunday, 25 May 2008 07:04 (sixteen years ago) link
listening to this for the first time today... the opening track is funny but pretty much a mess production-wise (Lou's layered vocals sound terrible! multi-tracking that croaking voice attempting to hold a vibrato produces sad results). The title track is fantastic, I don't have anything to add about that apart from it being so weird for me to come to it so late - I feel I already knew it from Spacemen 3/Spiritualized ripping it, and having it prick up my ears in the Squid and the Whale
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 9 October 2008 16:51 (fifteen years ago) link
I have been on a real VU/Lou Reed kick lately... eventually I will get around to testing Alfred's early 80s trilogy theory (haven't heard the blue Mask since at least '92...?)
Always thought the weird version of "Real Good Time Together" on here was Lou's attempt at a kind of Suicide thing
― Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Thursday, 9 October 2008 16:58 (fifteen years ago) link
hmm, never thought of suicide with that track, but now that you mention it. is that song the last instance of Lou dipping into his old unreleased VU songs for a solo album? anyway, i always had a soft spot for this album, though it is certainly, er, spotty. obviously the title track is one of his career highlights, but the trashier stuff is fun too.
― tylerw, Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:05 (fifteen years ago) link
Also recently gave a listen to his first s/t debut - an album that apparently no one ever listens to or references or reviews (and that has been out of print for decades now...?) Really weird album - comprised mostly of shitty versions of leftover VU material, over-played way to straight (choice of Rick Wakeman as a sideman = wtf, for obvious reasons). It has its moments - the end of Ride Into the Sun, Wild Child (did Wild Child get re-cut on a later album?) The version of Berlin is virtually unrecognizable from its later re-interpretation but is still not very good, and overall the sound of the album is really thin and boring. Have no idea if Lou Reed even plays guitar on it at all... I do find it odd though, for a guy whose later career missteps are habitually pored over and re-evaluated that this album is basically never discussed, by ANYBODY. Its like it never even happened. Even though less than a year after its release, Reed would be killing it with Transformer.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:17 (fifteen years ago) link
It's been reissued tons of time AND talked about! Agree about the thin sound, and sometimes inapt accompaniment but some of it's great!
― Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:20 (fifteen years ago) link
i like it a lot (or i did prior to the VU release that more or less made it irrelevant). then again, i don't think much of Transformer.
xp
― "I'ma lose my religion and go secular on you, boy" (Ioannis), Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:22 (fifteen years ago) link
yeah, i kinda like "Ocean" on the s/t album ... haven't listened to it in forever. Oh, "Lisa Says" is nice too. Neither of those songs are a patch on the VU versions, but I like their slickness. that album does make it painfully clear that Lou had no idea what direction to take his career in at that point.
― tylerw, Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:24 (fifteen years ago) link
Those are my two least favourite tracks on the album!
― Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:25 (fifteen years ago) link
had no idea about the reissues - I've never seen one, and cruising blogs looking for a post of the album took a while.
agreed that the version of Ocean is at least interesting - its chugging as opposed to dreamy
x-post
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:26 (fifteen years ago) link
haha, well there you go. xpost
― tylerw, Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:27 (fifteen years ago) link
it IS crazy how somebody convinced Lou (or Lou convinced himself) that he shouldn't be playing guitar on his own records. that's really a big thing that's missing from most of his 70s records.
― tylerw, Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:29 (fifteen years ago) link
Amazing how shitty those hotshot British session men were are playing rock 'n' roll, esp. the drummer!
― Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:31 (fifteen years ago) link
Makes you realise how great Sterling Morrison was for one thing!
― Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:32 (fifteen years ago) link
doesn't steve howe play on the first one too?
― velko, Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:34 (fifteen years ago) link
i used to have this bizarro reissue of the s/t album that shuffled the tracklisting and added tracks from Lou Reed Live! weirdness. are the more recent reissues better sounding? i remember reading that it was mastered all wrong originally. something to do with dobly recording. :)
― tylerw, Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:34 (fifteen years ago) link
very true about the inexplicable inability of british session guys to rock appropriately. Definitely a "too many notes" situation.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:34 (fifteen years ago) link
he shoulda used the spiders from mars for that record!
― "I'ma lose my religion and go secular on you, boy" (Ioannis), Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:36 (fifteen years ago) link
A too many of everything situation. Never got that with Sterl and Mo.
― Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:38 (fifteen years ago) link
I've played this version of "Real Good Time Together" for a listening party, and you can't help but do an imitation of Lou being coked out of his mind singing this.
