Lou Reed Solo

Reed moved from RCA to Arista in 1976, and then back to RCA again in 1981 until 1986. His albums may not have all been massive hits, but he had a solid fanbase which insured that his albums would sell X number of copies. He enjoyed a certain amount of success with Transformer, Rock and Roll Animal, Coney Island Baby and Sally Can't Dance during his initial RCA run, and then with New Sensations and possibly Mistrial during the second run (the videos for "The Original Wrapper" and "Video Violence" certainly received a lot of airplay here in Canada). When he left RCA the first time, he was in debt to them for $700000, so they must have seen some potential for profit to sign him again five years later. It was also about this time that The Velvet Underground was finally beginning to receive some recognition for their influence on modern musicians and their albums began to appear in print again in the USA. So the VU "legend" may have played a part in his re-signing to RCA (or not being dropped during this time), but it certainly wasn't helping him shift units in the US in the mid 1970s. There was no VU Legend in the 1970s.

What is it that labels see now? It must be The Legend. I doubt he will ever duplicate the success of New York. I can't stand the way he sings now and thus can't rate his last few albums (the VU live 93 album was the last straw), so your guess is as good as mine.

Also, the RIAA only logs US sales innit? The labels don't care about international sales because they aren't making the profits.

I am kinda diggin Rock n Roll Heart tbh

That's my favourite one, dude!

The line about New Wave films is batshit awesome.

the lounge jazz version of Sheltered Life is endearing

lou's faux populism is so good it's almost not faux. R&R Heart always has me thinking, "yeah, i don't like opera and ballet either! yeahhhh."

is this the same band as on Coney Island Baby...? It bears some sonic similarities, although this one gets a little more left-field with some of the distorted guitar tones and processed vocals, and the songs are simpler and lighter in general.

fwiw I do not like opera or ballet either lolz

Yeah, that whole album is just killer. The one "Ladies Pay" about the ladies who miss their men at war especially gets me every time. And the piano! Oh god.

not sure if it's the same band as Coney Island -- i don't think so? maybe some of the same dudes. But yeah, this one does have some odd production choices. The superfuzz guitar on the title track is fun.

^^^yes Ladies Pay! good stuff

Banging on a Drum rhythm track is fairly insane, was not expecting that from Lou

I'm thinkin the drummer in particular sounds like the same guy... I should just look it up

ah. yes. the rhythm section + keyboardist are all the same

yeah ... innaresting that lou plays all the guitar on R&R Heart, apparently?

let's take a minute to pay trib to this dude: http://www.iridescentmusic.ca/fonf.html

what is it about old men and terrible hawaiian shirts

maybe it's just something that happens to you, you know? like you wake up one day and you've got nothing but hawaiian shirts in your closet. and it feels good.

Yeah I think Hawaiian shirts are cool, actually, especially on older men.

but... you're onstage, not on vacation!

love these shirts
http://z.about.com/d/classicrock/1/0/I/9/velvetundergroundc.jpg

someone told me that tai chi album he made was surprisingly decent ambient

umm it's ok? i mean, i'm not sure if i'd be super into it if i didn't know it was Lou Reed. but because i know it is him, I AM SUPER INTO IT. to a certain extent. I bought the fucking thing, anyway.

(well, d/l'd from emusic, which isn't quite the same thing)

those VU shirts are NOT hawaiian come on now!

yeah, you're right. i just like that picture. VU at the Zoo!

Check out these Lou Reed acoustic demos from 1970, they are quite awesome:

http://croz.fm/files/category-lou-reed.php

whoah!

Grab 'em fast, I hear this site is getting shut down any minute now...

Yeah I love that pic, too, Tyler. Notice Lou's pants as well. He's got the best outfit of them all.

Okay I'm gonna grab me these acoustic demos now. I've never had the courage to listen to his first solo album until now but I gotta tell you those backup singers on "I Can't Stand It" were a no-no.

those acoustic demos are pretty good -- think i have them on one of those VU Ultra Rare Trax bootlegs. "Ride Into The Sun" is particularly nice. Lou's first solo album is fascinating, though not always in a good way. Hard to know what kind of sound exactly they were going for?

Banging on a Drum rhythm track is fairly insane, was not expecting that from Lou

I was thinking of Follow the Leader here - that sorta Headhunterish jazz-funk groove. very odd. also is it me or do the lyrics namecheck Ornette?

