lou reed Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Lou Reed “Transformer”

sfilzen — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 19:42:16 +0000

Lou Reed “Transformer” released 50 years ago today, November 8th, 1972. Lou Reed’s second solo LP after leaving Velvet Underground in ’70 was produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson. It went to #29 in the US and to #13 in the UK and is considered one of the most important glam rock records ever released and ranks among the greatest albums of any genre (NME, Rolling Stone, Q). While “Walk on the Wild Side” gets most of the attention on Transformer (massively controversial still to this day for its content referencing transgender people and oral sex; it went to #16 in the US, #10 in the UK and reentered the charts after Reed’s death in 2013 at #14 in the US on the Hot Rock & Alternative chart), I’m really partial to the record’s opener “Vicious.” “Vicious” is a cocky, swaggering rocker that was quite literally inspired by Andy Warhol who told him to write a song titled “Vicious.” I also love “Perfect Day,” partially because Duran Duran covered it on their 1995 LP Thank You but also because it’s simply a very sweet song (though it’s said that the subtext is about heroin addiction – which is not sweet). “Satellite of Love” (#119 US) is fabulous: Bowie provides backing vocals and it’s a really Bowie-flavored track overall. Both Morrissey and U2 have successfully covered that track as well – Morrissey‘s went to #1 in the US after Reed’s death in 2013. Also notable are the glam-rockers “Wagon Wheel” and “I’m So Free.”

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“I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to The Velvet Underground & Nico”

sfilzen — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 17:41:49 +0000

“I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to The Velvet Underground & Nico” 2021. A comp of various artists’ renditions of tracks, in order, from The Velvet Underground & Nico which just celebrated its 55th anniversary release date (March 12th, 1967). It was the brainchild and last project of producer and Lou Reed buddy Hal Willner (d. 2020) who also collaborated with Reed on the box set “Lou Reed: The RCA & Arista Album Collection”(2016). I’ll Be Your Mirror came out to coincide with The Velvet Underground documentary film, also from 2021.

There’s some biggish-name musicians on this tribute like Michael Stipe covering “Sunday Morning” (it’s OK), Kurt Vile’s “Run Run Run” (only on the vinyl edition, not CD) which is pretty great, Thurston Moore’s perfectly tortured “Heroin” and Iggy Pop (with Matt Sweeney) on the feedback filled freakout “European Son.” While it could never touch the original, Andrew Bird’s and Lucius’ cover of “Venus in Furs” is still pretty haunting. Also great are the jangly 60’s Dylan-goes-Kinks/garage-goes-girl-group vibe of King Princess’ “There She Goes” and the post-punk interpretation of the pre-punk “The Black Angel’s Death Song” by Fontaines D.C. I do not believe I’ll Be Your Mirror charted in the US nor the UK but it did alright in the EU, going to #6 in The Netherlands, #26 in Germany and to #41 in Switzerland.

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Lou Reed “Sally Can’t Dance”

sfilzen — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 18:11:43 +0000

Lou Reed “Sally Can’t Dance” 1974. Today, March 2nd, would have been Lou Reed’s 80th birthday (b. 1942, d. 2013). Sally Can’t Dance was Reed’s fourth studio LP; it went to #10 in the US, his highest charting solo record. Despite that, it was not critically well-received: there wasn’t a big hit like “Take a Walk on the Wild Side” (from Transformer, 1972) and Reed himself was “was disappointed in its production and the treatment of the songs. Reed remarked, ‘It seems like the less I’m involved with a record, the bigger a hit it becomes. If I weren’t on the record at all next time around, it might go to Number One.’ (Wiki). Even more contemporary reviews pretty much pan it, calling it “sodden [and] overblown…the worst studio album of Reed’s career; Metal Machine Music [an album of droning feedback] may have been a lot more annoying, but at least he was trying on that one.” (Allmusic) It’s not that bad! It’s mostly blues-rock and not overly exciting (sodden on “Ennui” and overblown on the title track “Sally Can’t Dance“), but I do like the glam Bowie-ish swagger of “N.Y. Stars” and the darkness of “Kill Your Sons” which is about when his parents sent him to a psych ward when he was a teen.

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The Velvet Underground “White Light/White Heat”

sfilzen — Tue, 30 Jan 2018 18:57:13 +0000

The Velvet Underground “White Light/White Heat” released 50 years ago on this day, January 30th, 1968. VU’s second studio album, post-Nico and Warhol and the last with new tracks from John Cale (whose quote about White Light/White Heat is superbly accurate: it’s “a very rabid record…consciously anti-beauty”). Allmusic calls it the least accessible of VU’s recordings, a “no-holds-barred frontal assault on cultural and aesthetic propriety” but it also set the standard for avant-garde and experimental noise-rock and inspired musicians from David Bowie to the Buzzcocks.

The Velvet Underground released two singles from the album, the title track “White Light/White Heat” (which gleefully expounds on the rush from shooting up methamphetamine) and the manic free-form garagey “I Heard Her Call My Name.” My favorite tracks on White Light/White Heat are “Lady Godiva’s Operation” (weird and psychedelic and I am repeatedly startled by Lou Reed shouting “SWEETLY” out of the mix) and “Sister Ray,” an epic 17+ minute song filled with sex and depravity that was recorded in one amazing take.

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sfilzen — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 15:04:30 +0000

“The Velvet Underground & Nico” 1966/67. Verve Records. Original pressing (V6-5008) gatefold with the Andy Warhol “peel slowly and see” banana. Today, March 2nd, is Lou Reed’s birthday (b. 1942 d. 2013). This album is so massive, so influential: it’s #13 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and Brian Eno said of its original (and low-selling but we have a copy!!! not bought by us in 1967 though) release that “everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band.” I wonder if “Jan,” whose name is scrawled on the record label and I assume was the original owner of this copy, started a band back in the 60′s.

It’s been reviewed only about a million times, so just highlighting my favorite tracks here: “I’m Waiting For the Man”, “Run, Run, Run” (which I like to sing in my head when I run – OK, plod – along sometimes), “Venus in Furs,” “All Tomorrow’s Parties” and “Heroin.” Those last three always make me feel like I should be draped over a settee in an opulent den of disrepute, shrouded in a haze of candles and incense.

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