Forums >Off the Beaten Path>Talks to me about Lou Reed
I've got a fever...
First off, RIP Lou.
Lou Reed (and the Velvet Underground for that matter) is one of those artists who I've always been aware of as being Hugely Influential and Important. And yet, despite being a fan of "old" music, I seem to have a blind spot for him and the Underground. I have thousands of tracks in my music library, and yet only one Lou Reed song (the very excellent "Perfect Day" off the Trainspotting soundtrack). I haven't been purposefully avoiding him; I was just never turned on to him at the right time, and instead listen to a lot of the bands he influenced.
But now it's time to go to the source. So help me out here on where to start with Reed and the Velvet Underground. What tracks/albums are a good starting points for seeing what he was all about?
On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office. But you will wish that you'd spent more time running. Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.
No Talent Drips
Loaded
Dei Gratia
will run for popsicles
i love the "New York" solo album. Great storytelling.
The self-titled album "Velvet Underground" is fantastic, I would start here. Nice tidy album with everything there is to love about Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground. The song Pale Blue Eyes in particular really resonates...achingly beautiful. The album Loaded has some great songs...Who Loves The Sun, Sweet Jane, Lonesome Cowboy Bill. I'm more familiar with The Velvet Underground but honestly, I don't think you can go wrong with anything by Lou Reed and/or The Velvet Underground.
some call me Tim
Great starting point. The self-titled VU album is excellent and although inconsistent at best The Velvet Underground and Nico sports some visceral essential tracks like Venus in Furs, I'm Waiting For the Man and Heroin. And I haven't listened to half the solo stuff, but Transformer is also a great record.
ME WEBLARG
Proboscis Colossus
Thanks for starting this thread, jEfF...I'm in exactly the same boat.
"God guides us on our journey, but careful with those feet." - David Lee Roth, of all people
Rock and Roll Animal. Killer two-guitar attack and my favorite version of Sweet Jane.
Yes indeed. Great storytelling, at times profound, and at times uproariously funny too. This is Lou Reed at his absolute best.
Haven't really listened to much in a long time, and am in no way an authority on his catalog, but some thoughts anyway. This one may not come up on many lists, but I have good memories of New Sensations, because I bought it when it came out (1984), only afterwards discovering the older stuff. I personally think The Velvet Underground and Nico is a bit overrated, only because it's on a lot of greatest albums of all time lists, and I wouldn't put it there. I might go with Transformer, which has one of my favorite songs Satellite of Love.
Dave
+1 NY is really a great album. maybe not the as "classic" as the early stuff, but easily my favorite, the most accessible and just great music.
I do think VU + Nico is a great record. "Heroin" makes you feel like you've actually done the stuff. "There She Goes Again" also great.
I do agree with DaveP on "Satellite of Love", and would also download "Coney Island Baby", probably my favorite classic Lou song.
Whatever you do, ignore his latest, Lulu (w Metallica). but hey, props for pushing the boundries.
I'll jump in on this one. Love Lou Reed's music. Critics can go on and on about his early music and the importance of VU, but I think he hit his peak in the late 80's early 90's. New York, Songs for Drella, Magic and Loss, what a string of albums. Magic and Loss might be the best, but its tough to listen to.
For fun, the one I keep on my play list is New Sensation.
If you want a good read on Lou, Neil Gaiman had a wonderful obit.
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/28/neil-gaiman-lou-reed-sandman
He also had a really good interview with Lou a few years back.
http://neilgaiman.com/p/Cool_Stuff/Interviews/Waiting_for_the_Man_-_Lou_Reed
Magic and Loss might be the best, but its tough to listen to.
Yes, this too ^^^^
I want all of it. Not just some of it. All of it. All of it, all of it, all of it.....
Puker
The best starting point is just to pop in his very first album, The Velvet Underground and Nico, listen to it from beginning to end and remember that it was released in 1967. You'll realize for yourself how many bands owe so much of their sound to VU after listening to that album.
Feel sick and dirty, more dead than alive.
Good Bad & The Monkey
What a beautiful fall! Everything shimmering and golden and all that incredible soft light. Water surrounding us.
Lou and I have spent a lot of time here in the past few years, and even though we’re city people this is our spiritual home.
Last week I promised Lou to get him out of the hospital and come home to Springs. And we made it!
Lou was a tai chi master and spent his last days here being happy and dazzled by the beauty and power and softness of nature. He died on Sunday morning looking at the trees and doing the famous 21 form of tai chi with just his musician hands moving through the air.
Lou was a prince and a fighter and I know his songs of the pain and beauty in the world will fill many people with the incredible joy he felt for life. Long live the beauty that comes down and through and onto all of us.
—Laurie Anderson
his loving wife and eternal friend
from here - http://consequenceofsound.net/2013/10/lou-reeds-obituary-written-by-his-wife-laurie-anderson/
I'm running somewhere tomorrow. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait.
Poor baby
Thanks for that. He was so influential to me as a musician. Spending time with his music this week was a gift in itself and reading of that kind of love right up to the end is so inspiring. I couldn't possibly be alone in saying I want that for *my* life. Honestly, what more could you possibly want?