Lord Emsworth
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Post by Lord Emsworth on May 12, 2020 14:16:26 GMT
Lou Reed - Coney Island Baby (1976) Coney Island Baby is another Lou Reed career highlight. Pared back arrangements, a warm and laid back vibe, all aligned to some really great songs, is a winning combination.
In many ways it harks back to the mood of Loaded by The Velvet Underground which, as you probably know, is a very good thing.
Lou being Lou many of the songs deal with life’s darker side but that comes with the territory.
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Lord Emsworth
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Post by Lord Emsworth on May 13, 2020 9:48:07 GMT
Lou Reed - Rock and Roll Heart (1976) Rock and Roll Heart was Lou Reed's first album for his new label Arista Records and he is on his best behaviour. For the most part it’s Lou on autopilot. Polite, poppy and well mannered songs that leave little impression, even after a few listens. That said, there are a few more memorable tunes where Lou’s talent shines through…. I Believe In Love You Wear It So Well Banging On My Drum Temporary Thing Temporary Thing, the final track, hints at what was just around the corner with the next album, the more satisfying Street Hassle (1978) - more on that gem very soon
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Albert Riddle
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Post by Albert Riddle on May 13, 2020 17:51:45 GMT
Having really enjoyed working my way through Bowie's discography I'm gonna do exactly the same thing with Lou Reed's solo albums Any other Lou fans in the house? OHHHHH YES YOUR LORDSHIP I Love Lou Reed ive got quite a bit of his stuff myself 👍
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Lord Emsworth
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Post by Lord Emsworth on May 13, 2020 19:48:41 GMT
Having really enjoyed working my way through Bowie's discography I'm gonna do exactly the same thing with Lou Reed's solo albums Any other Lou fans in the house? OHHHHH YES YOUR LORDSHIP I Love Lou Reed ive got quite a bit of his stuff myself 👍 Do chip in Albert - the more the merrier
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Lord Emsworth
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Post by Lord Emsworth on May 13, 2020 19:53:40 GMT
Lou Reed - Street Hassle (1978) After the anodyne and unremarkable Rock and Roll Heart came the scuzzy, ragged, raw, and very pleasing Street Hassle, which felt very contemporary in the punk era. The title track is one of the best things Lou ever did. The highlights... Gimmie Some Good Times Dirt Real Good Time Together Waitand, of course, the epic Street Hassle itself I Wanna Be Black, by contrast, has aged very badly Overall, a real favourite
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Albert Riddle
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Post by Albert Riddle on May 14, 2020 6:58:46 GMT
Your lordship One of my favourite Lou Reed songs is straw man off of the New York album 1986 ish
I love the grittyness of this track if that’s a word 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Also I love New sensations Album from the 80s
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Lord Emsworth
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Post by Lord Emsworth on May 14, 2020 8:24:40 GMT
Lou Reed - Live: Take No Prisoners (1978) Say what you like about Lou Reed, he is never afraid to mess around with the arrangements of his back catalogue. This means that the plethora of live albums are usually interesting. In contrast to the “metalled up” versions of old Velvets favourites on Rock N Roll Animal/Lou Reed Live, here we have Cabaret Lounge Lou. And, if you’re in the mood, it’s fascinating and fun. Lou is also channelling his inner Lenny Bruce, although even the most avid fan would agree, he’s not very funny. Although the songs meander all over the place, and many extended in 10 or even 15 minute jams, complete with banter before and during, the backing band are really together. All of which exerts a strange fascination for those that love the music. It’s not an album I play very often but sometimes it really does hit the spot. Fun trivia: The illustrations on the cover were officially credited to Brent Bailer but Spanish illustrator Nazario won a legal battle in 2000 which established that the original drawing had been done by him for the cover of a magazine in the 1970s. RCA was forced to pay Nazario 4 million pesetas (c24,000 euros/$27,000). Nazario said that if Lou Reed had ever asked him for permission to use his drawing, he would probably have given it for free.
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Villain
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Post by Villain on May 14, 2020 11:55:14 GMT
As a die hard Velvets fan I love a lot of Lou's solo stuff, especially 'Transformer' but I think his best individual piece of work is 'Rock & Roll' from the Velvet's album 'Loaded' in 1970. He said himself several times that it was the perfect 'radio song' (along with 'Sweet Jane') but the record company put very little effort into promoting it. The way it moves along with the slightly awkward timing on the rhythm guitar is fantastic, it's one of the first things I ever learnt on the guitar many years ago, it took a while to work it out because of the timing but it's a very satisfying part of the record for me. The riff for 'Sweet Jane' is much easier to play, it's one of those licks that make you want to pick up the guitar in the first place and learn to play it. 'Perfect Day' was ruined by that god awful 'super celeb' cover years ago but Lou's version is nigh on perfect.... Villain
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Lord Emsworth
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Post by Lord Emsworth on May 14, 2020 15:07:54 GMT
A fellow Velvets devotee here Villain - and, yep, Rock n Roll, what a song
Have you heard The Complete Matrix Tapes?
It's the complete recordings which produced Live 69
Just wonderful in this new version - about as cleaned up as it could be
What a group. What a collection.
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Lord Emsworth
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Post by Lord Emsworth on May 16, 2020 6:50:25 GMT
Lou Reed - The Bells (1979) Another in Lou’s familiar good album-bad album 70s sequence. Street Hassle was a good album. This, the follow up, was a bad album. The Bells is very incoherent, opening with a misjudged disco song, it then maintains its confusing and incoherent trajectory until the final three songs. The production is very muddy and many of the tracks are made even more disagreeable by the inclusion of honking sax which aims at a misjudged jazz-rock fusion. Weirdly some people seem to really love this LP. I wish I could hear that they’re hearing. That said, even Lou’s “bad” albums usually have a few tracks that redeem them and, in this instance it’s the final three tracks: All Through the Night, Families, and title track The Bells. These three went straight onto my Lou Reed Definitive playlist
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