Lou Reed, 1942-2013: He Taught Rock to Walk on the Wild Side

image from Lou Reed’s classic 1972 Transformer album

Rolling Stone reports that rock iconLou Reed has died. According to TheGuardian.com, the death has been confirmed by Reed’s UK music agent, Andy Woolliscroft. While no official word has been offered on the cause, he underwent a liver transport earlier this year. He is survived by his wife, performance artist Laurie Anderson, who he married in 2008. He was 71.

Reed was born Louis Firbank on 3/2/1942 in Long Island, New York. Sometimes dubbed “The Godfather of Punk,” the experimental singer/songwriter’s influence dates back to the 1960s when he helmed the Andy Warhol-produced art-rock group, The Velvet Underground. They never sold much, but their impact on the music world was immeasurable. Producer and musician Brian Eno famously quipped, “The first Velvet Underground album onl y sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band.”

The group was short-lived, but Reed embarked on a 40-year-plus solo career marked by classic albums like Transformer and Berlin, both of which rank in the top 1000 albums of all time according to Dave’s Music Database. DMDB Top 1000 song “Walk on the Wild Side” became an ode to the seedier and trampled-upon outsiders of society who populated Reed’s world. In regards to Reed’s impact on the music world, RollingStone.com’s Jon Dolan said, “Glam, punk and alternative rock are all unthinkable without his revelatory example.”

Alternative-music website SlicingUpEyeballs.com posted tweets from various musicians. The Pixies’ Black Francis simply said, “Rock and roll forever.” Lloyd Cole said, “Without Lou…I’d probably be a maths teacher.” Dave Navarro called him “one of my all time heroes.” Billboard.com also reported tweets from The Who: “R.I.P. Lou Reed. Walk on the peaceful side” and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea: “I love Lou Reed so much. Always.” Jim James, frontman from My Morning Jacket, said, “You made the world a better place. We are forever grateful.” Russell Simmons, who co-founded the Def Jam label, said, “New York lost one of our greatest gifts today.”

Walk on the Wild Side

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Awards:

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Resources and Related Links:

• Lou Reed’s DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry
• Velvet Underground’s DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry
• Billboard.com (10/27/13). “Rock Icon Lou Reed Dead at 71.” By Mike Barnes.
• Billboard.com (10/27/13). “Lou Reed’s Death: Stars React on Twitter.’ By Billboard staff.
• TheGuardian.com (10/27/13). “Lou Reed, lead singer of Velvet Underground, dies aged 71.” By Sam Jones and Shiv Malik.
• RollingStone.com (10/27/13). “Lou Reed, Velvet Underground Leader and Rock Pioneer, Dead at 71.” By Jon Dolan.
• SlicingUpEyeballs.com (10/27/13). “RIP Lou Reed: Ian McCulloch, Pixies, Kim Gordon, Lloyd Cole, more on legend’s death.”

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Lou Reed: A Retrospective (1972-2011)