"we're gooo-NA have a REAL. GOOD. TIIIIME. tooo-GETHA!" *sniiiiiiiif*
― obamaloverholeinyohead (Mackro Mackro), Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:45 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah, I've been on a real VU/Lou kick lately as well, Shakey. Played Berlin again yesterday after not hearing it some years and still don't think a whole lot of it. I think Street Hassle as an album has enough high points to make it worthwhile. I've never heard his first solo album...kinda scared to hear it, actually.
I've fallen in love with these videos on You Tube of him live in Paris, '74...but when I d/l this album entitled "The Olympia Theatre Paris, '74" the sound quality is absolutely horrible. Anyone know how I can get around this and find some more stuff like that?
― Bimble, Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:50 (fifteen years ago) link
yeah I think Berlin is pretty spotty myself. Ezrin's about as much of a mismatch for Reed as Wakeman in terms of overdoing things.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:53 (fifteen years ago) link
eventually I will get around to testing Alfred's early 80s trilogy theory
Get around to it!
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 9 October 2008 17:58 (fifteen years ago) link
I will check the sausage before I put it in the waffle, so to speak
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 9 October 2008 18:02 (fifteen years ago) link
Legendary Hearts is a great record that desperately cries out for remixing/remastering. burying Quine's guitar is never a good idea, imo. still great, tho. "Home of the Brave" has always been my fave.
― "I'ma lose my religion and go secular on you, boy" (Ioannis), Thursday, 9 October 2008 18:03 (fifteen years ago) link
wow this album is a total mess! so weird how disjointed and un-together a lot of the performances are. "Real Good Time Together", for example, has this fantastic guitar sound but any kind of steady tempo is completely undetectable for the first half or so while Reed fumbles around with the words/melody. "Wait" sorta drifts off aimlessly at the end. The band totally is not together on the opening track, the drummer stumbles in several places. The title track is fairly amazing but apart from that yeesh, I dunno... its kinda fascinating how completely unreliable Reed has been throughout his career.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 9 October 2008 20:46 (fifteen years ago) link
Doesn't anyone like "Shooting Star"? I do.
― Polka-Dotted Bullshit (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Friday, 10 October 2008 07:46 (fifteen years ago) link
Me too.
― I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE UP TO (Colonel Poo), Friday, 10 October 2008 08:08 (fifteen years ago) link
I also think the last track "Wait" is better than just about anything on this album except for the title track. But something about "Dirt" is very attractive, as well.
But yeah, Shakey, I agree he is completely unreliable, and that somehow this is fascinating about him. Can you think of anyone else in the music world who has shown the kind of genius he has in his career matched with the sheer volume of his mediocre stuff in comparison? I can't. When he's good he's bloody brilliant. But he rarely gets there. Ya gotta dig for the gems, and I'm glad I'm in a digging mood.
Also, if I may comment...*cough*... about this Alfred trilogy thing...Alfred, you never really explained if it was actually Blue Mask you were thinking of as the first installment in that trilogy. For some reason I had assumed your trilogy began with New Sensations. I need to have this clarified. Also, allmusic says "Growing Up In Public" was released in 1980 and I don't know jack shit about that album. So please clarify your trilogy. Thanks!
The weird thing is I realized I did actually see Lou Reed during the Mistrial tour. I had completely forgotten this. I must have been 13??? I bought that album and don't remember a goddamn thing about it. I remember the damn "...Suzanne" video from New Sensations and that's about it.
Now, many years later the "New York" album he did is an entirely diff. story and um...I'm not really ready to play that right now. It was a good album, but too many memories for me. I'd rather let it lie.
