TS John Lennon vs. Lou Reed: Who Is The Better Rhythm Guitar Player?

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but lou reed's infamously crap at guitar. whatever's good on the records is sterling

Rarely have I read such piffle in my life:

Ostrich guitar on "The Velvet Underground and Nico" = LOU
Lead guitar on "The Gift" = LOU
Lead guitar on "I Heard Her Call My Name" = LOU
All of the really weird and imaginative guitar playing on "Sister Ray" = LOU
Lead rhythm guitar on "What Goes On" (Live 1969 version) = LOU (tho Sterl's there as well)
Lead rhythm guitar on "We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together" (Live 1969 version) = LOU
Rhythm guitar on "Foggy Notion" = LOU

... etc etc etc

― Oh No, It's Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 10:29 (eighteen years ago) link

Lead rhythm guitar on "What Goes On" (Live 1969 version) = LOU
Rhythm guitar on "Foggy Notion" = LOU

So. That settles it then, right?

Is there a TS: Mo Tucker vs. Ringo thread?

― A|ex P@reene (Pareene), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 18:21 (eighteen years ago) link

I don't think so, but it doesn't sound like a bad idea to me.

― k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 18:26 (eighteen years ago) link

Has it ever been verified somewhere that it is Lou who plays the lead on "I Heard Her Call My Name?" People always say that it is, but then I seem to recall that Sterling did the solo when they did it live in that reunion tour video.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 18:31 (eighteen years ago) link

Has it ever been verified somewhere that it is Lou who plays the lead on "I Heard Her Call My Name?"

That is absolutely 100% Lou Reed - nobody else can play the guitar simultaneously that badly and that brilliantly. Everybody else was well pissed off with Lou on that for track for sneaking back into the studio and mixing the lead guitar 10 times louder than everything else on the track - which I don't see Lou doing if it was Sterling Morrison on lead guitar, do you? Sterl's lead work is very distinctive also of course - see "Foggy Notion"!

― Oh No, It's Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 18:45 (eighteen years ago) link

It is Lou on IHHCMN. Sterling's tone is so much cleaner.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 18:46 (eighteen years ago) link

And, of course, by the time of the reunion tour Lou couldn't or wouldn't get it together to play it properly.

― k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 18:50 (eighteen years ago) link

Sterling used fuzzboxes, too, Alfred.

I remember something about Lou mixing the guitars way high, but I didn't know it was specifically to do with that track.

x-post: Lou played solos on the reunion tour. That's him on "Hey Mr. Rain."

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 18:51 (eighteen years ago) link

Here is what happened when I discussed "I Heard Her Call My Name" with Mr. Alex Chilton

― k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 18:54 (eighteen years ago) link

By the way, Sterling Morrison was great rhythm guitar player too (two in one band!) - listen particularly to "The Gift" (positively funky!) and the Live 1969 "What Goes On" (Sterl's is the lighter spikier guitar)

― Oh No, It's Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 18:57 (eighteen years ago) link

It would be cool to know for sure who played which parts on those records.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 19:05 (eighteen years ago) link

I think they both had different styles but also the tone of the guitar is different - e.g., on "Live 1969", Lou has a heavier blundering sound - plus Sterl's rhythm playing is very precise and sharp in comparison to Lou's thrashing around. Sterling's soloing is distinctive, it's all over "Loaded". Tho "Loaded" is problematic because Doug Yule's playing guitar on it too.

― Oh No, It's Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 19:15 (eighteen years ago) link

At first I thought you meant problematic because you had a beef with Doug Yule playing guitar, but now I think you mean it's problematic to know who played what.

― k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 20:03 (eighteen years ago) link

seven months pass...

I'd have to say John Wicks (from UK bands The Records and Kursaal Flyers) is a better rythm guitarist than John Lennon or Lou Reed. English guys seem to have an inherited feel for rythm.

― David Duran, Friday, 2 June 2006 00:37 (seventeen years ago) link

"English people got natural rhythm" is one I haven't heard before.

― Keywords: revenge, knife, granddaughter, demonic-possession, rock-star, eel (Aus, Friday, 2 June 2006 00:42 (seventeen years ago) link

Gotta go with Lou, though it pains me to pick one, based alot on a famous bootleg of What Goes On from a live show where it's Lou's guitar only for some reason, boot called something like Guitar Tape...I downloaded it free once from a VU site, it is MINDBLOWING, never heard anything remotely like it

― douglas eklund (skolle), Friday, 2 June 2006 01:00 (seventeen years ago) link

four years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGC3p5ASZus&feature=related

― Bali Eiffel Tower Hai (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 August 2010 03:38 (thirteen years ago) link

three years pass...

Sugar plum fairy, sugar plum fairy

― The Cantor Dust Brothers (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 25 December 2013 22:01 (ten years ago) link

Your Alex Chilton link doesn't work anymore

― curmudgeon, Thursday, 26 December 2013 21:43 (ten years ago) link

Really? Hold on.

― Can One Hear the Shape of a Ron Decline Bottle? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 26 December 2013 21:58 (ten years ago) link

Here is what happened when I discussed "I Heard Her Call My Name" with Mr. Alex Chilton

― Can One Hear the Shape of a Ron Decline Bottle? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 26 December 2013 22:06 (ten years ago) link

I'd have to say John Wicks (from UK bands The Records and Kursaal Flyers) is a better rythm guitarist than John Lennon or Lou Reed. English guys seem to have an inherited feel for rythm.
― David Duran, Thursday, June 1, 2006 8:37 PM (7 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"English people got natural rhythm" is one I haven't heard before.
― Keywords: revenge, knife, granddaughter, demonic-possession, rock-star, eel (Aus, Thursday, June 1, 2006 8:42 PM (7 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is a friggin hilarious exchange.

― Prince Kajuku (Bill Magill), Friday, 27 December 2013 03:21 (ten years ago) link

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