Lou Reed A Retrospective: 1972-2011

Born: March 2, 1942 as Louis Firbank Where: Freeport, Long Island, NY Overview: Experimental rock singer/songwriter born 3/2/1942 in Long Island, NY. Died 10/27/2013. Established himself as "The Godfather of Punk" with art-rock group The Velvet Underground (1965-70) before going solo in the 1970s. “The career of Lou Reed defies capsule summarization. Like David Bowie (whom Reed directly inspired in many ways), he has made over his image many times, mutating from theatrical glam-rocker to scary looking junkie to avant-garde noiseman to straight rock & roller to your average guy. A firmer grasp of rock’s earthier qualities has ensured a more consistent career path than Bowie’s, particularly in his latter years. Yet his catalog is extremely inconsistent, in both quality and stylistic orientation. Liking one Lou Reed LP, or several, or all of the ones he did in a particular era, is no guarantee that you’ll like all of them, or even most of them.” AM1 “Few would deny Reed’s immense importance and considerable achievements, however. As has often been written, he expanded the vocabulary of rock & roll lyrics into the previously forbidden territory of kinky sex, drug use (and abuse), decadence, transvestites, homosexuality, and suicidal depression. As has been pointed out less often, he remained (and remains) committed to using rock & roll as a forum for literary, mature expression well into middle age, without growing lyrically soft or musically complacent. By and large, he’s taken on these challenging duties with uncompromising honesty and a high degree of realism.” AM1 “For these reasons, he’s often cited as punk’s most important ancestor. It’s often overlooked, though, that he’s equally skilled at celebrating romantic joy, and rock & roll itself, as he is at depicting harrowing urban realities.” AM1 The Velvet Underground “Although Reed achieved his greatest success as a solo artist, his most enduring accomplishments were as the leader of the Velvet Underground in the ‘60s. If Reed had never made any solo records, his work as the principal lead singer and songwriter for the Velvets would have still ensured his stature as one of the greatest rock visionaries of all time…The four studio albums they recorded with Reed at the helm are essential listening, as is much of their live and extraneous material. Heroin, Sister Ray, Sweet Jane, Rock and Roll, Venus in Furs, All Tomorrow’s Parties, What Goes On, and Lisa Says are just the most famous classics that Reed wrote and sang for the group.” AM1 “As innovative as the Velvets were at breaking lyrical and instrumental taboos with their crunching experimental rock, they were unappreciated in their lifetime. Five years of little commercial success was undoubtedly a factor in Reed leaving the group he had founded in August 1970, just before the release of their most accessible effort, Loaded.” AM1 “Although Reed’s songs and street wise, sing-speak vocals dominated the Velvets, he was perhaps more reliant upon his talented collaborators than he realized, or is even willing to admit to this day. The most talented of these associates was John Cale, who was apparently fired by Reed in 1968 after the Velvets’ second album (although the pair have worked together on various other projects since then).” AM1 Reed Goes Solo “Reed’s solo work ultimately cannot stack up to his Velvet output, despite its many highlights. Still, most would have to concede that with the exception of Neil Young, no other star that rose to fame in the ‘60s has continued to push himself so diligently into creating work that is meaningful and contemporary. If that means he relies on stock musical and lyrical ideas at times (as Young does), it also means he’s proved that rock can remain relevant to listeners other than hormone-crazed teenagers.” AM1 “Reed has a reputation of being a difficult man to work with…and that has made it difficult for his extensive solo oeuvre to compete with the standards of brilliance set by the Velvets. Nowhere was this more apparent than on his self-titled solo debut…recorded after he’d taken an extended hiatus from music, moving back to his parents’ suburban Long Island home at one point. Lou Reed mostly consisted of flaccid versions of songs dating back to the Velvet days, and he could have really used the group to punch them up, as the many outtake versions of these tunes that he actually recorded with the Velvet Underground (some of which didn’t surface until about 25 years later) prove.” AM1 His Most Acclaimed Solo Work “Reed got a shot in the arm (no distasteful pun intended) when David Bowie and Mick Ronson produced his second album, Transformer. A more energetic set that betrayed the influence of glam rock, it also included his sole Top 20 hit, Walk on the Wild Side, and other good songs like Vicious and Satellite of Love. It also made him a star in Britain, which was quick to appreciate the influence Reed had exerted on Bowie and other glam rockers.” AM1 “Reed went into more serious territory on Berlin (1973), its sweet orchestral production coating lyrical messages of despair and suicide. In some ways Reed’s most ambitious and impressive solo effort, it was accorded a vituperative reception by critics in no mood for a nonstop bummer (however elegantly executed). Unbelievably, in retrospect, it made the Top Ten in Britain, though it flopped stateside.” AM1 The Extremes of Commercialism “Having been given a cold shoulder for some of his most serious (if chilling) work, Reed apparently decided he was going to give the public what it wanted. He had guitarists Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner (who had already played on Berlin) give his music a pop-metal, more radio-friendly sheen. More