Search And Destroy: Lou Reed

A bonus 7-inch, housed in its own unique die-cut picture sleeve and manufactured at Third Man Record Pressing includes the only vinyl release of six previously-unreleased bonus tracks providing a never-before-seen glimpse into Reed’s formative years, including early demos, a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” and a doo-wop serenade recorded in 1958 when the legendary singer-songwriter was just sixteen years old. An accompanying saddle-stitched, die-cut 28-page book features lyrics, archival photos, and liner notes Also included is an archival reproduction of a rarely-seen letter, written by Reed to his college professor and poet, Delmore Schwartz, circa 1964. The set includes a CD containing the complete audio from the package, housed in a die-cut jacket.

this previously unreleased collection of songs—penned by a young Lou Reed, recorded to tape with the help of future bandmate John Cale, and mailed to himself as a “poor man’s copyright”—remained sealed in its original envelope and unopened for nearly 50 years.

lmao when that harmonica solo comes in, incredible

Velvet Underground Trainspotting Question

discussed here too

Hal Willner one of the producers listed below, so this has been in the works a while,wonder what he did. Guess the podcast might be worth checking out? (I suspect this whole thing might be more interesting historically than musically, like some of the Beatles demos: "Yep, that's a really early version alright, can see why they thought it needed more work, ho-hum.") Judging also by those earliest demos on Peel Slowly and See.

Featuring contributions from Reed’s future bandmate, John Cale, Words & Music, May 1965 presents in their entirety the earliest-known recordings of such historic songs as “Heroin,” “I’m Waiting for the Man,” and “Pale Blue Eyes”—all of which Reed would eventually record and make indelibly influential with The Velvet Underground. Also included are several more previously-unreleased compositions that offer additional insight into Reed’s creative process and early influences. Produced by Laurie Anderson, Don Fleming, Jason Stern, Hal Willner, and Matt Sullivan, the album features newly-remastered audio from the original tapes by GRAMMY®-nominated engineer, John Baldwin. Rounding out the package are new liner notes from acclaimed journalist and author, Greil Marcus, plus in-depth archival notes from Don Fleming and Jason Stern, who oversee the Lou Reed Archive.

To help celebrate the release, Light in the Attic will also invite listeners to intimately experience Words & Music through a podcast hosted by TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe. In partnership with Little Everywhere and Ruinous Media, this special program will feature exclusive audio, archival materials, and interviews with many of the album's participants. Available on all podcast platforms on August 26th.

A coworker told a story last night about an incident (years ago) in which their wife was fawning over someone's dog on the street ("Oh, what a cute dog!," petting it profusely, etc.) – then as they walked away, they noticed that the dog owner was Lou.

― subject matter expert (morrisp),

Thought you were going to say "The dog was Lou."

Rock 'n roll animal.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/06/arts/music/lou-reed-caught-between-the-twisted-stars.html

Love the cassette from his archive that has "Eagles One Of These Nights" scratched out on the label.

ha, yes

It was research for writing and recording "Crazy Feelin'" on Coney Island Baby.

DON: There was always much more to our music than what met the eye or ear. Beyond the smooth surface lurked a heart of darkness, observing and reporting about all the dirty dealings on the West Coast. So naturally there was a feeling of kinship--and perhaps a little competition--with Lou Reed, who had the East Coast wrapped up in that department.

GLENN: The one I couldn't get over was Metal Machine Music...I just knew we could top that! So one weekend over at La Fontaine, we cleared out the den, rolled in the Marshalls, and busted out every acoustic guitar they had available at S.I.R. Things were going well until Linda [Ronstadt] called and invited out to see a production of Plaza Suite. Next thing I know, we're doing Don's Hotel thing as our next album instead of Cool Winds, Acoustic Waves.

DON: Well, yeah.

Lol

A coworker told a story last night about an incident (years ago) in which their wife was fawning over someone's dog on the street ("Oh, what a cute dog!," petting it profusely, etc.) – then as they walked away, they noticed that the dog owner was Lou.

