In Praise Of...Lou Reed "Take No Prisoners"

Maybe it's just me but I always hated this backing group, sounds like a Top 40 cover band with delusions of grandeur and blaringly bad arrangements, like Lou was taking pointers from the E Street Band or more likely just being arrongant and lazy. As a comedy album it's okay but I can't imagine listening to it more than once or twice. Not terrible, just sorta mediocre (like Growing Up In Public) and when it comes to Lou Reed I'll take the perversely fascinating failures like Berlin or The Bells (every couple years or so).

The others I own: Metal Machine Music and the one with Vicious and Wildside and that.

my main problem with the last few Reed albums is his voice. he warbles too much; wish he'd go back to the flat, even toned sopkenness of New York.

and the pretension is hard to take. here's my interpretation of Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson (they're a couple as I presume you know) at home on a Saturday afternoon.

Lou: You're a genius
Laurie: No, you're genius
Lou: No baby, you're the genius
Laurie: No, YOU'RE a genius....

...on and on until infinity.

But it's not Lou, it's ACTORS! Steve Buscemi, et. al. So bad.

Anyway, back to Take No Prisoners...has a great version of Street Hassle.

Saw him live a year or two ago w/Antony & Johnsons opening. I found it all rather underwhelming.

Well I'm not up on these things enough to be able to name names but I do recall Fernando, and a lady violinist, and this karate expert guy doing these karate moves while the band played. The Fernando singing wasn't so great, either. I agree. It was just weird. The whole thing seemed designed to take the focus off of Lou and put it on other people. I don't think Lou was in a very good mood, either.

Heh. is Lou ever?

Anyone heard the "Tiger In My Tank" song?

I wanna be black.

There isn't much in the world that can happen to me in life where the version of "Waiting For My Man" from this album won't pull me out of the blues. I remember hearing that at 3AM in the dark on the radio when I was a teenager and I played it on my iPod just now as I walked outside. That shit has magical properties for me. It heals me on levels I can't explain. It is the ultimate go-to record for me when I'm down, only I don't tend to think of it as anywhere near the first thing to play in those moods. For those who haven't heard it, this is about 6 billion miles from the Velvet Underground version, we're not in Kansas anymore.

A recent girlfriend of mine pointed out to me that he & Laurie Anderson finally tied the knot in April.

Love Xgau's review:

Lou Reed Live: Take No Prisoners [Arista, 1978]
Partly because your humble servant is attacked by name (along with John Rockwell) on what is essentially a comedy record, a few colleagues have rushed in with Don Rickles analogies, but that's not fair. Lenny Bruce is the obvious influence. Me, I don't play my greatest comedy albums, not even the real Lenny Bruce ones, as much as I do Rock n Roll Animal. I've heard Lou do two very different concerts during his Arista period that I'd love to check out again--Palladium November '76 and Bottom Line May '77. I'm sorry this isn't either. And I thank Lou for pronouncing my name right. C+

Haha, OMG that's weak.

I've got just about all the Reed albums up 'til the mid 80s, and this is one of his worst. Excruciating. So was it the drugs that stopped his ability to sing? He did a bit on Coney Island, and then that was about it.

lou reed is such a dick

bahahaha

And I thank Lou for pronouncing my name right

This always confuses me: Doesn't Lou pronounce it "Crist-ow"? It's always sounded that way to me. But a coupla years ago Xgau did an open-question Q&A, and when I asked him if the "g" was silent, he said "no". Weird.

Bimble's right about this album. Probably my favorite versions of "Satellite of Love" and "Berlin." I did always think that Xgau/pronunciation line was a good one, though.

This record is totally dope and the band on it are awesome and tbh this and Metal Machine Music and the VU albums are all the Lou Reed I've ever needed.

lou reedchristgau is such a dick

responsible for the chuck eddys and the frank kogans of our time, r.i.p.

B-++

That's the second review I know of where he applauds an artist for pronouncing his name right (the other is for Sonic Youth's Kill Yr Idols). I wonder how many albums there are where his name is pronounced wrong. Hundreds? Two? None?

