A [incomplete] retrospective to Lou Reed

written by Diogo Barreto

Last Sunday, the 27^th of October, the music world lost one of its most important figure. Lou Reed, founder of The Velvet Underground, owner of a successful solo career, singer of songs and singer of life.

Lou Reed; the last photo shoot by Jean Baptiste Mondino.

Shot at Industria Superstudio, NYC. September 21, 2013.

Reed first came to the public’s eye with his counterculture band, The Velvet Underground – the musical project that Andy Warhol took under his wing, down at The Factory. They released one of Rock’s master piece: The Velvet Underground & Nico. Although it was a commercial failure (only 30,000 copies sold!), in the words of Brian Eno: "…everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band."

Lou would release three more albums with The Velvet Underground: White Light/White Heat

(1968); The Velvet Underground (1969) and Loaded (1970), all of those became landmarks in the story of rock music.

Reed launched his solo career in 1972, with is album Lou Reed. Although a good album, it was with is next record that he became a respected solo artist. The name of that effort is Transformer – produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson. In 1973 Reed released Berlin, a rock opera about prostitution, drug use and suicide. In 1975, released Metal Machine Music in which Reed only uses sounds of feedback from his guitar, turning it into a precursor for noise music.

Lou Reed made some records, some good, other not so good, after that and, in 1982, he released The Blue Mask (one of my personal favourites by him). In 1990, Reed teamed up with John Cale (former band member from The Velvet Underground) and they released Songs for Drella, dedicated to the memory of their mentor, Andy Warhol, who had died in 1987.

In 2003, Reed released The Raven – an album inspired by poems of Edgar Allen Poe and with new versions of songs previously recorded by Reed. The album featured artists such as David Bowie, Laurie Anderson and Willem Defoe. 
He participated on albums by John Zorn, Laurie Anderson and Metal Machine Trio.

The last album recorded by Lou was with Metallica: Lulu, based in the play by German playwright Frank Wedekind, of the same name. It was bad received by critics and by fans. In response to this, Reed claimed: "I don't have any fans left. After Metal Machine Music, they all fled. Who cares? I'm essentially in this for the fun of it."

This statement summarizes what Reed meant to me. Just a guy who did what he wanted and what he thought was right. He didn’t care for critics. He did music for the sake of music and wrote for the sake of writing.

Our Must-listen Top 5 (plus one) Lou Reed Songs:

• The Velvet Underground

Heroin - The epic track from Velvet Underground & Nico. It starts with an hypnotic feeling supported by Reed’s voice and guitar and Tucker’s drumming. At first it’s a very melodic song about the consumption of heroin, but later it becomes a pandemonium of sounds, before returning to its hypnotic mood. A song about heroin. Not endorsing it, but also not condemning it. It’s just a great fucking song!

I'm Waiting For The Man - A song about purchasing 26$ worth of drugs in a neighborhood in New York to a dealer (“the Man”). Join the lyrics to a dirty blues instrumental, with a great rhythmic section and you got one of the most suburb songs by The Velvet Underground.

Sister Ray -  A seventeen minute opus recorded in one take. A masterpiece about drugs, violence, murder, sex and travesties, accompanied by one of the best instrumental pieces avant-garde has ever produced. A big battle between Reed’s guitar and Cale’s distorted organ, improvising most of it, it stands as one of the greatest song in all Rock N' Roll catalog.

Sweet Jane - This song is, for sure, a very different song. It has an uncommon association with The Velvet Underground showing another upbeat and rhythmic side of the band. It's a song for everybody, not only Reed and Velvet fans. It's a hit that stands abouve all the other possible hits from the record. It goes straight into your hears and your head and mouth!

• Lou Reed

note: Lou Reed (solo songs) commented by Patricia

Perfect Day - It is a very soft-melodic song, that brings out a very sweet nostalgia being considered to be a very complex song due to the very (supposed) controversial topics. Yet, it has a very deep, dark side living sideways with a very romantic devotion.

Walk On The Wild Side - One of the biggest classic in rock music, and its chorus are very familiar to most of us. It has a constant rhythm through out the song. Once again, Lou Reed choses taboo topics in his lyrics yet giving a very light and kind approach to his music. A must-listen song. For sure!

Lou Reed once said “Without music, we might as well close the planet. Music is the lifeblood of everything. If we didn’t have music, we might as well be dead.”

Your music will live on, nonetheless... you will be missed, Lou.