R.I.P. Lou Reed

[www.nydailynews.com]

I used to see him a lot in the West Village when I was an NYU student--always in winter; always very early in the morning, with the city not quite awake. RIP to one in those rare stratosphere of greats. I'll be listening to "Sunday Morning" in particular today.

Is it a hoax ?!?! What the fuck?

[en.mediamass.net]

p.s. My RS buddy wrote the obit, but I'm not sure if its a pre-canned one.

It's been confirmed...his publicist told ABC News.

Despite my efforts, I never could get into Lou's music for some reason. That said, I've always respected what he's done and recognize the influence he's had on many musicians who came after him.

It's on CNN. Confirmed.

I am a little relieved that "Perfect Day" was not in the horror movie 'You're Next' (only the trailer) because that would have made some awkward copy in the obits.

His last album turned out to be Lulu, which would've been a terrible way for him to go out except, blessedly, the album ends with "Junior Dad" - by far the best thing on it and in my opinion the single best thing Reed recorded in his sunset years. The fact that it's a sad lament that deliberately calls back to the Velvets ended up making it about as fitting a capstone to his career as anyone could ask.

[www.youtube.com]

Living in a Reedless world, I'm not so sure I can maintain my balance.

People like Lou Reed never die. Not in any meaningful sense.

So "RIP" ... as is the fashion. I'm gonna go play "Sister Ray."

Lous passing has made n.y a huge step closer into being a boring normal city. if you look up nyc in the dictionary you should find lous pic uder the meaning.. Had the pleasure of meeting him a while back. there is a parade in broooklyn called the mermaid parade and every year has a different man of honour. He was it one year and my job was to hold the sign for him. I heard he wasn't the friendliest of guys and didn't like strangers to talk to him so I figured I would just do the same. after a little while Lou was making lighthearted witty comments about everything that was going on and we were both laughing and trading jokes like 2 people having a god time at a party.

Holy shitz. You deserve a "I spoke with Lou Reed and survived" T-shirt.

As an avid listener of avant anything, I feel I celebrated his legacy when Lou was alive, so I think his life is best summarized in the static, buzzing hum he left behind in the grimy (circa 1970) New York streets when he bulldozed over the hippies and "set the twilight reeling".

However, I think if he were a nicer guy, someone would've donated their liver to him and he would've lived longer.



Post Edited (10-29-13 11:30)

Where would we all be without Lou Reed? He was ground zero for almost everything of note. He was a courageous artist who certainly followed his own muse. Small aspects of his art became whole genres of rock music, eventually. In March we saw Laurie Anderson perform "Dirtday" at Salem College and were shocked when news of Lou's liver transplant was made public in May. She had a week's residency at the college and Lou must have been waiting for a donor at that point. It could not have been easy.



Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®

I'm really going to miss his deep gravelly voice. Oh wait, that was Lou Rawls...

Anyone else listening to him yesterday get a little choked up? Henry Rollins admits he did, so I'm not the only sap around. Cool tribute show last night, featuring some groovy covers (Roky Erickson did "Heroin?")

Lou Reed tribute show

Thanks for asking that question, totaji. New York is the last album of his I actually bought, though a pal did dub a cassette of Songs For Drella for me in 1990. I too am interested to know if there's anything else from the last 23 years that I need to hear.

I'm very saddened by Lou's death, but it definitely seems like that sorrow is tempered by the fact that I haven't heard anything new by him in nearly a quarter-century.

Thanks totaji! Ira disagrees but I really liked "Songs For Drella," and "Magic and Loss" was excellent, a truly worthy follow-up to "New York." The fact that it's a meditation on death makes it very appropriate.

"Set the Twilight Reeling" is okay, but I traded it in. I always wanted to check out "the Raven," Poe fan that I am.

I actually think "Lulu" has some great stuff, at least in it's first half. And it ends with that corker that Brad mentioned. Fortunately that Metallica guy doesn't sing much.

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I've been listening to classics and albums I rarely listen to (The Bells, etc)

I nominate "Disco Mystic" from "The Bells" as the worst thing Reed did.



Post Edited (10-28-13 19:00)

Set the Twilight Reeling is wildly uneven (like so much of his work), with perhaps a preponderance of crap. But it has the title track, which I think is one of his greatest songs.

I thought Ecstasy was quite strong. I need to check out The Raven and Lulu.

rhettlawrence wrote:

> I'm very saddened by Lou's death, but it definitely seems like
> that sorrow is tempered by the fact that I haven't heard
> anything new by him in nearly a quarter-century.

I'm in the same boat, but for me Lou Reed's greatness is undimmed by this fact. Here's a creative spirit who really just followed his own muse and interests and went against the grain a good portion of the time (most strikingly with the VU, obviously).

