Bimble Says: The Lou Reed Memorial Velvet Underground and Solo Careers Poll RESULTS THREAD

hedda gabler

best song

Voted for "Church of Anthrax" and "Janitor of Lunacy", have always wanted to try an egg cream but not yet got round to it, learned the other day that the French pronounce "bagel" with a soft g i.e. "un badjel".

voted for "New York Telephone Conversation," really caught my ear in my novice skimming of Lou solo albums

Yeah I was gonna vote this, I always thought it was one of the best tracks on that album, but a few years ago I posted a remix of it on mediafire that got a takedown noticed which jeopardized my account and ever since then I haven't been able to listen to it.

bummed by this. are there any better Lou songs than Egg Cream/I Love You, Suzanne/Romeo Had Juliette? those are top 5 material surely.

plenty of beautiful Cale here. great job people!

Nico tracks are insane (not in a good way really)

results so far:

79 The Dream Syndicate Day of Niagara
78 Lou Reed The Gun
77 Lou Reed Families
76 Nico Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams
75 Lou Reed I Want to Boogie With You
74 Lou Reed I Wanna Be Black
74 John Cale Antarctica Starts Here
73 The Dream Syndicate Sun Blindness Music
73 Nico little sister
72 John Cale Darling, I Need You
71 John Cale The Soul Of Carmen Miranda
71 Lou Reed Set The Twilight Reeling
70 Lou Reed New Sensations
70 Lou Reed Caroline Says II
70 Lou Reed A Gift
69 John Cale Big Sky
69 Nico Roses in the Snow
69 Lou Reed The Bells
68 Lou Reed Wild Child
67 Lou Reed & John Cale Smalltown
66 Lou Reed The Last Shot
65 Nico It Has Not Taken Long
65 John Cale Afraid
64 John Cale Heartbreak Hotel
63 John Cale Pablo Picasso
62 John Cale Sylvia Said
62 The Primitives The Ostrich
62 John Cale Amsterdam
62 John Cale The Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles
61 Lou Reed & John Cale Hello It's Me
61 Lou Reed What's Good
60 Lou Reed Make Up
60 Lou Reed Women
59 Lou Reed Charley's Girl
58 Lou Reed & Metallica Brandenburg Gate
58 Lou Reed Nobody But You
57 Lou Reed Legendary Hearts
56 Lou Reed Hangin' Round
55 Lou Reed & John Cale Open House
55 Lou Reed Sad Song (Lou Reed)
54 Mo Tucker Hey Mersh!
53 Lou Reed Underneath the Bottle
52 Brian Eno & John Cale Spinning Away
51 John Cale Perfect
50 Lou Reed My House
50 Nico Evening of Light
49 John Cale Graham Greene
48 Lou Reed The Kids
47 Lou Reed & Metallica Junior Dad
47 John Cale Mr. Wilson
46 Lou Reed the bed
46 John Cale Cordoba
45 Lou Reed Dirty Blvd.
44 Lou Reed Men of Good Fortune
43 John Cale Thoughtless Kind
42 John Cale Guts
41 John Cale Big White Cloud
40 Lou Reed Egg Cream
39 Lou Reed She's My Best Friend (Lou Reed)
38 Lou Reed New York Telephone Conversation
38 Nico It Was A Pleasure Then
37 Lou Reed Crazy Feeling
36 Nico Janitor of Lunacy
35 John Cale gideon's bible
34 John Cale The Endless Plain of Fortune
33 Lou Reed Halloween Parade
32 John Cale & Terry Riley Church of Anthrax
31 Lou Reed I Love You, Suzanne
30 Lou Reed Romeo Had Juliette

gah got a couple of the artist tags wrong there, sorry

are there any better Lou songs than Egg Cream/I Love You, Suzanne/Romeo Had Juliette? those are top 5 material surely.

there are like a dozen Lou songs that are better than any of those imo

Yeah, but his dancing in the "Suzanne" video more than makes up for any shortcomings of the song.

xp without the Velvets?

are there any better Lou songs than Egg Cream/I Love You, Suzanne/Romeo Had Juliette? those are top 5 material surely.

there are like a dozen Lou songs that are better than any of those imo

― sleeve,

In the Velvets catalog yes.

Seeing the results so far confirms what I wrote in my obit last month: I'd rather hear his throwaways than his grand statements.

