Lou Reed Solo

Just a pity Wakeman and Howe et al have no idea how to play rock and roll. (xxp)

xp further proof of MatthewK's theory ;)

Lou wasn't hiring players like Sterling Morrison in the 70s or any time thereafter tbh. Three years after playing with Mo Tucker he was working with Aynsley Dunbar!

(xp) No!

That a thread called Lou Reed Solo would get into a discussion about what Sterling Morrison does or does not contribute to a tentative Yes gig boggles the mind.

xp I'm not sure if that's good or bad because it's been so long since I've studied grammar, but you are the writer whose chops I most admire here so any criticism is always welcome <3

― sleeve, Tuesday, September 18, 2018 8:50 PM (fifteen minutes ag

besos

Just a pity Wakeman and Howe et al have no idea how to play rock and roll. (xxp)

among this crew, besides with lou, rick wakeman played on "get it on (bang a gong)", bowie's "space oddity", "changes", "oh! you pretty things", "life on mars", and "it ain't easy". but he had no idea!

I still don’t get the joke here(?) I wasn’t making fun of, or disparaging, their presence... I just didn’t know about it

I was disparaging their presence, I don't think they were cut out for playing Lou Reed songs. I must admit I was impressed that Wakeman had played on "Get It On", which I never knew before, until I found out he only contributed the occasional piano glissando part and Blue Weaver played the main piano part.

of course any of the guys in Yes could play rock in straight 4/4 & do so well. playing rock in 4/4 is not magic or "a feeling," it's a skill set, pretty much any prog band member could play in most rock bands &i be good at it . Howe & Wakeman on the s/t are terrific.

Yeah, it's the dull production rather than Howe/Wakeman that's the problem w/ the first solo alb imho.

It's one of the interesting contradictions of Lou's solo career that while he clearly was one of the 'godfathers of punk', w/ the exception of Quine (who was something of a punk outlier in any case), he steered clear of working w/ young upstart musicians, preferring to pick slick session musos.

second side of the s/t has that run of "i love you" -> "wild child" -> "love makes you feel" which i think is really underestimated

i had no idea howe and wakeman were on the first album.

Yes, along with a whole bunch of UK session geezers like Caleb Quaye and Clem Cattini - difficult to know who plays what.

ok here's the thing about growing up in public, is that musically it's kinda what would happen if the simultaneously layered and tossed-off sound of street hassle and the bells were played completely straight? so the arrangements are sorta overworked and boring and i don't really get them, especially "so alone" which is otherwise hilarious. i do think lyrically reed's starting to figure out the approach he'd fully unleash on the blue mask and that's pretty much the best part of the record

Photo on the sleeve is good too!

I think the 1st album is great... surprised to learn it’s undervalued here.

It's undervalued everywhere.

Photo on the sleeve in good too!

Very Al Pacino, he looks terrible on the back cover though and his musicians look like some bar band.

As a Lou fan growing up in public in the UK in the 1980s, his first solo rec was out of print for a long time. So by the time it did come back into print, I'd already heard (to my mind) superior VU versions of most of the songs, on bootlegs or belated official releases. The solo version of 'Ocean' especially misses the mark.

I like the VU versions of those songs too, but the album is its own thing with its own sound.

its own dull, flat sound

I like "Wild Child" though, that one's good

Agreed - and Wild Child is the one song on the rec where there isn't a decent VU precedent.

b. what's up with the weird SBS binaural sound logo

wait did no one answer this question cuz the answer is hilarious: https://damienlove.com/writing/babe-im-on-fire-the-making-of-lou-reeds-street-hassle/

awesome link, thanks

there's another article linked somewhere else on ILM that I can't find right now that has another account of the recording process, people involved complaining about all these heads on poles littering the studio etc.

For the record (no pun intended), binaural recording is amazing when done properly. The jazz label Chesky records all their albums that way, with just one head, and they sound fantastic.

yeah I'm a big fan of Psychic TV's Dreams Less Sweet, also recorded that way

it became a huge thing in the 90's for a while

wow new sensations is fantastic

yes it is! "Turn To Me" is easily in my top ten

wow, thanks for that link - great piece!

"if you remember too much, you weren’t there"

What could be more Lou Reed than insisting on the super-realism of live binaural recording, adding a bunch of mismatched overdubs, and then claiming the resulting sound is exactly what he'd wanted?

its own dull, flat sound

I can listen past the production. The arrangements and playing are great.

The drum sound is great too, actually.

Good article!

I find the debut's sound crisp rather than dull but I also listen to a fair bit of stuff recorded & played by muso dudes whose absolute ideal is clarity over color. to me the sound of the electric guitar on "I Love You", that intro figure, is one of the most memorable musical choices in Lou's discography - as soon as I think of it, I hear it in my head & love it.

think my main problem with the debut is the backup singers, they sound kinda lame. otherwise, i think it's a solid record!

yes it is! "Turn To Me" is easily in my top ten

― sleeve, Wednesday, September 19, 2018 9:25 AM (fifty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i love the way this song is just the riff suspended in empty space for the first two verses. it's a really good riff. album has a lot of really good riffs

i realllly love "fly into the sun"

"What Becomes a Legend Most" sounds like he's going for a Paul Young pastiche and it works.

So many good melodies on New Sensations jfc

Just wanted to say I'm not entirely convinced by Tom's assessment of Sterling Morrison's capacity as a guitar player. Obviously, the Velvets applied restraints to themselves in how they played (like Sterling is clearly restricting himself to a particular tessitura in what I assume is his six and a half minute solo in "I'm Gonna Move Right In").

I'd actually like to have a clearer view of what he and Lou do on guitars throughout those records but that's obtainable by more close listening and playing along.

there's another article linked somewhere else on ILM that I can't find right now that has another account of the recording process, people involved complaining about all these heads on poles littering the studio etc.

xp there's a great quote by Mo (I think, could be Yule also) somewhere about how Lou and Sterling swapped their solos on any given night according to some inscrutable internal logic

I'd actually like to have a clearer view of what he and Lou do on guitars throughout those records but that's obtainable by more close listening and playing along.

i pretty much know who's doing what — any specific songs?

I can usually distinguish Reed and Morrison. Usually.

Not who's doing what but more like chord voicings, methods of plucking, how they approached solos, gear, etc.

We've talked about this before but, yes, their lead sound/styles are totally different - even their rhythm playing is quite distinct.

"How in the world were they makin' that sound?/Velvet Underground"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAXYW-Bft5A