― Polka-Dotted Bullshit (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Friday, 10 October 2008 08:20 (fifteen years ago) link
xgau on the early-'80s trilogy (plus GUIP):
Growing Up in Public [Arista, 1980]This unabashedly literate album isn't pretentious on paper--Lou's just an educated guy for whom middlebrow names like Poe and Vidal and Shakespeare and Escher mix as naturally into the conversation as dictionary words like "harridan" and "lucid" and "ore" and "encroachment." But musically he's trying too hard with no place to go--projects the opener from midway down the esophagus as if Street Hassle leads to Street-Legal, then doesn't even stick with that. Mostly these are intelligent songs that misfire slightly. The two gems are two of the simplest both verbally and vocally. In one Lou's father gives him shit while his mother dies. In the other he proposes. B
Rock and Roll Diary 1967-1980 [Arista, 1980]In which Mr. Heroin promotes the '60s. Really. Just compare the studio-Velvets first side with the hodgepodge-Arista closer and tell me he wasn't more confidently himself--I mean happier--negating optimism than fumbling through its aftermath. Admittedly, beyond the inescapable "Street Hassle" the Arista song choices are perverse even for Lou--three from his album of six months ago, neither great one among them. And beyond the inescapable "Walk on the Wild Side" the RCA choices aren't much more coherent (cf. RCA's own Walk on the Wild Side). So Clive's minions hire Ellen Willis to make sense of it all--which, striving almost too mightily, she almost does. B
The Blue Mask [RCA Victor, 1982]After this becomes a cult classic, in a week or so, noncultists are gonna start complaining. "My Dedalus to your Bloom/Was such a perfect wit"? And then bringing in "perfect" again for a rhyme? What kind of "spirit of pure poetry" is that? One that honors the way people really talk. Never has Lou sounded more Ginsbergian, more let-it-all-hang-out than on this, his most controlled, plainspoken, deeply felt, and uninhibited album. Even his unnecessarily ideological heterosexuality is more an expression of mood than a statement of policy; he sounds glad to be alive, so that horror and pain become occasions for courage and eloquence as well as bitterness and sarcasm. Every song comes at the world from a slightly different angle, and every one makes the others stronger. Reed's voice--precise, conversational, stirring whether offhand or inspirational--sings his love of language itself, with Fernando Saunders's bass articulating his tenderness and the guitars of Robert Quine and Reed himself slashing out with an anger he understands better all the time. A
Legendary Hearts [RCA Victor, 1983]If The Blue Mask was a tonic, the follow-up's a long drink of water, trading impact and intensity for the stated goal of this (final?) phase of Reed's music: continuity, making do, the long haul. The greatest songs on The Blue Mask honored the extremes he was learning to live without while "My House" and the like copped to the implicit sentimentality of his resolution. Here both ends approach the middle. "Legendary Hearts" and "Betrayed" clarify Reed's commitment by laying out the down side of romantic marriage; "Bottoming Out" and "The Last Shot" and the elegiac "Home of the Brave" excise melodrama from his waves of fear. Equally important, "Martial Law" and "Don't Talk to Me About Work" and the almost, well, liberal "Powwow" prove that sometimes his great new band is just a way for him to write great new songs, which is what his endurance had better be about in the end. A
New Sensations [RCA Victor, 1984]This wonderful record feels like product at first--a solid but expedient bunch of songs like The Bells or Coney Island Baby or even Sally Can't Dance. Although the title cut is definitely the centerpiece, and thematic at that, there are no grand statements like "Women" or "Legendary Hearts" and no tours de force like "The Gun" or "Betrayed." And boy, does it sneak up on you. Instead of straining fruitlessly to top himself, Reed has settled into a pattern as satisfying as what he had going with the Velvets, though by definition it isn't as epochal. The music is simple and inevitable, and even the sarcastic songs are good sarcastic songs, with many of the others avoiding type altogether. Think he can keep doing this till he's fifty? Hope so. A
All you really need to know (no offence to Alfred--i say this as a total xgau groupie, duh)
― "I'ma lose my religion and go secular on you, boy" (Ioannis), Friday, 10 October 2008 09:38 (fifteen years ago) link
oops, forgot to nuke the Rock and Roll Diary review. oh well...
― "I'ma lose my religion and go secular on you, boy" (Ioannis), Friday, 10 October 2008 09:41 (fifteen years ago) link
The Cello riff on this is just increadible,
― Chewshabadoo, Friday, 10 October 2008 09:57 (fifteen years ago) link
yes, bur is it edible?
― "I'ma lose my religion and go secular on you, boy" (Ioannis), Friday, 10 October 2008 10:00 (fifteen years ago) link
I dunno, for all the bookishness and the "thought and expression", howcome the Lou I like best is the "I love you susanne" stuff?
― Mark G, Friday, 10 October 2008 10:06 (fifteen years ago) link
Lou likes pop music too.
― "I'ma lose my religion and go secular on you, boy" (Ioannis), Friday, 10 October 2008 10:14 (fifteen years ago) link
well, '50s/'60s-style pop music, anyhow.
