Lou Reed RIP

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terryhurley
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Lou Reed RIP

Post by terryhurley »

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Jack of All Parades
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Re: Lou Reed RIP

Post by Jack of All Parades »

Oh My- that is sad indeed. I knew his health was poorly leading up to and following his transplant. A personal hero and one who definitely understood rock n roll and poetry- 'linger on, those pale blue eyes' indeed! The man could do so much with one chord and his simple declarative lines.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... 3115,d.eW0

http://youtu.be/NcDuR9BF0Oc
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
Poor Deportee
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Re: Lou Reed RIP

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I always enjoyed "New York" in particular and listen now and again, with much enjoyment, to the hokey VU compliation album I have. (Yes, I really should do the decent thing and buy proper Velvet Undergound albums). A distinctive musical and lyrical voice; and one whose utter intolerance for fools was, I always felt, basically what the culture deserved. He'll be missed.
When man has destroyed what he thinks he owns
I hope no living thing cries over his bones
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Emotional Toothpaste
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Re: Lou Reed RIP

Post by Emotional Toothpaste »

Poor Deportee wrote:I always enjoyed "New York" in particular and listen now and again, with much enjoyment, to the hokey VU compliation album I have. (Yes, I really should do the decent thing and buy proper Velvet Undergound albums). A distinctive musical and lyrical voice; and one whose utter intolerance for fools was, I always felt, basically what the culture deserved. He'll be missed.
Same boat here. I got 2 Lou Reed discs, New York and the one that follows. For a while, New York was in heavy rotation in the early 90's for me. Listened to it again tonight for the first time in many years and it sounded great. Listen to Strawman and the words are still so current.
ice nine
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Re: Lou Reed RIP

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It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think that you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt
- M. Twain
Poor Deportee
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Re: Lou Reed RIP

Post by Poor Deportee »

Emotional Toothpaste wrote:
Poor Deportee wrote:I always enjoyed "New York" in particular and listen now and again, with much enjoyment, to the hokey VU compliation album I have. (Yes, I really should do the decent thing and buy proper Velvet Undergound albums). A distinctive musical and lyrical voice; and one whose utter intolerance for fools was, I always felt, basically what the culture deserved. He'll be missed.
Same boat here. I got 2 Lou Reed discs, New York and the one that follows. For a while, New York was in heavy rotation in the early 90's for me. Listened to it again tonight for the first time in many years and it sounded great. Listen to Strawman and the words are still so current.
"Strawman" is killer, but equally incredible are the heart-breaking "Hallowe'en Parade" and that utterly unique, baffling construction, "Beginning of a Great Adventure." The latter is one of those songs, like Tom Waits's "Step Right Up," where you just go - wha? How'd anybody come up with this?? :shock:
When man has destroyed what he thinks he owns
I hope no living thing cries over his bones
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Jack of All Parades
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Re: Lou Reed RIP

Post by Jack of All Parades »

"Halloween Parade" never fails to stir up emotions for me as it floods back memories of my brother and that time. It is a sad litany of loss for me. My favorite Lou record is probably "the Bells". Its deep and stark confessional ambience has rarely been equaled by other artists. The title song is a minor miracle.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Jack of All Parades
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Re: Lou Reed RIP

Post by Jack of All Parades »

A thoughtful piece on Lou as a 'poet' by Patti Smith in the current New Yorker:

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2013/11/1 ... talk_smith
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: Lou Reed RIP

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Walk on the Wild Side and other Transformer classics got me into Lou, though it wasn't till later on that I found out my hero D Bowie was producer of it and did a lot to promote Lou in the UK. But the endless refs to the Velvets in the NME in the late 70s made me check them out, and I've been a huge fan ever since. The debut album stands as one of the greatest ever made, and probably for me the best album of all of that decade. One of the touching details of the V & A Bowie exhib was how someone like Ken Scott gave Bowie an acetate of the album just before it came out and he played it over and over. The acetate was in the exhib.

White Light White Heat was part brilliant and part just mad, but The Velvet Underground is another masterpiece. Loaded is inconsistent.

I only have a few of his solo works. I remember New York being praised a lot when it came out and hearing Dirty Boulevard, etc. on Spanish radio. I only really know the immortal Transformer and Berlin well. Wish I'd seen him touring and playing the latter in recent years. A friend said it was great. I did, however, attend hisMetal Machine Music tour when he played Cambridge's 850 capacity Junction. The adverts and tickets stressed 'No songs, only instrumentals', but still the place was heaving, but I've never seen such a percentage of the audience leave a gig as on that night. I started at the back but was nice and close by the end. Lou seemed pretty frail. It was pretty good, less mad than the record, and not actually as deafening as I'd feared (it was Wilco who gave me tinnitus, not Lou).

I have the V Bockris biog, but haven't read it. Not sure I want to read about Lou's nastier side. I have read the astonishing early bits about his getting EST as a teen due to his 'behavioral problems'. Very alarming.

Devastated to hear he's died. So sad about the liver. He must have had a hell of a constitution to survive all the abuse he meted out to himself. Like Iggy. It's sad when your cultural heroes age and die.

Hard to say what his finest song was, but I'd go with Heroin and Pale Blue Eyes as two of my all-time favourites. Musically magnificent and with incredible words. I love the way he said that it was ridiculous to think that if it was in a rock song rather than a novel, it couldn't be dealt with as a topic. As the Eno cliche goes, much cited this week, only a few thousand got the debut VU album, but they all started bands. His legacy as a brilliant writer and huge influence will linger on and on, just like the pale blue eyes.
There's more to life than books, you know, but not much more
invisible Pole
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Re: Lou Reed RIP

Post by invisible Pole »

Sounds are the inexplicable…
Lou's final interview.

http://consequenceofsound.net/2013/11/w ... interview/
If you don't know what is wrong with me
Then you don't know what you've missed
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