disturbingly, he decided to play up to the cartoon junkie role that some in his audience seemed eager to assign to him. On-stage, that meant shocking bleached hair, painted fingernails, and simulated drug injections. On record, it led to some of his most careless performances. One of these, the 1974 album Sally Can’t Dance, was also his most commercially successful, reaching the Top Ten, thus confirming both Reed’s and the audience's worst instincts.” AM1 “As if to prove he could still be as uncompromising as anyone, he unleashed the double album ,i>Metal Machine Music, a nonstop assault of unlistenable electronic noise. Opinions remain divided as to whether it was an artistic statement, a contract quota-filler, or a slap in the face of the public.” AM1 The Lean Years “While Reed has never behaved as outrageously (in public and in the studio) as he did in the mid-‘70s, there's been plenty of excitement in the past two decades. When he decided to play it relatively straight, sincere, and hard-nosed, he could produce affecting work in the spirit of his best vintage material (parts of Coney Island Baby and Street Hassle). At other points, he seemed not to be putting too much effort into any aspect of his songs (Rock & Roll Heart). With 1978’s Take No Prisoners, he delivered one of the weirdest concert albums of all time, more of a comedy monologue (which not too many people laughed hard at) than a musical document. Reed had always been an enigma, but no one questioned the serious intent of his work with the Velvet Underground. As a soloist, it was getting impossible to tell when he was serious, or whether he even wished to be taken seriously anymore.” AM1 A Slight Critical Resurgence “At the end of the ‘70s, The Bells set the tone for most of his future work. Reed would settle down; he would play it straight; he would address serious, adult concerns, including heterosexual romance, with sincerity. Not a bad idea, but though the albums that followed were much more consistent in tone, they remained erratic in quality and, worse, could occasionally be quite boring.” AM1 “The recruitment of Robert Quine as lead guitarist helped, and The Blue Mask (1982) and New Sensations (1984) were fairly successful, although in retrospect they didn’t deserve the raves they received from some critics at the time. Quine, however, would also find Reed too difficult to work with for an extended period.” AM1 Back on Top in the Critical Acclaim World “New York (1989) heralded both a commercial and critical renaissance for Reed, and in truth it was his best work in quite some time, although it didn’t break any major stylistic ground. Reed works best when faced with a challenge, which arrived when he collaborated with former partner John Cale in 1990 on a song cycle for the recently deceased Andy Warhol. In both its recorded and stage incarnations, this was the most experimental work that Reed had devised in quite some time. Magic and Loss (1992) returned him to the more familiar straight rock territory of New York, again to critical raves.” AM1 A Velvet Reunion “The re-formation of the Velvet Underground for a 1993 European live tour could not be considered an unqualified success, however. European audiences were thrilled to see the legends in person, but critical reaction to the shows was mixed, and critical reaction to the live record was tepid. More distressingly, old conflicts reared their head within the band once again, and the reunion ended before it had a chance to get to America. Cale and Reed at this point seem determined never to work with each other again (the death of Velvet Underground guitarist Sterling Morrison in 1995 seemed to permanently ice prospects of more VU projects).” AM1 “In 1996, the surviving Velvet Underground members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, performing a newly penned song for their fallen comrade, Morrison.” AM1 Back to the Solo World “Reed closed the ‘90s with an album that saw him explore relationships, 1996’s Set the Twilight Reeling (many speculated that the album was biographical and focused on his union with performance artist Laurie Anderson), which turned out to not be one of Reed’s more critically acclaimed releases.” AM1 “He also found time to compose music for the Robert Wilson opera Timerocker, and in 1998, released the ‘unplugged’ album Perfect Night: Live in London. The same year, Reed was the subject of a superb installment of the PBS American Masters series that chronicled his entire career (eventually released as a DVD, titled Rock and Roll Heart).” AM1 “2000 saw Reed’s first release for Reprise Records, Ecstasy, a glorious return to raw and straightforward rock, a tour de force that many agreed was his finest work since New York.” AM1 “Another collaboration with Robert Wilson, POE-try, followed in 2001 and continued it's worldwide stage run through the year. Including new music by Reed and words adapted from the macabre texts of Edgar Allen Poe, POE-try led to Reed’s highly ambitious next album, The Raven.” AM1 “Animal Serenade, a double-disc set recorded at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles during his 2003 world tour, was issued in spring 2004. The live effort is Reed’s tribute of sorts to his celebrated Rock'n'Roll Animal concert album, which was released 30 years before.” AM1 Links DMDB encyclopedia entry for Lou Reed Dave’s Music Database: Lou Reed/Velvet Underground: Top 50 Songs Dave’s Music Database: Velvet Underground/Lou Reed: Top 10 Albums DMDB blog (10/27/2013). “Lou Reed, 1942-2013: He Taught Rock to Walk on the Wild Side” LouReed.org (official site) Facebook Wikipedia Rock and Roll Animal Dave’s Music Database: Velvet Underground profile page DMDB encyclopedia entry for Velvet Underground