― "I'ma lose my religion and go secular on you, boy" (Ioannis), Friday, 10 October 2008 10:15 (fifteen years ago) link
...which is why New Sensations is my favorite solo album, terrible production and all.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 10 October 2008 13:43 (fifteen years ago) link
ideological heterosexuality
haha
― Edward III, Friday, 10 October 2008 14:49 (fifteen years ago) link
yeah, that line jumped out at me, too. christgau can be a funny dude. i may be in the minority, but i think that "Blue Mask" is maybe slightly overrated? I like it, and the band is obviously pretty awesome. But I'm not nuts about the JFK song or "The Heroine" ... The highs are pretty high -- but I think that Quine is my favorite thing about it. His solo on "Waves of Fear" is off the hook. mentioned above, but it would be really interesting to hear rough mixes of the Legendary Hearts album with Quine more prominent. Great story in the Lou bio about Robert smashing his cassette of that album to bits with a hammer. More awesome Quine-age on that "Live In Italy" import ...
― tylerw, Friday, 10 October 2008 14:55 (fifteen years ago) link
The instrumental interplay in the first 45 seconds of "My House" is my favorite solo Lou moment.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 10 October 2008 15:03 (fifteen years ago) link
Wow, dude did "Caroline Says" on Letterman last night.
― If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Saturday, 11 October 2008 23:11 (fifteen years ago) link
Shakey, have you tried the "Rock and Roll Heart" (1976) album yet? I tried that one last night and I think I like it more than even the Coney Island Baby album! Surpisingly consistently great.
http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:emPkzwTRLC63UM:http://ak.buy.com/db_assets/large_images/536/203051536.jpg
― Dracula Tells Superman What To Do (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Saturday, 11 October 2008 23:36 (fifteen years ago) link
I dig Rock & Roll Heart but I'm not really into Coney Island Baby. Street Hassle is up there with the early 70s albums for me though
― I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE UP TO (Colonel Poo), Saturday, 11 October 2008 23:40 (fifteen years ago) link
No shiiiit, what it is!
― Thomas K Amphong (Tom D.), Friday, 15 November 2013 13:50 (ten years ago) link
Probably my favorite Lou solo record, when I heard the news that he died, this was was the record that I reached for
It sounds so weird, so 1977
― chr1sb3singer, Friday, 15 November 2013 14:13 (ten years ago) link
Now I'm pissed I don't have this on my iPod I want to listen to it right now
― chr1sb3singer, Friday, 15 November 2013 14:15 (ten years ago) link
Was just listening to "Leave Me Alone", what other major artist would dare to be that bracingly moronic? Perhaps Neil Young ("Got mashed potatoes/ Ain't got no T-Bone"). And three chords? Lou only needs one and a half!
― Thomas K Amphong (Tom D.), Friday, 15 November 2013 14:23 (ten years ago) link
The title track was the song I went to when he died too.
― Deafening silence (DL), Friday, 15 November 2013 14:37 (ten years ago) link
I love how start of this album is like MST3K taking on "Loaded".
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Saturday, 16 November 2013 00:10 (ten years ago) link
The Springsteen part of Street Hassle is so odd. It sounds like Bruce is doing an Elvis impersonation.
― kornrulez6969, Saturday, 16 November 2013 02:30 (ten years ago) link
Haha I read this thread again and I'd forgotten I'd ever listened to Raven, much less liked it?
― lollercoaster of rove (s.clover), Saturday, 16 November 2013 02:35 (ten years ago) link
i've been tempted to listen to the raven again - there is some good stuff lurking in there.
― tylerw, Saturday, 16 November 2013 15:04 (ten years ago) link
nearly put broadway song on my ballot
― comic sbans soref (wins), Saturday, 16 November 2013 15:18 (ten years ago) link
didn't put street hassle on iirc
I did not know this:
Binaural recording
The recording of Street Hassle was notable in that Reed and his co-producer chose to employ an experimental microphone placement technique called binaural recording.[1] In binaural recording, two microphones are placed in the studio in an attempt to mimic the stereo sound of actually being in the room with the performers/instruments. In the case of the recording sessions and concerts that composed Street Hassle, engineers used a mannequin head with a microphone implanted in each ear. Binaural recordings are generally only effective when the user listens to the album through headphones, and do not generally translate correctly through stereo speakers.Dummy head being used for binaural recording, similar to the setup used for Street Hassle
Reed's particular binaural recording system was developed by Manfred Schunke of the German company Delta Acoustics; Schunke is credited as an engineer on Street Hassle. Lou Reed would continue to use the binaural recording style on two more releases: the 1978 concert album Live: Take No Prisoners and the 1979 studio album The Bells.
