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

I must politely disagree there. John Cale had a strong 80s. Music For a New Society is one of the true loony bin albums ever made. Honi Soit has some really strong material on it especially Dead Or Alive. And Caribbean Sunset has Hungry For Love, which should have been a hit.

The three or four MFANS songs I'd save he recreated on Fragments; and I need "Dying on the Vine" live, not in its embalmed studio version.

john cale's live stuff in the 80s is great, the studio albums terrible

this is really good
http://www.allmusic.com/album/live-at-rockpalast-mw0002013704

gonna throw in another recommendation for Cale's Sabotage at this point, particularly the 13-minute 'Captain Kidd.'

sabotage is really a trip. also worth seeking out is the even cowgirls get the blues release from around the same time. terrible sound quality, amazing performances.

& yeah iatee otm -- that rockapalast collection is killer. i really like john cale!

I wasn't anywhere close to voting for it on a 20-song ballot, but I did like this Cale song from a couple of years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRU1oAfGEU0

yeah, i thought nookie wood had some very good stuff on it... i do need to go back and really listen to cale's stuff from the last decade and a half.
here's something from his eat/kiss soundtracking that i always loved -- if yr a fan of the gift, the jeweler etc, it's a must
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHyzNJGwWWQ

I regret not voting for his instrumental tune on the I Shot Andy Warhol soundtrack.

wall to wall smiles
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/500/25025919/Lou+Reed++John+Cale+Lou+John+and+Andy.jpg

okaaay top 5...

5. Lou Reed "Street Hassle"
22 votes, 663 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2532gJcCsA

so the Velvets rollout is next week? I really appreciate you breaking the results apart, Shakey.

well, it'll start next week. dunno if I'll finish it before the holiday

just checking out things I hadn't heard before and Church of Anthrax was not what I expected.

thought it would just be a drone + some screechy bits tbh,

This is great.

(Not saying drone + screech would be bad, place in my heart for that too)

yeah i think Cale specifically said that he wanted to put riley in a poppier element. not that it's a pop album by any stretch...

I'm still curious about who Adam Miller was and how he wound up singing on that album. Return to Church of Anthrax (please make this happen, someone) would sound pretty cool even 40+ years later.

4. Lou Reed "Coney Island Baby"
20 votes, 2 no. 1 votes, 678 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwLlvcDi4PQ

this poll has convinced me that I need copies of CIB, The Bells, and Take No Prisoners.

I have a Lou Reed 5CD set, starts w/ 1st, Transformer, and Berlin, plus 2 others..

another win for slow jams

Just listened to CIB on the train today. I think I like the alt take of the title song more than the master take.

I agree the demo/alt version is pretty interesting - it has an inviting, shambolic quality. but the rhythm section doesn't stay together, and it doesn't quite reach gliding beauty of the official version. imho.

the end of Coney Island Baby always gets me. What a great way to finish an album.

and the live versions out there (I found one w Quine) seem to go for bombast, which feels like the wrong direction to take the song

xp

the alt take of 'she's my best friend' otoh is almost too bad to be lol

yeah those demos are so weird, they have such a completely different, more aggressive vibe! much closer to the stuff on Street Hassle with the ugly distortion and weird rhythms. Except for Downtown Dirt, which is so much more subdued than the album version. It makes Lou seem like he must have been really difficult in the studio, just really temperamental, changing his mind all the time etc.

the coney island baby demo is the one where lou is like "come onnnnnnnn, manna" at the beginning right? always makes me laugh.

3. John Cale "Paris 1919"
19 votes, 702 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5YHqWqhFkU

Paris 1919 was my #5. What a song! you're a ghost la la la la la la la

"Street Hassle" was #2 on my ballot, and it still feels too low. The Chicago '78 version is just ferocious:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skTVzt1LyQ8

this will be a rather solid top 5 if Fear beats out SOL. SOL is great and all but not really a good number one.

I am still skeptical fear made it to the top 2 but I really can't think of anything else

agree agree agree

not yet in the ground

also someone needs to do this with the beatles solo careers

that's not a bad idea. I bet Macca would dominate tbh

Fear has to be in this poll somewhere, and if it hasn't made it yet, then I guess it's top 2.

i sang it 3x on my way to work today! it has to show up.

2. Lou Reed "My Name is Mok"
30 votes, 12 no. 1 votes, 1,250 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJa0Zv5gHSU

Angus Maclise may surprise you all yet

my #1!!! xp

lol shakey

clearly inferior to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMxyIs8MkmU

j/k

the REAL no. 2 is

2. John Cale "Fear is a Man's Best Friend"
21 votes, 720 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iAAe_7_HOw

yay

i think this is the first cale solo song i ever heard. it remains amazing.

pretty amazed that beat 'perfect day' among other things

This is kind of surprising. I was sure Street Hassle was going to be first by a Gimme Shelter-esque landslide.

1. Lou Reed "Satellite of Love"
27 votes, 1 no. 1 vote, 785 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXESfMD01h8

haha, weird... that is not the song i would've though would be at #1!