The Lou Reed Appreciation Thread

[stevewizzle]

?? they put him in a hospital where he received shock treatment as a kid.  Apparently, he was at Syracuse University and was given this compulsory choice to either do gym or the Reserve Officers Training Corps.  He claimed he couldn?t do gym because he?d break his neck and when he did ROTC he threatened to kill the instructor.  Then he put his fist through a window or something, and so he was put in a mental hospital.?
? John Cale

[ggw]

Mr. Reed wrote in the liner notes [to Metal Machine Music] that ?no one I know has listened to it all the way through, including myself.?


The composer Brian Eno, in an often-quoted interview from 1982, suggested that if the group?s first album, ?The Velvet Underground & Nico,? sold only 30,000 copies during its first five years, ?everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band.?

[Nigel Tufnel]

I was a teenager in the 80's, so this was my introduction to Lou Reed:

http://youtu.be/lDLAM48TmJQ

[atomic]

Mr. Reed wrote in the liner notes [to Metal Machine Music] that ?no one I know has listened to it all the way through, including myself.?

This was my problem with Lou...why put out an album you know no one will listen to after they buy it. Same thing about seeing him live. Why start your set 25 minutes late when you know you are taking away from someone else set.  Anyway Velvet Undergrounds first album is one of the best of all time.  Transformer is a great album.  Nicos first album is amazing and he wrote some of the songs and played on it as well.   

[stevewizzle]

Mr. Reed wrote in the liner notes [to Metal Machine Music] that ?no one I know has listened to it all the way through, including myself.?

This was my problem with Lou...why put out an album you know no one will listen to after they buy it. Same thing about seeing him live. Why start your set 25 minutes late when you know you are taking away from someone else set.  Anyway Velvet Undergrounds first album is one of the best of all time.  Transformer is a great album.  Nicos first album is amazing and he wrote some of the songs and played on it as well.   

classic tommy fresh baby! comes to the appreciation thread to tell us what he DOESN'T appreciate! happy monday folks!

but for real, metal machine music was a mistake, and lou said so himself.  it probably has some roots with la mont young, and the avant garde/minimalist approach that surrounded his earlier influences. but who cares? he tried something new and failed.

[ggw]

Moz on Lou Reed's passing:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/danmartin/read-morrisseys-moving-tribute-to-lou-reed?s=mobile

[atomic]

Mr. Reed wrote in the liner notes [to Metal Machine Music] that ?no one I know has listened to it all the way through, including myself.?

This was my problem with Lou...why put out an album you know no one will listen to after they buy it. Same thing about seeing him live. Why start your set 25 minutes late when you know you are taking away from someone else set.  Anyway Velvet Undergrounds first album is one of the best of all time.  Transformer is a great album.  Nicos first album is amazing and he wrote some of the songs and played on it as well.   

classic tommy fresh baby! comes to the appreciation thread to tell us what he DOESN'T appreciate! happy monday folks!

but for real, metal machine music was a mistake, and lou said so himself.  it probably has some roots with la mont young, and the avant garde/minimalist approach that surrounded his earlier influences. but who cares? he tried something new and failed.

I thought he released it because he was pissed off at his record company.   I told you what I appreciate.  Velvet debut, Nico solo and Transformer.    I also like some of the stuff off the last Velvet Album and that song "Stephanie Says". 

[stevewizzle]

I thought he released it because he was pissed off at his record company. 

nah, it was so shitty a lot of people thought that was the case.

this got me interested, the wikipedia page has some good details and history about it. i personally haven't listened to it, but it sold 100,000 copies, which is kind of nuts. 

[evilizac]

Every ad I ever post looking for band mates lists Lou and the VU as influences.
The man was an artist in the truest sense of the word. I don't know whether or not I wish I had seen him live (most of the later era live sets I've heard have been very speak-singy, heavy on the speak) but I know nine times out of ten when I need to reset myself musically there's about a half dozen Lou or VU albums I can throw on. Think I'll listen to Busload of Faith off of New York for starters. . .
An artist and a master for sure.

[vansmack]

what? we haven't heard a peep from him since his liver transplant in April!!!!!!!!!!

Except for that Yeezus review, which I enjoyed.

Klosterman did a good obit.

[i am gay and i like cats]

i bet lou and andy . . . are bitching at each other, already.

[thirsty moore]

ah, I date myself, it was 1998 shortly after Fully Loaded was released.
the setlist was stellar Lou 930 98

I saw this gig as well, and remember him playing Rock & Roll. Either way, it was a wonderful set.

[thirsty moore]

i bet lou and andy . . . are bitching at each other, already.

This makes me think of Songs for Drella's Open House.

[hutch]

I like Metal Machine Music.

its kind of like a good head cleanser..

[StoneTheCrow]

I listened to half of that last night.  It was around 1am when side 3 started so I gave up.

Love that album but totally see why it would have been considered awful back in the 70's.