Same system was used on a few Krautrock albums. But it helps to explain why it's such an odd sounding record through speakers.
― Mr. Wristington, you're trying to seduce me. (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Sunday, 17 November 2013 07:19 (ten years ago) link
I for one am grateful that the binaural system was used in the recording of Take No Prisoners for it allowed me to hear the carping about John Rockwell in the one ear whilst listening to the kvetching about Xgau in the other.
― Into The Disco Mystic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 17 November 2013 07:22 (ten years ago) link
Same system was used on a few Krautrock albums.
I think it's used on Can's "Flow Motion", which is a lot easier on the old earholes than "Street Hassle"
― Thomas K Amphong (Tom D.), Sunday, 17 November 2013 15:34 (ten years ago) link
(xp) Yah!
*ear splitting feedback*
Lou: "Isn't that annoying"
*more ear splitting feedback*
Yes, even more annoying, Lou, thanks to the binaural recording system developed by Manfred Schunke of the German company Delta Acoustics
― Thomas K Amphong (Tom D.), Sunday, 17 November 2013 15:40 (ten years ago) link
Don't know if it's necessarily the binaural process, but Take No Prisoners is a really good sounding live record.
― tylerw, Sunday, 17 November 2013 20:18 (ten years ago) link
i've said it before, but c'mon they should be putting out an expanded box set of those shows, like miles' live at the plugged nickel or something.
Do we know if Bruce wrote his spiel or if Lou did or it was something they worked out together? I seem to recall reading something that the recording of it was a kind of a spur of the moment thing...
― chr1sb3singer, Monday, 18 November 2013 16:31 (ten years ago) link
lou wrote it and said he was having trouble delivering it -- I guess bruce just happened to be in the studio at the time? in that WPIX broadcast lou claims some reviewer thought it was just lou doing a terrible bruce impression.
― tylerw, Monday, 18 November 2013 19:44 (ten years ago) link
(which seems crazy, but i guess broooce isn't credited in the liners)
IIRC, Lou was working down the hall from where Springsteen was finishing up DOTEOT, and asked him if he'd do the lines, which already included the wink to "Born To Run".
― Maintenance Engineer of Foolhardiness (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 18 November 2013 19:57 (ten years ago) link
So the "tramps like us" line was in there before Bruce agreed to record it? I assumed that line was written just for him!
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Monday, 18 November 2013 20:00 (ten years ago) link
I really like this album, but like Bowie's "Heroes", when there's one song that's clearly the centerpiece of the album, it comes across as "Street Hassle" and "songs that aren't Street Hassle and are less important than Street Hassle" and the rest of the album suffers as a result.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Monday, 18 November 2013 20:03 (ten years ago) link
x-post From the '89 Rolling Stone interview:
DF: Bruce Springsteen.LR: I like him in concert. He's a great live performer. What I really like is the little skits with Clarence and everything, these great spoken introductions.DF: How did he come to recite those lines on "Street Hassle"?LR: Because if I'd done them, they'd have come out funny. And when he did it, it sounded real. He was at the same studio, the Record Plant. It wasn't making it with me doing it So the engineer said, "Why don't you ask Bruce to do it? He could really do that" So we asked Bruce to do it, and he rewrote it a little.DF: The ending of his passage is a clever take-off on "Born to Run" – "There are tramps like us/Who were born to pay." Was that his contribution?LR: No, that was mine. It had been written with him in mind, but he wasn't there. I was just playing off the title.
LR: I like him in concert. He's a great live performer. What I really like is the little skits with Clarence and everything, these great spoken introductions.
DF: How did he come to recite those lines on "Street Hassle"?
LR: Because if I'd done them, they'd have come out funny. And when he did it, it sounded real. He was at the same studio, the Record Plant. It wasn't making it with me doing it So the engineer said, "Why don't you ask Bruce to do it? He could really do that" So we asked Bruce to do it, and he rewrote it a little.
DF: The ending of his passage is a clever take-off on "Born to Run" – "There are tramps like us/Who were born to pay." Was that his contribution?
LR: No, that was mine. It had been written with him in mind, but he wasn't there. I was just playing off the title.
― Maintenance Engineer of Foolhardiness (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 18 November 2013 20:13 (ten years ago) link
Thanks for the info, its a curious little thing that's always fascinated me. I really can't imagine Lou saying those lines.