― subject matter expert (morrisp),

Thought you were going to say "The dog was Lou."

The dog was Iggy

That’s what I was figuring.

"New" Lou! Trigger warning: Tai-chi!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz4irXJFc4c

Guessing this is a "Mistrial"-era demo

hell yeah, hopefully a preview of a multi-disc Mistrial deluxe edition.

Me: "Man I would kill for a 'Take No Prisoners' box!"

Don Flemming: "Next best thing, Mistrial outtake about Tai-Chi!"

Assuming this is more book tie-in then taste of things to come

Haha yeah, they were probably like "now or never to release this one!"

My phone woke me up at 3 AM with an alert about this so at least the algorithm works

this mf spittin fr

"tai is very pret-tay"
tai chi is very slooow
tai chi can make you healthy
and sexier, you know"

"I wanna be black belt!"

#IKnow

I sometimes feel a little guilty about my own Lou Tai-Chi fatigue so it makes me feel a little less alone in this to see others expressing something similar.

He missed out not making this song the single from Hudson River Meditations.

i actually think hudson river meditations is good for kind of zone out ambient

How'd it take me so long to get to Live in Italy? This is great!

Quinefest

Absolutely.

FWIW, this concert video is worth getting - again, with Lou, Quine, Saunders and Maher, I think in support of The Blue Mask at the Bottom Line in NYC. One of my favorites, and before things went sour between Lou and Quine:

https://www.discogs.com/master/613485-Lou-Reed-A-Night-With-Lou-Reed

Probably my favorite official live release from Lou's solo career, and even if you buy the DVD new, it's priced fairly low.

My 18yo son has been on a comprehensive solo Lou dive during the past week. He was already fully versed in VU. So far the primary effect is he went out and bought a vinyl copy of Street Hassle.

good move

What does he think about I Want To Be Black?

My 13 year old daughter loves Transformer and asked if she could borrow my CD copy. I handed her Metal Machine Music and told her that it was made around the same time and to let me know what she thinks. I heard it squalling from her room for about five minutes and then she came back with a confused look and told me that the CD was messed up.

hahaha

What does he think about I Want To Be Black?

We had a whole conversation about it, that it's about a white fantasy of "blackness," but also that it's more than a little problematic and definitely wouldn't fly in 2023. He mostly skips it when it comes on because he's appropriately ambivalent about it.

Also he loves Metal Machine Music, but I expected that because he's kind of a harsh noise fanatic/connoisseur.

oh that's right isn't he the one that's into like Merzbow and Hijokaidan and such?

Yep. These days he's into super extreme contemporary stuff, things you can only order on cassette. I appreciate his enthusiasm even if I don't share it. (I was initially a little worried about the whole white supremacist side of noise, but instead he's found what seems like a really tight-knit queer-friendly scene. Lou would approve.)

I'm afraid to ask, but what's the white supremacist side of noise? Is it something that's catching on?

https://jeanhugueskabuiku.substack.com/p/about-vatican-shadow-link-with-the

(that link was re: yr 1st question, answer to the second is "not any more than in metal, maybe less"

I am playing the first Lou Reed LP, LOU REED.

It's good.

Thanks sleeve. Disturbing stuff, hopefully more journalists will call it out.

I didn't know about those connections and I wrote a lengthy profile on Fernow for The Wire in 2011. Pissed me off quite a bit to find out.

Yeah I was bummed because while my exposure to that musical world is very dilettantish, I actually like Vatican Shadow and saw him perform once.

I mean it goes back to Boyd Rice/Non, Whitehouse etc

New NYT piece up that's taken from Will Hermes's in-the-works biography, covering the time between the Velvets and Transformer, more or less.

Oh wow, I was starting to think he had given up on that project.

Ha I'd been half thinking that myself at points but I saw various posts from him that it was still happening. Just was putting in the work!

It’s here!

Hermes bio is stellar — definitely the best Lou bio ...

Also! This thing I put together ...

https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2023/10/03/sad-song-lou-reeds-berlin-at-50/