I think Lou, like Neil Young, would consider them all of a piece

In the Velvets catalog yes.

every single song on Transformer is imo vastly superior to those three dubious nominations for "best Lou songs" (which have placed exactly where they deserve to be in this poll).

okay, time for some more

29. John Cale "Leaving It Up to You"
7 votes, 1 no. 1 vote, 191 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhmoMyf8xwE

28. Lou Reed "Kicks"
7 votes, 195 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcBc-P5Hiz0

27. Nico "The Fairest of the Seasons"
8 votes, 199 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzGt9CZplyE

26. John Cale "Dying on the Vine"
6 votes, 203 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeFYJdW3xDg

25. John Cale "Ship of Fools"
8 votes, 220 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGPC-ZKrrtY

john cale really wins my award for widest emotional range

"Ship of Fools" and "Dying on the Vine" both classic Cale ballads (iirc), didn't quite make my ballot though (iirc).

The '85 Rockplast version of "Ding on the Vine" is what made me reconsider this tune and its inert studio arrangement.

"ship of fools" is a song i fall more in love with every time i hear it

every single song on Transformer is imo vastly superior to those three dubious nominations for "best Lou songs" (which have placed exactly where they deserve to be in this poll).

if you mean "the four Transformer songs that aren't laughable I'M GAY camp," sure.

ah wasn't sure if I was posting the right live version of Dying on the Vine, I remembered that there was some live version that the ILX massive had termed the definitive performance :(

xp dunno, isn't "I Love You Suzanne" laughable I'M STRAIGHT camp?

lol tyler OTM

24. John Cale "Andalucia"
8 votes, 234 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7iLFuapeY8

fragments version of dying on the vine also good

ah wasn't sure if I was posting the right live version of Dying on the Vine, I remembered that there was some live version that the ILX massive had termed the definitive performance :(

― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, November 20, 2013 2:14 PM

i love this song so much that it makes my heart feel warm
so pretty

one thing i like about john cale is that he's so alternatingly ice cold and super romantic

xp dunno, isn't "I Love You Suzanne" laughable I'M STRAIGHT camp?

― tylerw,

closer to laughable let's-write-a-dumb-pop-song camp

Is the Marc Maron interview with Cale on his podcast as cringe-inducing as it sounds? I picture him saying, "So. John Cale, who were your guys when you were coming up?"

Fragments... is one of those albums I can play anytime any place.

"Andalucia" is ace (my #4); love love love the bass playing on it. wanting to be somewhere else, hoping the night will go away, turning a place into a person: the whole album's Baedeker-as-songwriting thing makes the most sense here.

23. John Cale "I Keep a Close Watch"
10 votes, 243 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM1t7cDoX1w

22. Lou Reed "The Blue Mask"
10 votes, 244 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCXA7RRoD0M

21. Nico "Chelsea Girls"
11 votes, 247 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad4O-pFehRs

dig Nico a lot but I'm surprised to see so much from the debut album. esp Chelsea Girls: the arrangement is...something. I guess I like it, but it's not Nico.

yr gonna love the next entry then lol

20. Nico "I'm Not Sayin'"
7 votes, 261 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgdZFnZ6M0k

Jimmy Page on guitar, produced by Brian Jones, written by Gordon Lightfoot

the arrangement is...something. I guess I like it, but it's not Nico.

She didn't see to think so, either:

I still cannot listen to it, because everything I wanted for that record, they took it away. I asked for drums, they said no. I asked for more guitars, they said no. And I asked for simplicity, and they covered it in flutes! [...] They added strings and – I didn't like them, but I could live with them. But the flute! The first time I heard the album, I cried and it was all because of the flute.[4]

that's it for today

part of me is glad a flute made Nico cry sadnazi.jpg

but man, I'm Not Sayin', what a tune. superior to Lightfoot's version imho, just gorgeous folk pop from start to finish. Oddly, the (reunited) "Replacements" recently covered it too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xwfTGxg_KE

Yeah Chelsea Girl less for the production and more for the song itself and her delivery is great

Check out Elliott Smith cover version if you can as well.

I better not find out I coulda voted in the VU poll but not the solo careers one, that's all.

In case you didn't get it before, here's that Lou Reed 1979 guest DJ show. If it was a track I would've voted for it. http://ow.ly/r1qh4
bonus track here -- http://ow.ly/r1vOI

I better not find out I coulda voted in the VU poll but not the solo careers one, that's all.

you coulda made an all Velvets ballot if you wanted so joke's on you pal

ooh bonus call-ins!

"Lou, I just want to say that I really like the sound of the Roland synthesizer and I'm looking forward to the show at the Bottom Line."