We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..
Is it odd that a consummate New Yorker like Lou Reed would record his first solo album in London? Is it even weirder that Reed would employ prog-rockers Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe from Yes on the record?
Both are odd enough for me even though Howe adds some tasty guitar fills and solos to the record. Reed is known for his stripped down recording and minimalist vocal style and that’s represented here even if most of the songs aren’t new. “Lou Reed” was the first of two albums he would release in 1972…the 2nd, “Transformer, was much more groundbreaking.
Many on this record are re-recordings of the work he did in the band Velvet Underground. Here are some of the original versions…..
I like some of the re-styled old stuff…”I Can’t Stand It”, Walk It And Talk It (nice guitar solo…is that Howe?), the Dylanesque “Wild Child” and “Ride Into The Sun”. “Lisa Says” is strong and a number of the others work as well. The new song “Going Down” is sufficiently dark.
This album did not do well but Reed wouldn’t give up and his trenchant views of the weird and wacky denizens of Andy Warhol’s world and the streets of NYC would manifest themselves later in the year. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
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