I did have this realization a little while ago, in part based on that long, chooglin boot vers of "Waiting for the Man" that Tyler posted awhile back, that this era of Lou (76-78) to me it is almost like a bizarro world vers of the E Street Band, w, the horns & back-up singers, et al
― chr1sb3singer, Monday, 18 November 2013 20:45 (ten years ago) link
totally -- even though they'd both deny the influence, it is curious that post-born to run, both lou and dylan suddenly had sax players in their bands.
― tylerw, Monday, 18 November 2013 20:50 (ten years ago) link
OTM, the E-Street Band influence seems fairly transparent on "Take No Prisoners".
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Monday, 18 November 2013 20:54 (ten years ago) link
Actually Bruce is exactly the kind of artist Lou would like, he's such a throw back to "classic rock'n'roll" ,obviously with sort of grand pretentions lyrically/musically but working within that structure.
― chr1sb3singer, Monday, 18 November 2013 20:58 (ten years ago) link
kinda think garland jeffreys is the nexus of brooooce/looooouhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RzBZsOeqOQ
― tylerw, Monday, 18 November 2013 21:06 (ten years ago) link
Ha, exactly.
― Picture Books of the Pyramid Meets the Eye (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 18 November 2013 21:25 (ten years ago) link
speaking of garland, i posted this pic of lou & him at syracuse on twitter, and jeffreys himself popped up to ask where I'd found it! amazing photo:http://s23.postimg.org/ncakla397/Lou_Reed_Garland_jeffries_at_Syracuse_1962_196.jpg
― tylerw, Monday, 18 November 2013 21:35 (ten years ago) link
twee
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Monday, 18 November 2013 21:38 (ten years ago) link
title track came up on my spotify discover playlist and, not having looked, I thought it was some schmindie post rock thing until the vocals came in.
― www.ramenclassaction.com (man alive), Wednesday, 18 May 2016 19:07 (eight years ago) link
suggestbanflagpost
― tylerw, Wednesday, 18 May 2016 19:23 (eight years ago) link
but seriously, who sounds like "street hassle" these days?
― tylerw, Wednesday, 18 May 2016 19:24 (eight years ago) link
These people in the US, binaural sound never really caught on, whereas in Japan you can't even get on the Tokyo subway without bumping into someone with a binaural headset.
― Pictures of LiLiPUT (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 18 May 2016 21:28 (eight years ago) link
I had the same experience as someone above, who knew this song previously via Spacemen 3. Without getting into who recorded what exactly when, the two "versions" are almost exactly a decade apart. Which surprised me, as Spacemen 3 always gave the impression that they were mining ancient history. I guess there's some weird nexus of Lou, Bruce, and Suicide that ends up turning into an indie influence a decade later.
― dlp9001, Wednesday, 18 May 2016 21:44 (eight years ago) link
Suicide also only a decade removed from S3
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 18 May 2016 21:49 (eight years ago) link
As was this album. In the 80s I had the impression (without thinking about it too much) that the sources of Spacemen 3 were much further removed. Anyway, I can definitely see the indie aspect of this.
― dlp9001, Wednesday, 18 May 2016 21:59 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnGSWbISSLs
― Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Wednesday, 18 May 2016 22:01 (eight years ago) link
Never saw this before, Fat Lou ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rm9rCdF-jU
― Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Wednesday, 18 May 2016 22:12 (eight years ago) link
Shouldn't have a Street Hassle thread without this (used to be a non-Movie Clips clip on YouTube):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VKpd3XEbD8
I'm positive the title song turned up in another movie after that.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 18 May 2016 22:34 (eight years ago) link
Up The Academy before that (I had to google). Jesus, Up The Academy has a crazy soundtrack. I was too young to see it, but was aware that it existed.
― dlp9001, Wednesday, 18 May 2016 23:02 (eight years ago) link
What movie had him sing a tune called "Little Sister" again?
― Pictures of LiLiPUT (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 18 May 2016 23:20 (eight years ago) link
"Get Crazy"
(song is "My Baby Sister", played over the closing credits)
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 18 May 2016 23:23 (eight years ago) link
I've never actually seen it, it sounds amusingly bad
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 18 May 2016 23:24 (eight years ago) link
What's with the album cover
― Brian Eno's Mother (Latham Green), Wednesday, 18 May 2016 23:29 (eight years ago) link
― Pictures of LiLiPUT (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 18 May 2016 23:30 (eight years ago) link
I think the song is really called "Little Sister," confusingly so, despite what IMDB says. Wonder if he and Doc Pomus ever discussed this? It is all coming back to me now. Malcolm McDowell was very proud of his performance in this.