Awards

Studio Albums (Velvet Underground)

Studio Albums (Lou Reed)

Compilations WW Walk on the Wild Side: The Best of (covers 1972-75, released 1977) DT Different Times: Lou Reed in the ‘70s (covers 1972-75, released 1996) RD Rock and Roll Diary: 1967-1980 (covers 1967-80, released 1980) BO The Best of Lou Reed & Velvet Underground (covers 1966-84, released 1995) RT Retro (covers 1967-1984, released 1989) PD Perfect Day (covers 1972-84, released 1997) VR The Very Best of (covers 1970-84, released 2000) RS A Retrospective (covers 1972-86, released 1998) LG Legendary (box set: covers 1972-86, released 2002) BT Between Thought and Expression (box set: covers 1972-88, released 1992) DC The Definitive Collection (covers 1972-96, released 1999) UC NYC Man – The Ultimate Collection (covers 1966-2003, released 2003) GH NYC Man – Greatest Hits (covers 1967-2003, released 2004) Spotify Playlist Here’s my Lou Reed 1972-2003 playlist at Spotify for Lou Reed. This includes all songs from Walk on the Wild Side: The Best of (1977), Rock and Roll Diary: 1967-1980 (1980), Retro (1989), Between Thought and Expression (1992), The Best of Lou Reed & Velvet Underground (1995), Different Times: Lou Reed in the ‘70s (1996), Perfect Day (1997), A Retrospective (1998), The Definitive Collection (1999), The Very Best of (2000), NYC Man – The Ultimate Collection (2003), and NYC Man – Greatest Hits (2004). Under each album snapshot, songs featured on the anthologies are noted. If the song charted, the date of the song’s release or first chart appearance and its chart peaks are noted in parentheses. Click for codes to charts.

Lou Reed Lou Reed

Released: May 1972 Peak: 189 US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU, 13 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 3.525 out of 5.00 (average of 22 ratings)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Tracks: I Can’t Stand It WM, PS, 20, VV, G, DT, BT, RS Going Down LG Walk and Talk It Lisa Says WM, PS, G, DT, VR, BT Berlin DT, RD, RT, BO, VR, UC, GH I Love You WW, BO, LG Wild Child WW, RT, BO Love Makes You Feel DT, LG Ride into the Sun Ocean PS, G, VR, LG, BT About the Album: “Nearly 30 years after it came out, Lou Reed’s solo debut suggests that neither Reed nor his new record company were quite sure about what to do with him in 1972. It would be years before the cult of the Velvet Underground became big enough to mean anything commercially, leaving Lou pretty much back where he started from in the public eye after five years of hard work, and he seemed to be searching for a different musical direction on this set without quite deciding what it would be.” AM2 “While the best tunes are admirably lean, no-frills rock & roll, there are also several featuring tricked-up arrangements that don’t suit the material terribly well (at no other time in history would anyone believe that Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman would be a good choice as backing musicians for the guy who wrote ‘Sister Ray’).” AM2 “Lou also didn’t appear to have done much songwriting since he left the Velvets in 1970; with the exception of the hilariously catty ‘Wild Child’ and ‘Berlin,’ a song Reed would revisit a few years later, nearly every significant song on Lou Reed dated back to his tenure with the Velvet Underground, though it would be years before that band’s recordings of ‘I Can’t Stand It,’ ‘Lisa Says,’ or ‘Ocean’ would surface. On its own terms, Lou Reed isn’t a bad album, but it isn’t a terribly interesting one either and since superior performances of most of these songs are available elsewhere, it stands today more as a historical curiosity than anything else.” AM2 Go to the DMDB page for more about this album.

