Search And Destroy: Lou Reed

To me, the transgression was necessary for him to see the weird in the normal
Sorry, to me there is something disingenuous about his latter day fascination with the normal. Perhaps Shakey and I, as readers of the rolling sf thread, are especially wary of this cheesy defamiliarization technique.

honestly I could care less about the shift in lyrical content, if there even is much of one, it's the sonics I can't stand

Perhaps you would have preferred if he had started playing fingerstyle?

thumbstyle

Yeah, the overdetermination of offenses including the Saunders abf, the tipping point where the Sprechgesang became more Sprechge than sang, and the endless guitar and microphone tech talk obsession that nevertheless seem to result in a generic clanky dry Strat sound or whatever.

LOL I don't necessary agree, but this is a great post

thumbstyle

Sorry, to me there is something disingenuous about his latter day fascination with the normal.

have you heard him sing? It's like imagining Donald Trump singing nursery rhymes. The Fascination with the Normal is precisely what gives those post-1982 albums (the good ones) their creepiness.

Are you saying the creepiness is intentional? And desirable?

Unintentional and desirable.

What about ostensibly clumsy stuff like the oft quoted couplet “My Dedalus to your Bloom/ was such a perfect wit”? What’s your take on this kind of thing?

Xgau says that it “honors the way that people really talk.” But who talks like that but Lou and pretentious permanent literature undergrads like the guy who was flirting with Laurie Anderson a few posts up? Delmore Schwartz himself wouldn’t be caught dead in a pauper’s grave with a sentence like that coming out of his mouth or pen.

To me that's just a different kind of stupid from Lou's 70s stupid.

Me too, but I liked 70s stupid better, it’s of a piece with 70s NYC cinema.

It’s like the taking of the Pelham 1,2,3

What about ostensibly clumsy stuff like the oft quoted couplet “My Dedalus to your Bloom/ was such a perfect wit”? What’s your take on this kind of thing?

― Ask Heavy Manners (James Redd and the Blecchs)

I would preferred "My Dedalus to your Bloom/I'm such a nitwit"

If Sterling has been around he probably would have asked for the lyric to be changed to that.

Growing Up In Public, for all its numerous faults, is the perfect bridge between 70s and 80s stupid.

i like the "such a perfect wit" line bc it's v earnest, the kind of error you preserve bc the syntax is so weird it's personal, it's not about reflecting some cultural stupidity. i mean, "my house" makes me cry, idk. but i'm not here to convince people who think fernando saunders sucks at bass

The line that bugs me the most is "Marxist DA"...like, there would never be a Marxist district attorney...but if there was, they wouldn't be average...like Lou is claiming to be...ok, I get it now, it's all a rich tapestry.

and the weird of "New Sensations" (title track0) is my kind of weird.

Just occurred to me for the first time to wonder if it bugged Lou that Sterling finished his PhD. I suppose it might have, but so much stuff bugged him it would hard to single that one out unless he went on record about it.

Man y’all are nitpicking some perfectly fine lyrics...

(now excuse me while I do another Wikipedia-based fact check of where Lou was on a specific day in 1963)

Lou deserves to have his nits picked for being such a pompous ass from the mid 80s onwards.

The clunky, plainspoken earnestness of “My House” is what makes it so endearing, IMO. He’s abandoning all pretense of being “poetic” in his tribute to a poet.

otm

Average Guy is probably my favorite song on that album

In an Italian restaurant called Romeo’s right now and all I can hear in my head is the Rock and Roll Animal himself singing “Legendary Hearts.”

Well that and Robin Williams as Elmer Fudd singing “Fire.”

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D_oFjghXkAcHX2P.jpg:large

Almost finished the Bockris book. I laughed at this--early draft of Trump (circa the VU reunion in the early '90s):

Previously a phoneaholic, Lou had now become a fax maniac, spending hours composing messages and then keening over the machine in anticipation of a snappy reply. It was the perfect mode of communication for the hermetic Reed.

My favourite moment came much earlier, the night Reed quit the VU first time around: "Sterling, I'd like you to meet my parents..." Reminded me of Max introducing his dad to Herman in Rushmore.

Belated lol at Street Hasslehoff

The Bockris book--which I only read because it was a gift--gave me the story in broad outline, which is all I wanted. The only time I found it to be an ordeal was the last 50 pages or so, where Bockris (perhaps swept away by Reed's death) gives you, in excruciating detail, his interpretation of a cross-album conversation between Reed and Anderson. I don't know these records, and, personally, they're of no interest to me. I always think of Seinfeld and the Drake in these situations: "Well, I don't know if I'm happy for them...I mean I'm glad they're happy, but, frankly, it doesn't do anything for me."

The one thing that stuck with me from the Bockris book was Nico saying to Reed, "I cannot make love to Jews anymore."

Yeah, I always think of that, wonder if it applied to Dylan as well.

Also there is another line about
Reporter: When’s the last time you saw Lou Reed?
Nico: I don’t hang out in gay bars

Yes, it's obviously about Dylan too (xp)

Speaking of Bockris, wondering if I should buy an ebook of Uptight to replace my mistakenly given away paper copy.

Yes, it's obviously about Dylan too (xp)

Or at least I imagine and want that to be the case

Probably Jonathan Richman was never in the running in the first place.

So apparently today is International Lou Reed Tai-Chi Day.

If the name John Cale passes your lips during this 24 hour period you will be assigned punishment forms as part of your practice.

*plays imaginary viola furiously but serenely*

Lol

Let's get a few covers out of the way. Y'all can name yours.

Correct #1 tbrr

Luna “Ride into the Sun”

The Clean: I Can't Stand It
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBT7Scb3NRg

Moe Tucker’s whispered version of “Waiting for the Man” on one of her solo albums, forget which one

https://youtu.be/dapWaB5awyM