― Pictures of LiLiPUT (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 18 May 2016 23:37 (eight years ago) link
given Lou's enthusiasm for binaural recording it's funny how shitty this album sounds (title track excepted)
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 26 May 2016 21:01 (eight years ago) link
Well he's also into expensive gimmicky high tech guitars and we know how those sound when he plays them.
― Son of Shaftway (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 26 May 2016 21:04 (eight years ago) link
yeah, it's weird -- most of it is live recordings w/ overdubs, right? then again, take no prisoners sounds great.
― tylerw, Thursday, 26 May 2016 21:04 (eight years ago) link
Throbbing Gristle were well into binaural recording about the same time, so, you know, we're not exactly talking Steely Dan here.
― Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Thursday, 26 May 2016 21:05 (eight years ago) link
super-sloppy performances aside (and there are several of them on this) it's just funny how he used this *revolutionary recording technology* to make a bunch of apparently random and poor production choices. like if the virtues of binaural recording is that it replicates the experience of the listener being in the room with the band, the album decidedly does *not* sound like that given how things are mixed, punched in and out, etc.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 26 May 2016 21:06 (eight years ago) link
this shit looks like it should be the cover of a peter gabriel album or somethinghttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Dummyhead.jpg
― tylerw, Thursday, 26 May 2016 21:06 (eight years ago) link
This was the Manfred Whatsisname Artifical Head Recording thingummabob? Curiously, "Flowmotion" by Can used it too.
― Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Thursday, 26 May 2016 21:09 (eight years ago) link
Manfred Schunke.
― Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Thursday, 26 May 2016 21:10 (eight years ago) link
but yeah, i'm sure if you asked lou for his top 5 favorite recordings, 4 of them would be one-mic doo wop songs. state of the art.
― tylerw, Thursday, 26 May 2016 21:15 (eight years ago) link
This record sounds amazing you MONSTERS
― chr1sb3singer, Thursday, 26 May 2016 21:21 (eight years ago) link
haha, i mean, i love this record, but it is kind of bizarrely produced
― tylerw, Thursday, 26 May 2016 21:23 (eight years ago) link
https://cinefilesreviews.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/listen-to-me-marlon-documentary-2015-digital-brando-movie-review.png
― Son of Shaftway (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 26 May 2016 21:36 (eight years ago) link
this one's more like a late 80s pink floyd bootleghttp://www.realhd-audio.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/binaural_head.jpg
― tylerw, Thursday, 26 May 2016 21:38 (eight years ago) link
"Little Sister" is fabulous. I love Lou's solo.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 26 May 2016 21:39 (eight years ago) link
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, May 18, 2016 11:23 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, May 18, 2016 11:24 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Sounds fantastic you mean...
Captain Cloud (the Turtles' Howard Kaylan) and the Rainbow Telegraph, Max Wolfe's favorite band, arriving in an aging bus that is painted à la the Merry Pranksters' Further.Nada (Lori Eastside from Kid Creole and the Coconuts) and her 15-member band, an amalgam of many disparate styles of music that appeared on MTV in the early 1980s—part bubble-gum pop, part New Wave, part garage rock. They are joined by "Special Guest Star" Piggy (Lee Ving of the L.A. punk band Fear).King Blues, the King of the Blues (Bill Henderson), a spoof of Muddy Waters.Auden (Lou Reed), "metaphysical folk singer, event of the '70s, and antisocial recluse", a spoof of Bob Dylan. Auden, who initially complains of writer's block, is coaxed to appear thinking Max is close to death, but after blithely asking a taxi driver to take the "scenic route," he spends the majority of the movie on his cab ride, improvising lyrics for the song he intends to perform.Reggie Wanker (Malcolm McDowell), "20 years of rock and roll and still on top", a spoof of Mick Jagger; featuring his drummer Toad played by John Densmore of The Doors. Wanker is beset by a general malaise, unable to fully enjoy his lavish situation of easily available women and drugs.
― Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Thursday, 26 May 2016 21:50 (eight years ago) link
See for yourself:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrIRmMNi800
― Son of Shaftway (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 26 May 2016 22:01 (eight years ago) link
So I saw it years ago at the Walter Reade theater in Lincoln Center as part of what must have been a Malcolm McDowell retrospective. Malcolm was there (as was Jay Cocks) and did a Q&A. Hey look: http://www.malcolmtribute.freeiz.com/getcrazy.html
― Son of Shaftway (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 26 May 2016 23:54 (eight years ago) link
Was there some sort of rule, unwritten or not, that a certain subset of movies made each year, especially those destined to be Midnight Movies, had to cast Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov?