He was scheduled to talk about Edgar Allan Poe in NYC next week, which typifies him for me--following his muse, however unpopular or questionable (see the Metallica collaboration for an example of the latter).

Herman Melville is my favorite writer, and a greater portion of his work is questionable or outright bad--but he was always searching and moving against the grain and his high points are enough to stake his greatness on. Same with Reed, I'd argue. Admittedly, I tend to *admire* from a distance more than outright like much of his final 3 decades of work.

But have you ever read Pierre (the Moby-Dick follow-up) or Clarel (Melville's late life epic poem)? Daring, but pretty abysmal.



Post Edited (10-28-13 21:03)

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Roky Erickson did "Heroin?"

Roky needs to stay clean and sober. Seriously.

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Who (appropriately enough for this thread) is also deceased.

RIP Lou Rawls.

...

Just in case we missed him back in '06.

My wife and I agreed yesterday that we should spend some time with Lou's music. We listened to some favorites from the VU last night, followed by songs from his solo albums, from Transformer through Magic and Loss (not including every disc in between). "Choked up" is a bit strong to describe how either of us felt, but we both felt a definite sense of loss. She said, "I just assumed he'd outlive us all, same as Keith Richards!"

Ahhh well ... sha la la la, man.

I've contributed very little to wikipedia, but two things I did a year or so ago was organize Lou Reed's discography into solo and collaborative (and added a few items), and add the actual Eno (mis)quote about how the first Velvets album only sold 10,000 copies but everyone etc. The original wiki article said it was "apocryphal." I had stumbled across the quote reading an archived interview on the eno-web site, and my eyes widened: "It's...it's that quote! It's real!"

From an interview with Kristine McKenna in Musician mag (October 1982). "Eno: Voyages in Time & Perception":
"I was talking to Lou Reed the other day and he said that the first Velvet Underground record sold 30,000 copies in the first five years. The sales have picked up in the past few years, but I mean, that record was such an important record for so many people. I think everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band!"

Great work Mr Fab. I take Wiki for granted but it is one of the most underrated things about the internets. Adding to it contributes to the greater good in my opinion.

I've been listening to classics and albums I rarely listen to (The Bells, etc) but I must say I don't listen to anything after New York. What is worth getting from the 90's and 00's? Are there any must own albums?

Lou's the biggest hero I've lost so far, followed closely by Strummer and George Harrison.

I had most of his solo stuff up to 1996, then pared it down to Berlin, New York, Drella, Magic and Loss (which I consider his very best,) and Twilight Reeling. And of course I've had multiple copies/editions of each VU album

The Eno idea about Lou's influence is so true.

All those rock mag consensus lists of greatest songwriters. Yeah, most rock lovers would agree (more or less) with the top ten or twenty. A lot of us might pick Dylan, Lennon/McCartney, Chuck Berry, Motown. But when you include Lou Reed in the number five spot you end up with a music lover/musician who is very different from one who puts any of the other great writers in their top five.

Lou is, almost singularly, the point of divergence, the alchemical trick that changes the pure beautiful elements of rock and roll into new, bizarre compounds.

I thought Chuck Klosterman summed up Lou's legacy pretty well:

[www.grantland.com]

I got the news from this thread, actually, but we had NPR on that morning, and heard more about Lou's passing. The news story included the famous quote from Eno, that only a few thousand people bought any of the Velvet Underground's albums, but everyone who did went on to start a band.

My wife instantly said, "I guess that includes you!"

Actually, I did it in the opposite order. My first exposure to the VU was Joy Division's cover of "Sister Ray." (Come to think of it, that same quote may apply to Joy Division as well.)

Now then: How many here actually have listened to Metal Machine Music all the way through?

I have, but only in the background. Like a lot of people, however, I've also listened all the way through albums that are more challenging than that album. Or as challenging...we're getting into grey areas here.

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How many here actually have listened to Metal Machine Music all the way through?

I may have. But my mental Rolodex is somewhat addled. I'm pretty sure I listened to it ... all the way through ... at a party ... and may have been in the next room for some of it. It's pretty grating.

My memories from the 1990s are like a birthday cake somebody sat on. Sugary and sweet, but sometimes impossible to decipher. Not entirely appetizing.

...

Lou Reed once came into the record store I worked in as a teenager. It was my day off. Damn it.

I didn't find it challenging, unless you count being challenged to keep listening. It was neither as excruciating as I'd been led to expect, nor as remarkably avant-garde as I'd hoped it'd turn out to be. When side four ended, I just thought, "Well, that's enough of that."

One of my friends dissed "Heroin" as an overly long, boring song -- too long and dull to sit through all the way. "Talk about suffering for Lou's art," he said. I told him, a bit forcefully, "Listening to 'Heroin' all the way through is not suffering for Lou's art. Now listening to 'Sister Ray,' on the other hand ..."