Transformer Lou Reed

Released: November 8, 1972 Peak: 29 US, 13 UK, 12 CN, 12 AU, 14 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.3 UK Genre: glam rock Rating: 4.539 out of 5.00 (average of 28 ratings)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Tracks: Vicious DT, RT, BO, VR, LG, BT, RS, DC, UC Andy’s Chest LG Perfect Day DT, RT, BO, VR, LG, PD, UC, GH Hangin’ ‘Round Walk on the Wild Side WW, DT, RD, RT, BO, VR, LG, BT, RS, DC, UC, GH Make Up LG Satellite of Love WW, DT, RT, BO, VR, LG, BT, RS, UC, GH Wagon Wheel New York Telephone Conversation WW I’m So Free Goodnight Ladies About the Album: “David Bowie has never been shy about acknowledging his influences, and since the boho decadence and sexual ambiguity of the Velvet Underground’s music had a major impact on Bowie’s work, it was only fitting that as Ziggy Stardust mania was reaching its peak, Bowie would offer Lou Reed some much needed help with his career, which was stuck in neutral after his first solo album came and went. Musically, Reed’s work didn’t have too much in common with the sonic bombast of the glam scene, but at least it was a place where his eccentricities could find a comfortable home, and on Transformer Bowie and his right-hand man, Mick Ronson, crafted a new sound for Reed that was better fitting (and more commercially astute) than the ambivalent tone of his first solo album. Ronson adds some guitar raunch to ‘Vicious’ and ‘Hangin’ Round’ that’s a lot flashier than what Reed cranked out with the Velvets, but still honors Lou’s strengths in guitar-driven hard rock, while the imaginative arrangements Ronson cooked up for ‘Perfect Day,’ ‘Walk on the Wild Side,’ and ‘Goodnight Ladies’ blend pop polish with musical thinking just as distinctive as Reed’s lyrical conceits.” AM2 “And while Reed occasionally overplays his hand in writing stuff he figured the glam kids wanted (‘Make Up’ and ‘I’m So Free’ being the most obvious examples), ‘Perfect Day,’ ‘Walk on the Wild Side,’ and ‘New York Telephone Conversation’ proved he could still write about the demimonde with both perception and respect. The sound and style of Transformer would in many ways define Reed’s career in the 1970s, and while it led him into a style that proved to be a dead end, you can’t deny that Bowie and Ronson gave their hero a new lease on life – and a solid album in the bargain.” AM2 Go to the DMDB page for more about this album.

Berlin Lou Reed

Released: October 5, 1973 Peak: 98 US, 7 UK, 51 CN, 59 AU, 13 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.06 UK Genre: rock Rating: 4.038 out of 5.00 (average of 23 ratings)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Tracks: Berlin DT, RD, RT, BO, VR, UC, GH Lady Day RT, LG Men of Good Fortune VR, LG, PD Caroline Says I DT, LG, BT, RS How Do You Think It Feels WW, BO, RT, LG, BT Oh, Jim LG, BT Caroline Says II DT, RT, VR, BT, UC The Kids BT, UC The Bed Sad Song DT, BT, PD About the Album: “Transformer and ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ were both major hits in 1972, to the surprise of both Lou Reed and the music industry, and with Reed suddenly a hot commodity, he used his newly won clout to make the most ambitious album of his career, Berlin.” AM2 “Berlin was the musical equivalent of a drug-addled kid set loose in a candy store; the album’s songs, which form a loose story line about a doomed romance between two chemically fueled bohemians, were fleshed out with a huge, boomy production (Bob Ezrin at his most grandiose) and arrangements overloaded with guitars, keyboards, horns, strings, and any other kitchen sink that was handy (the session band included Jack Bruce, Steve Winwood, Aynsley Dunbar, and Tony Levin).” AM2 And while Reed had often been accused of focusing on the dark side of life, he and Ezrin approached Berlin as their opportunity to make The Most Depressing Album of All Time, and they hardly missed a trick.” AM2 “This all seemed a bit much for an artist who made such superb use of the two-guitars/bass/drums lineup with the Velvet Underground, especially since Reed doesn’t even play electric guitar on the album; the sheer size of Berlin ultimately overpowers both Reed and his material. But if Berlin is largely a failure of ambition, that sets it apart from the vast majority of Reed’s lesser works; Lou’s vocals are both precise and impassioned, and though a few of the songs are little more than sketches, the best – ‘How Do You Think It Feels,’ ‘Oh, Jim,’ ‘The Kids,’ and ‘Sad Song’ – are powerful, bitter stuff. It's hard not to be impressed by Berlin, given the sheer scope of the project, but while it earns an A for effort, the actual execution merits more of a B-.” AM2 Go to the DMDB page for more about this album.

Sally Can’t Dance Lou Reed

Released: August 1974 Peak: 10 US, -- UK, 22 CN, 14 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 3.232 out of 5.00 (average of 21 ratings)