Listen to what he says about Xgau on "Walk On The Wild Side". That is classic.

XG's review, didn't it also say "Can you sue for being called a toe-fucker?" ?

HAHAHAAH I was trying to figure that out! I was like "what did he say? TOE-FUCKER? am I just drunk?" LOL

No, look, I just have to say...there are times when it's only Lou Reed that holds my soul together. Him, and ONLY him.

Maybe my favourite non-sequitur: "You ever put a quarter in those machines, man?
You know, like the bear that plays basketball?"

HAHAHAAH I was trying to figure that out! I was like "what did he say? TOE-FUCKER? am I just drunk?" LOL

No, Lou's drunk, not you

this is hilarious

man this is funny. I feel kinda sorry for his band but hey they were getting paid

I want to talk to that fcuking Reed man why did he throw a cup at his roadie

fuck radio ethiopia, this is radio brooklyn

nah, this is a different, earlier WPIX broadcast. he plays sandy denny, of all thing!

alt version of "street hassle" he plays is a good argument for aforementioned Take No Prisoners: Radio Brooklyn Expanded Edition box set

Hello?
Yeah

classic.
with all the feeding back phones, they could've done an impromptu metal machine music.

ooh will have to listen to this later

pretty amazing german language cover of "walk on the wild side" included

Yes, and all binaurally recorded!
(xp)

i like how lou perks up when the caller starts talking about binaural stereo setups.

Right, exactly.

If one of the callers had really known some obscure doo wop trivia that would have been a distant second

That was the other radio show, some young kid said how much he likednthatvstuff..

Christmas has come early.

Yeh

So "Lou Reed: Live" (aka R&R Animal Pt.2) isn't in the set?

some have speculated that it is being folded into R&R Animal? which would make sense. no Live in Italy either, though that was always an import...

man Lou really liked "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin"

Me too. Guitar playing is pure Lou.

this radio recording sounds like it's ... kinda slow? Like the tape speed is not right? The Dion song and Gimme Gimme Good Lovin both sounded like they're slower/in a different key than they should be. (I'm just listening to this whole thing now).

i think the tape speed kinda wobbles a little bit throughout.
xp it really is! though i wouldn't have really realized it til i heard him playing it on the WPIX shows.

It's pretty much what I liked about "Gimme Gimme Some Good Times Good' Lovin'" the first time I heard it, which was not yesterday.

lol @ "I'm not a map"

Yes! That was Lou at his most Louist.

Go write a bible

Your mother, your father, your cocksucking brother, they don't mean shit to me

We were driving around the other wknd and "Walk On the Wild Side" from this came up on the 'pod. At abt the 11 minute point my wife stopped and said "Wait, is he still playing the same song? Wait has even played the song? This has been going on for 11 minutes?"

Different album but https://damienlove.com/writing/babe-im-on-fire-the-making-of-lou-reeds-street-hassle/

Thanks to tipsy mothra for link

no, sorry, lovebug coleman

I never said I was ept!

HI DERE

sorry we were late but we were just tuning

That’s pathetic

It's an elecric fire, man, you plug it in...

https://damienlove.com/writing/im-set-free-the-making-of-lou-reeds-take-no-prisoners-an-oral-history/

I'd like to send this one out to Lou and Rachel, and all the kids at P.S. 192.

you're almost as boring as you look, thanks

Great article just there btw

RELEASE THE TAPES!

yo the SECOND song on that '78 WFMU broadcast is the SECOND track i put on a mix a few days of "songs that sound like oh sweet nuthin" for that one thread

it's dion "your own back yard"

Cool.

I think John Cale's "The Jeweler" was played before that home tape was rolling, but haven't checked in a while.

Great article just there btw
That guy has some good stuff on his blog besides the two links posted here, including more Lou, like this one: https://damienlove.com/writing/through-the-ringer-lou-reeds-the-bells/

"Andre Previn!"
"Who?"
"He's French."

lol

Thread of missing Οὖτις

attn: lou-heads, i just started a bootleg Lou listening project today ... https://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/619460181736161280/lou-reed-the-robinson-apartment-new-york-city