On the other hand, another friend of mine -- the one who used to dis my song selections for my radio show, and would hector me to play Journey, Kansas, Toto and the like -- heard the quote from Eno, and laughed. "Yeah, all those people started bands because they listened to the Velvet Underground and thought, 'Shit, I can do better than these losers!'"

I actually find Sister Ray quite pleasant. Its a 3 chord guitar stomp with a great beat and crazy feedbacking organ and raunchy lyrics. Whats not to like? That Murder Mystery on the other hand is tough for me.

"Sister Ray" was the very first thing I heard by the Velvets. It was on an 8-tcack of Archetypes, which was supposedly a compilation but was in reality just White Light/White Heat in its entirety, and due to the odd sequencing they used to do on 8-tracks "Sister Ray" was the lead track. I loved every second of it from the first moment I popped the tape in the player. (I even liked the way it faded out in the middle for the old switching of the track that 8-tracks used to do before fading back in.)

As far as I know, White Light/White Heat itself wasn't even actually in print at the time - I think it and the third album were out of circulation until the reissues in 1985 in conjunction with VU.

I rarely find myself listening to "The Murder Mystery," but I still would rather listen to it on an endless loop than ever be subjected to "I'm Stickin' With You" again - the only VU song I truly detest.

"Sister Ray" just doesn't do all that much for me -- perhaps because I'd heard the JD cover first. "The Murder Mystery" I find quite pleasing. (Wonder if anyone's ever covered that.)

According to setlist.com, one Rodolphe Burger covered "The Murder Mystery" at least once in concert during 2012:

[www.setlist.fm]

Clicking the Play button next to the track on the setlist summons a video of a couple of French folks making out for a bit before a song begins playing that doesn't sound one bit like "The Murder Mystery," but since it's in French I can't say for sure that it's not it. It may be a happy Gallic arrangement or something.



Post Edited (10-29-13 14:18)

I think Lou Rawls did a version of The Murder Mystery.

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I think Lou Rawls did a version of The Murder Mystery.

I wish I lived in a world where that was true.

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I think Lou Rawls did a version of The Murder Mystery.

I wish I lived in a world where that was true.

This is close:

The Mike Flowers Pops - Velvet Underground Medley


We do live in a world where David Bowie covered wifey Laurie's "O Superman" (in concert). I can't even imagine that...

A Happy Gallic Arrangement

My new favorite entry in our ongoing list of potential band names...

When I read a few months ago that Lou Reed had received a liver transplant, I figured he wasn't long for this world. It doesn't surprise me he didn't make it to 2014. My mother called me Monday afternoon and asked, "Are you in mourning?" It took me a second to realize she was referring to Lou Reed.

As for his music, I like the Velvet Undergroud a lot. Too bad there isn't more live stuff, and of higher audio quality too, but at least there is live stuff. I don't hate any of their songs, but I sure don't think 'Who Loves The Sun' is up there with 'I Heard Her Call My Name', or for that matter, 'Loaded' up there with the first three albums, or even 'VU' and 'Another View.' 'Loaded' does have 'Sweet Jane' and 'Rock & Roll' which I think are among the best Velvet Underground songs.

As for his solo albums, I like 'Transformer' though it's sort of hokey to me, and I found 'Berlin' to be boring, but haven't heard it in years and would like to give it another shot.

I don't care much for the bombast of 'Rock & Roll Animal' but very much like 'Street Hassle' and 'The Blue Mask.'

'New York' I like, but there's a lot of topical references that I think a lot of people will hear and say, "HUH? Who's Morton Downey? Who's Bernard Goetz? What's he going on about?"

I enjoyed 'Songs For Drella' and 'Magic & Loss' though the latter is not a lot of fun.

I got 'Set The Twilight Reeling' and 'Ecstasy' for free from a friend who worked at a record store, and listened to each of them two or three times. I will give them a spin before the end of the year.

If you can get the 'Between Thought & Expression' three cd set for a decent price, I think that's a good compilation. As a matter of fact, it contains a snippet of 'Metal Machine Music' and it hurt my ears, though I am curious to check out the live 'The Creation Of The Universe' which was inspired by 'Metal Machine Music.'

I apologize for not really going into detail as to why I like or dislike certain songs or albums, but let's just say if I had to write music reviews for a living I would starve.

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My mother called me Monday afternoon and asked, "Are you in mourning?"

You've got a pretty hip mom, Ned. My mom knows who Elvis Presley was, and is vaguely aware there was once a band called the Beatles.

She chanced to hear Rod Stewart on the radio once in the early '70s and has always kind of liked him. Otherwise, she thinks Neil Diamond is on the cutting edge.