Tracks: Ride Sally Ride Animal Language Baby Face N.Y. Stars Kill Your Sons DT, RT, LG, BT, RS, UC Ennui Sally Can’t Dance (1974 single) WW, DT, RT, BO, VR, LG, UC Billy LG Good Taste * LG About the Album: “On the live album Rock N Roll Animal, Lou Reed showed he’d learned how to give his audience what they wanted, and do it well. Sally Can’t Dance, on the other hand, was the polar opposite, a remarkably cynical album that pandered to the lowest common denominator of the market that had bought Transformer and Rock N Roll Animal, and didn’t even do it with much flair.” AM2 “Reed’s performances here are limited to vocals, except for some sloppy acoustic guitar on one track (this from the man who helped reinvent electric guitar with the Velvet Underground), and the sodden, overblown arrangements sink most of these tunes before they get past the first chorus; much of the time, Reed sounds like an afterthought on his own album.” AM2 “While Reed’s best songwriting ranks with the best rock of his generation, Sally Can’t Dance is cluttered with throwaways that reach for the boho decadence of Transformer and come up empty (with special recognition going to the bizarre and truly puzzling ‘Animal Language’).” AM2 “Side two does offer two worthwhile songs: ‘Kill Your Sons,’ a powerful and deeply personal remembrance of Reed’s bouts with shock treatment and brutal psychotherapy, which he would revisit in a much stronger performance on 1984’s Live in Italy, and ‘Billy,’ a witty and surprisingly poignant remembrance of an old friend and how their paths in life diverged. But otherwise, Sally Can’t Dance has the distinction of being the worst studio album of Reed’s career; Metal Machine Music may have been a lot more annoying, but at least he was trying on that one.” AM2

Metal Machine Music Lou Reed

Released: July 1975 Peak: -- US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 1.796 out of 5.00 (average of 11 ratings)

Tracks: Metal Machine Music A-1 [16:10] Metal Machine Music A-2 [15:53] Metal Machine Music A-3 [16:13] Metal Machine Music A-4 [15:55] About the Album: “One would be hard-pressed to name a major artist who ever released an album as thoroughly alienating as Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music; at a time when noise rock and punk had yet to make their presence known, Reed released this 64-minute aural assault that offered up a densely layered soundscape constructed from feedback, distortion, and atonal guitar runs sped up or slowed down until they were all but unrecognizable.” AM2 Metal Machine Music seems a bit less startling today, now that bands like Sonic Youth and the Boredoms have created some sort of context for it, but it hasn’t gotten any more user friendly with time – while Thurston Moore may go nuts on his guitar like this for three or four minutes at a stretch, Metal Machine Music goes on and on and on for over an hour, pausing only for side breaks with no rhythms, melodies, or formal structures to buffer the onslaught.” AM2 If you’re brave enough to listen to the whole thing, it’s hard not to marvel at the scope of Reed’s obsession; it’s obvious he spent a lot of time on these layered sheets of noise, and enthusiasts of the violent guitar freakout may find it pleasing in short bursts. But confronting Metal Machine Music from front to back in one sitting is an experience that’s both brutal and numbing.” AM2 “It’s hard to say what Lou Reed had in mind when he made Metal Machine Music, and Reed has done little to clarify the issue over the years, though he summed it up quite pointedly in an interview in which he said, ‘Well, anyone who gets to side four is dumber than I am.’ For the record, I did get to side four. But I got paid for it.” AM2

Coney Island Baby Lou Reed

Released: December 1975 Peak: 41 US, 52 UK, -- CN, 25 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 3.725 out of 5.00 (average of 21 ratings)

Tracks: Crazy Feeling (1976 single) LG Charley’s Girl (March 1976 single) She’s My Best Friend DT Kicks BT A Gift DT, LG, PD Ooohh Baby Nobody’s Business LG Coney Island Baby WW, DT, RT, BO, VR, LG, BT, RS, PD, DC, UC, GH Nowhere at All * WW, BO, LG, BT, RS Downtown Dirt * BT, PD * bonus track About the Album: “From 1972’s Transformer onward, Lou Reed spent most of the ‘70s playing the druggy decadence card for all it was worth, with increasingly mixed results. But on 1976’s Coney Island Baby, Reed’s songwriting began to move into warmer, more compassionate territory, and the result was his most approachable album since Loaded. On most of the tracks, Reed stripped his band back down to guitar, bass, and drums, and the results were both leaner and a lot more comfortable than the leaden over-production of Sally Can’t Dance or Berlin.” AM2 “‘Crazy Feeling,’ ‘She’s My Best Friend,’ and ‘Coney Island Baby’ found Reed actually writing recognizable love songs for a change, and while Reed pursued his traditional interest in the underside of the hipster’s life on ‘Charlie’s Girl’ and ‘Nobody’s Business,’ he did so with a breezy, freewheeling air that was truly a relief after the lethargic tone of Sally Can’t Dance.” AM2 “‘Kicks’ used an audio-tape collage to generate atmospheric tension that gave its tale of drugs and death a chilling quality that was far more effective than his usual blasé take on the subject, and ‘Coney Island Baby’ was the polar opposite, a song about love and regret that was as sincere and heart-tugging as anything the man has ever recorded.” AM2 “Coney Island Baby sounds casual on the surface, but emotionally it’s as compelling as anything Lou Reed released in the 1970s, and proved he could write about real people with recognizable emotions as well as anyone in rock music – something you might not have guessed from most of the solo albums that preceded it.” AM2

