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Theme - Narrative
What's Good: A Lou Reed Sampler
| Artist | Song | |
| Lou Reed | Dirty Blvd. | |
| Lou Reed | Walk on the Wild Side | |
| Lou Reed | White Light/White Heat (live) | |
| Lou Reed | Caroline Says - I | |
| Lou Reed | Nowhere at All | |
| Lou Reed | What's Good | |
| Lou Reed | The Blue Mask | |
| Lou Reed | Sally Can't Dance | |
| Lou Reed | Vicious | |
| Lou Reed | Romeo Had Juliette | |
| Lou Reed | Coney Island Baby | |
| Lou Reed | The Last Shot | |
| Lou Reed | How Do You Think It Feels | |
| Lou Reed | Kill Your Sons | |
| Lou Reed | Legendary Hearts | |
| Lou Reed | Hold On | |
| Lou Reed | Sweet Jane (live) | |
| Lou Reed | Caroline Says - II | |
| Lou Reed | Hangin' Round | |
| Lou Reed | I Can't Stand It | |
| Lou Reed | Rock And Roll Heart | |
Comment:
Rare indeed is the individual who walks away from an incredible band and maintains the same level of quality as a solo artist. Maybe Peter Gabriel's first few albums after leaving Genesis; Pete Townshend, I suppose (though his best solo work came before the Who disbanded), a couple others. More typical is, say, Paul McCartney (or Paul Westerberg), never quite recapturing past glories. Lou Reed is definitely in the latter camp. Hell, with all due respect, his past 30 years have seen far more crap than worthy material. I'd say he's got 3 essential solo albums -- New York (dated but his most straightforward and politically pointed album), Transformer (kitschy but enduringly fun), and Berlin (which is powerful but way too overbearing to listen to with much frequency). Beyond that, he's got a handful of truly amazing songs, but few meriting purchases beyond the greatest hits collections. Unfortunately, that means I had to omit a few worthy tracks because I don't own the discs (i.e. "Charlie's Girl," "The Power of Positive Drinking"). Still, he's lived up to the legend of the Velvet Underground on a few tracks, which alone make this more than worthwhile ("The Blue Mask," "Vicious," "Dirty Blvd.," and of course "Walk on the Wild Side").
Feedback:
Quite superb, Marc. I would agree with you on just about everything you say. New York is my favourite solo Lou album.
Vicious... You hit me with a flower... You do it every hour... Oh, Baby, you're so vicious! (I've always been more of a Transformer man myself.) When I see you walking down the street I step on your hand and I mangle your feet, You're not the kinda person that I'd even want to meet... COS YOU'RE SO VICIOUS!!!
I couldn't love New York more. Good job.
Coney Island Baby and Romeo Had Juliette are both great, great songs. And Dirty Blvd. is one of my very favorites. Great compilation.
tasty tasty tasty. i'm with you 100 percent, one of my favorites. been listening to "live: take no prisoners" a hella lot lately.
I'd say that he has *no* essential solo albums, although you've included most of the highlights of his solo career are included here. I'd argue that Paul McCartney (who you slag in your notes) had a *much* more worthy solo career, at least through the 70's.
I dunno, Rob. Like you, I think Macca is hugely underrated -- but that conclusion is based on a very small percentage of his post-Beatles output. I think Ram, London Town, and the bulk of Venus & Mars and Band On The Run were pretty solid (and, admittedly, have received a lot more airtime in my home than any of Lou's solo work). But his past 2 decades have been pretty terrible. And even setting that aside -- it's a pretty rare artist who can stay relevant for more than 2 decades -- it's hard to deny that Wild Life and Speed Of Sound were a sad blight on the Beatles legacy.
What Marc just said. I think Lou has many solid solo albums, despite the fact that I rarely listen to them over VU - that might just mean that all my Lou is on vinyl, and I listen to music mostly in the car. I still really like: Legendary Hearts, New Sensations, Growing up in Public (- I love this release), Transformer, the Blue Mask, New York, and parts of Take no Prisoners. He became a bit of a parody of himself, and at his worst, just boring. My problem with McCartney is the GIGANTIC amount of pap he's produced in the past 20+ years. This IS Mr. "Say Say Say", after all. That almost single-handedly destroys "Yesterday".
I think Wild Life is one of his best albums, actually, along with McCartney II. I'm not so much a fan of Venus & Mars, though. No denying the pretty terrible nature of everything since about half of Tug of War (although Flaming Pie is pretty decent). My favorite Lou albums are Legendary Hearts, Coney Island Baby and The Blue Mask... I can't think of much else by him that I'd ever want to hear again, although, as I said, many individual highlights are represented here.