Could be worse, Brad. My mother, a teen when I was born, was into Joan Baez and Buffy Saint Marie. If anything will make you turn to punk and electronic music in adolescence, that will...

My parents dragged me to county fairs and the State Fair to see country singers all through my childhood, but I wasn't interested and therefore paid no attention. Chances are I saw Loretta Lynn, George Jones & Tammy Wynette, Buck Owens and God only knows who else, but I have no recollection of any of it.

They did drag me to see Ricky Nelson at Six Flags, and I remember that because I remember him doing "Garden Party."

I kind of would like to know what legends of country music I saw as a child, but on the other hand I think I'm glad not really knowing. I don't want to regret having seen Buck Owens or whoever and paying no attention whatsoever.

It would make me feel too much like 3/4 of the crowd at every concert I've gone to recently.

Lou Reed's passing was a big topic of discussion at work this past Monday. Said discussion all being along the lines of: "I had no idea he was so influential! I just thought he had that one hit, 'Walk on the Wild Side.'"

Oh well, at least they all had something to talk about other than the Seahawks.

It's cool to have a career like an iceberg. They may only see your one hit, but they have no idea of the edgy, dangerous, influential, sexy power you have underneath.



Post Edited (10-31-13 07:58)

My mother didn't like Rod Stewart, because "he looks like a mosquito".
He should have fronted that band on Gilligan's Island.

I may lend one of my co-workers -- one of the more intellilgent of the lot -- the VU's single-CD best-of. It's hard to fully grasp their influence from that disc, but at least it's a good sampler of songs.

I wore a Velvet Underground shirt to work Monday and one person said "Awwwww" when they saw it. For the most part, there was more discussion of the Jonas Brothers breaking up.

The fucking Jonas Brothers broke up?!

What a shitty week.

Who are the Jonas Brothers?



Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®

Quote

Who are the Jonas Brothers?

"Were."

Off-brand Hanson.

...

I harbor deep-seated suspicions that they never actually existed to begin with. Just a lunch-box at Walmart.

On second thought, I won't bother lending the VU to anyone at work. I realized the fallaciousness (if that's the right word) of that approach. "Hard to fully grasp their influence from that disc"? With my co-workers, it'll be more like "hard to give a shit." At best, he'll probably say, "Ehh, it had a few tunes that I liked." At the worst, he might say, "Why the hell does everyone say this guy had so much influence? I mean, jeez, he's no Springsteen."

Does a pop band of siblings ever really break up or just go into remission until the inevitable reunions, talk-show circuits, and documentary?

Ask Gene Loves Jezebel. As far as I know, the Ashton twins still aren't on speaking terms.

Otherwise, I expect to hear about an Oasis reunion any day now.

"Ask Gene Loves Jezebel."

Dear Gene Loves Jezebel,

Q. - What's the best way to remove turmeric stains from a ruffled pirate shirt and feather boa ensemble?

There's been some talk about a Kinks reunion, but I just don't think it's going to happen. Neither of the Davies brothers in in the best of health these days.

Speaking of "bands of brothers," I wore my Devo outfit to work yesterday. It got quite a few thumbs-up, along with quite a few puzzled looks. One woman, though, approached me and told me, when she was in college in Ohio, she dated one of the Casale brothers -- not Jerry or Bob, but Dave. She thanked me for bringing back some fun memories.

"she dated one of the Casale brothers -- not Jerry or Bob, but Dave. She thanked me for bringing back some fun memories."

Haha! I assume he simply goes by Casale3.

I don't think this has already been addressed above, but if you haven't seen it, this is apparently one of the last published photos of Lou. Pretty powerful.

It would be neat if there were a collection of songs he did for Pickwick Records in his early, early days.

For your downloading pleasure:

[musicformaniacs.blogspot.com]-
velvets.html

Excellent, McFab. Thanks!

my subconcious (dreamstate) love affair with lou is well documented here. the important thing is that i remember going for shoes with my mom at the buster brown shoppe on a miami beach corner when i was either nine or ten.

i can still feel the stoke of putting on a pair of desert boots or was it the low cut white chuck taylor's? it was so long ago...thanks mom!

but the thing that i hold dearest right now is recalling that 'who loves the sun' was playing in the background on the foot traders muzak speaker system. it was my first experience with the velvet underground. i am not exaggerating when i say, that it was a monolithic/singular listening experience. One that sent me on a musical quest the last forty years of my current life and shows no signs of stopping itself into the next several future lives to come.

enough of this existential b.s already.; where are my fucking dance shoes?



Post Edited (11-02-13 18:34)

Laurie Anderson's tribute to Lou Reed is truly beautiful. Rest in peace, Lou.