Walk on the Wild Side: The Best of (compilation) Lou Reed

Recorded: 1972-1975 Released: April 1977 Peak: 156 US, 144 UK, -- CN, 160 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 3.314 out of 5.00 (average of 14 ratings)

Tracks: (1) Satellite of Love (2) Wild Child (3) I Love You (4) How Do You Think It Feels (5) New York Telephone Conversation (6) Walk on the Wild Side (7) Sweet Jane (live) (8) White Light/White Heat (live) (9) Sally Can’t Dance (10) Nowhere at All (11) Coney Island Baby Total Running Time: 41:37 About the Album: Reed had six solo studio albums under his belt at this point but it would be hard to say he’d really had “hits.” “Walk on the Wild Side” was the most iconic song of Reed’s career. Beyond that, casual fans weren’t likely to know more than “Satellite of Love” and the two Velvet Underground songs (“Sweet Jane” and “White Light/White Heat”) presented live by Reed solo here.

Different Times: Lou Reed in the ‘70s (compilation) Lou Reed

Recorded: 1972-1975 Released: May 1996 Peak: -- US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 3.443 out of 5.00 (average of 12 ratings)

Tracks: (1) I Can’t Stand It (2) Love Makes You Feel (3) Lisa Says (4) Walk on the Wild Side (5) Perfect Day (6) Satellite of Love (7) Vicious (8) Berlin (9) Caroline Says I (10) Sad Song (11) Caroline Says II (12) Sweet Jane (13) Kill Your Sons (14) Sally Can’t Dance (15) A Gift (16) She’s My Best Friend (17) Coney Island Baby Total Running Time: 76:16 About the Album: This is a superior collection to Walk on the Wild Side: The Best of, if only because it has more songs, including “I Can’t Stand It,” “Lisa Says,” “Berlin.”

Rock and Roll Heart Lou Reed

Released: October 1976 Peak: 64 US, -- UK, 91 CN, 68 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 2.993 out of 5.00 (average of 21 ratings)

Tracks: I Believe in Love (Nov. 1976) Banging on My Drum Follow the Leader You Wear It So Well (with Garland Jeffreys) Ladies Pay Rock and Roll Heart (4/22/77) VR, BT, PD Chooser and the Chosen One (single, 1977) Senselessly Cruel Claim to Fame Vicious Circle BT, PD, DC A Sheltered Life Temporary Thing RD, BT, PD, DC, UC About the Album: “Rock and Roll Heart was Lou Reed’s first album for Arista Records, and one senses that he wanted to come up with something saleable for his new sponsors. Up-tempo numbers with pop hooks dominate the set, the 12 songs zip by in an efficient 38 minutes, and instead of Reed’s trademark meditations on the dark side of life, the lyrics are (for the most part) lean bursts of verse and chorus, in which the artist sings the praises of good times in general and rock & roll in particular (then again, on ‘I Believe in Love,’ Reed pledges his allegiance to both ‘good time music’ and ‘the iron cross,’ a bit of perversity to remind us whose album this is).” AM2 “But if Rock and Roll Heart sounds like ‘Lou Reed Lite,’ there are more than a few flashes of Reed’s inarguable talent. His band is in fine form (especially Marty Fogel on sax and Michael Fonfara on keyboards). ‘Banging on My Drum’ is a crunchy rocker that recalls his work with the Velvet Underground ; ‘A Sheltered Life’ is an amusing bit of VU archeology (the Velvets demoed the song, but this marked its first appearance on record); and the closer, ‘Temporary Thing,’ is a bitter, haunting narrative that foreshadows Reed’s next album, the harrowing masterpiece Street Hassle.” AM2

Street Hassle Lou Reed

Released: February 1978 Peak: 89 US, -- UK, -- CN, 24 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 3.520 out of 5.00 (average of 21 ratings)