Convinced Bowie ripped off the feel of that track, rhythmwise, for "Look Back in Anger"

Yeah the first time I heard "Follow The Leader" (long before I'd heard the rest of the album) I was shocked. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting from Lou Reed, and damn funky. I'd only gone looking for it because of the song on the Velvet Underground Quine Tapes by the same name which absolutely killed me, albeit in an entirely different way. Shakey have you heard that?

One thing I only recently realised is how much he depended on Velvet outtakes during his 70s solo years. The debut album is almost all VU material. Transformer is, what, about half VU material. Even Berlin is about half VU songs! As late as Street Hassle in 1978, he's still pulling out old VU songs from the bottom drawer.

Really??? I don't think of Berlin as borrowed from Velvets material at all.

Certainly not Street Hassle.

Really??? I don't think of Berlin as borrowed from Velvets material at all.

Men Of Good Fortune, Oh Jim, Caroline Says II and Sad Song were all first done by the Velvets. The title track is also recycled.

Certainly not Street Hassle.

It's got Real Good Time Together on it

"Men of Good Fortune" is a Velvets' song?

Well, according to Wikipedia it is... although I've never heard it. You can hear the Velvets doing Oh Jim and Sad Song on Spotify though...

Oh yeah, I know they're from the Velvets era. Amusing that "Kill Your Sons" on the acoustic demos thing is a fairly naff protest song! Also that Lou was "Looking Through the Eyes of Love" in 1970 but "Looking Through the Eyes of Hate" by 1973.

xpost
A little bit of googling leads me to this site http://olivier.landemaine.free.fr/vu/andsoon/lostsongs/lostsongs.html

which says there's a tape of VU doing Men Of Good Fortune in 1966

Love the least-to-most-colourful arrangement of those shirts!

Okay, I'll give you "Real Good Time Together", but where is the Velvets version of Sad Songs, for starters? Don't leave me out of this. Ah fook, here were are with this Spotify thing, though. I can't get Spotify. Jeez, way to kill the joy.

I'll get it my own way, never mind.

Version of "Sad Song" on the expanded edition of "Loaded" with Lou going on about castles and kilts!

Adding my thanks to Shakey for the link - I just got up early and stretched out breakfast listening to Street Hassle and reading it, I don't think I've enjoyed the start of the day quite so much in a while.

lmao @ mistrial

you're payin' a price where there's no price to pay
love is trust
no money down

YET

"Tell It To Your Heart" is a classic.

yeah that song and "outside" are really good

thought you were going to say "Mama's Got a Lover"

lol i nearly did admit that i like that "the original wrapper" exists in lou reed's discography

The video jukeboxes are-a
playin Madonna

I've never heard "Mistrial". I consider myself a Lou Reed fan too. Shame on me.

before the streaming age you could 99-cent copies on Amazon

No doubt!

wow even Discogs has nothing below $2.99 plus shipping, still too much!

Mistrial >>>>> Berlin

I love how Mistrial gets dismissed most often for "dated production" when fucking Bob Ezrin's despair-on-mothballs arrangements don't scream the seventies, and the songs suck.

Now, you've gone too far.

The currents rage so deep inside us
This is the age of video violenc

mistrial is up there with take no prisoners as his funniest record

the best video ever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiyX70ZqsVQ

mistrial is up there with take no prisoners as his funniest record

"Growing Up In Public" is a hoot too.

Mistrial >>>>> Berlin

I think the time is ripe for an "Alfred's 80s records challops" thread

and I wish that it be a cheerful thread

I thought this was that thread?

Preferring Mistrial to Berlin isn't a challops. A B or B- is a better grade than a C+ or C.

I meant for a thread to include more artists than Lou!

idk i can't agree with alfred on berlin, outside of the arrangements all the songs on it seem v well written to me

the (relatively) recent concert movie was v rewarding

I don't know Mistrial apart from the two singles, which are OK. But Berlin is an album I've lived with all my teen/adult life and means an awful lot to me, melodramatic orchestration and all. I hadn't realised until recently though that half the tracks were recycled from VU days. It's amazing that he was recycling VU tracks right up to Street Hassle and maybe beyond.

Listening to the eponymous 1972 album right now and it's sounding pretty good, albeit sort of Loaded II

^Right?

I suppose Street Hassle's ranking might uh rankle.. It's not much beyond the great title track.