― Son of Shaftway (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 27 May 2016 00:06 (eight years ago) link
Hold on, Lou Reed AND Mary Woronov were in it?
― Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Friday, 27 May 2016 00:10 (eight years ago) link
http://artillerymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Lou-Reed_woronov1.jpg
― Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Friday, 27 May 2016 00:11 (eight years ago) link
Yup. No Gerard Malanga though, if that's what you're after.
― Son of Shaftway (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 27 May 2016 00:12 (eight years ago) link
Was hoping for Ondine or Taylor Mead at the very least.
― Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Friday, 27 May 2016 00:14 (eight years ago) link
Forgot to add caption to this:https://cinefilesreviews.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/listen-to-me-marlon-documentary-2015-digital-brando-movie-review.pngButch? Listen to me Butch
― Son of Shaftway (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 27 May 2016 12:46 (eight years ago) link
Lol this is a hot take
Best thing he ever did, parts of Raven excepted.― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, March 21, 2003 3:46 PM (13 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― rockpalast '82 (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 28 May 2016 16:46 (eight years ago) link
― tylerw, 26. maj 2016 22:15 (5 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
indeed: http://ultimateclassicrock.com/lou-reed-playlist/ (couldn't find original article with nice quotes)
that skeeter davis song is kinda the inspiration for who loves the sun, right?
― niels, Tuesday, 31 May 2016 13:20 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjy3rr7J_yQ
― Robert Gotopieces (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 16 December 2020 23:09 (three years ago) link
Earlier link seems broken, but whole thing is here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-w0z68nFzk
― Robert Gotopieces (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 16 December 2020 23:12 (three years ago) link
Maybe we should do a watch party/
― Robert Gotopieces (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 16 December 2020 23:13 (three years ago) link
It has a New Year's Eve theme so very timely.
― Robert Gotopieces (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 16 December 2020 23:21 (three years ago) link
https://makeminecriterion.wordpress.com/2016/01/04/get-crazy-allan-arkush-1983/
― Robert Gotopieces (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 16 December 2020 23:24 (three years ago) link
https://pleasekillme.com/lou-reed-allan-arkush/
― Robert Gotopieces (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 16 December 2020 23:27 (three years ago) link
Maybe I should start new thread or put on Rock rock rock rock Rock and roll high school
― Robert Gotopieces (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 16 December 2020 23:36 (three years ago) link
If only one of you watches it this year my posting here will not have been in vain.
― Robert Gotopieces (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 17 December 2020 01:17 (three years ago) link
It's got everything: hippies, punks, teen idols, Allen Garfield, Ed Begley, Jr., Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov. A lost Lou Reed song with Robert Quine on it, or so it seems!
― Robert Gotopieces (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 17 December 2020 01:42 (three years ago) link
Unless it's Lou soloing, either way.
― Robert Gotopieces (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 17 December 2020 01:45 (three years ago) link
uh hey James
Allan Arkush here- the Director of Get Crazy. I am happy to let you know that there will be a GET CRAZY BLU_RAY in early 2021. I am in the process of compiling the extras, since you are such a big fan, any thoughts? –aark✧✧✧@m✧✧.c✧✧
(from that Make Mine Criterion link, in the comments)
― howls of non-specificity (sleeve), Thursday, 17 December 2020 01:47 (three years ago) link
Ah, cool, thanks!
― Robert Gotopieces (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 17 December 2020 01:48 (three years ago) link
Just the Lou Reed scenes (albeit in shittier quality)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMEbY7vGRmE
― birdistheword, Friday, 18 December 2020 22:53 (three years ago) link
Also his scenes from Blue in the Face (which I can't recommend, but it has its moments, particularly Jim Jarmusch's bit on smoking)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xduERw9BSns
― birdistheword, Friday, 18 December 2020 22:54 (three years ago) link
Just looked at the personnel for Reggie’s band. Pretty interesting.
― Whamagideon Time (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 20 December 2020 19:42 (three years ago) link
Love how the absolutely dead mic on Lou’s vocals gives the feeling of him in some shitty dimly lit studio at 3am trying to get it together. Such a nighttime album.
― assert (MatthewK), Saturday, 4 September 2021 00:13 (three years ago) link