Tracks: Gimme Some Good Times Dirt Street Hassle (a) Waltzing Matilda (b) Street Hassle (c) Slip Away (1978 single) RD, BT, VC, UC I Wanna Be Black VR, DC, UC Real Good Time Together BT, PD Shooting Star DC, UC Leave Me Alone BT, PD Wait About the Album: “The rise of the punk/new wave movement in the late ‘70s proved just how pervasive Lou Reed’s influence had been through the past decade, but it also gave him some stiff competition, as suddenly Reed was no longer the only poet of the New York streets.” AM2 “1978’s Street Hassle was Reed’s first album after punk had gained public currency, and Reed appeared to have taken the minimal approach of punk to heart. With the exception of Metal Machine Music, Street Hassle was Reed’s rawest set of the 1970s; partly recorded live, with arrangements stripped to the bone, Street Hassle was dark, deep, and ominous, a 180-degree turn from the polished neo-glam of Transformer.” AM2 “Lyrically, Street Hassle found Reed looking deep into himself and not liking what he saw. Opening with an uncharitable parody of ‘Sweet Jane,’ Street Hassle found Reed acknowledging just how much a self-parody he’d become in the 1970s, and just how much he hated himself for it, on songs like ‘Dirt’ and ‘Shooting Star.’” AM2 Street Hassle was Reed’s most creatively ambitious album since Berlin, and it sounded revelatory on first release in 1978. Sadly, time has magnified its flaws; the Lenny Bruce-inspired ‘I Wanna Be Black’ sounds like a bad idea today, and the murk of the album’s binaural mix isn’t especially flattering to anyone.” AM2 “But the album’s best moments are genuinely exciting, and the title cut, a three-movement poetic tone poem about life on the New York streets, is one of the most audacious and deeply moving moments of Reed’s solo career.” AM2 Raw, wounded, and unapologetically difficult, Street Hassle isn’t the masterpiece Reed was shooting for, but it’s still among the most powerful and compelling albums he released during the 1970s, and too personal and affecting to ignore.” AM2

The Bells Lou Reed

Released: April 1979 Peak: 130 US, -- UK, -- CN, 58 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 2.995 out of 5.00 (average of 21 ratings)

Tracks: Stupid Man Disco Mystic (1979 single) I Want to Boogie with You VR, DC With You Looking for Love DC City Lights (1979 single) All Through the Night RD Families The Bells BT, DC, UC About the Album: “After the harrowing triumph of Street Hassle, Lou Reed’s The Bells sounded like a bit of a step back; it returned Reed to the more listener-friendly, keyboard-dominated sound of Rock and Roll Heart, the lyrics lacked the caustic self-loathing of songs like ‘Dirt’ or ‘I Wanna Be Black,’ and it even featured a four-and-a-half-minute funk workout called ‘Disco Mystic’ (hey, this was 1979).” AM2 “Lyrically, The Bells found Reed moving away from the boho decadence of most of his 1970s work and toward a more compassionate perspective on his characters; ‘Families’ and ‘All Through the Night’ display an empathy and emotional depth Reed didn’t often allow himself as a solo artist, and ‘Stupid Man’ and ‘Looking for Love’ rocked hard while making the loneliness of their protagonists felt.” AM2 “The title cut, with Reed experimenting with a guitar synthesizer and free jazz hero Don Cherry inviting the spirit on trumpet, is both a brave exploration of musical space and a lyrically touching sketch of loss and salvation. An album that’s worn well over time, The Bells gains depth with each playing and now sounds like one of Reed’s finest solo efforts of the 1970s.” AM2

Growing Up in Public Lou Reed

Released: April 1980 Peak: 158 US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 2.767 out of 5.00 (average of 21 ratings)

Tracks: How Do You Speak to an Angel PD My Old Man Keep Away RD Growing Up in Public PD Standing on Ceremony So Alone RD Love Is Here to Stay The Power of Positive Drinking (1980 single) Smiles Think It Over BT, PD Teach the Gifted Children BT About the Album: “Growing Up in Public was a transitional album for Lou Reed; it was his last set with his long-running road band (dominated by keyboardist Michael Fonfara), and while the fleshed-out arrangements are of a piece with Reed’s work on Rock and Roll Heart and The Bells, the lyrics of the best songs anticipate the directly personal, emotionally naked songwriting that marked the two extraordinary albums that would follow, The Blue Mask and Legendary Hearts.” AM2 “‘How Do You Speak to an Angel,’ ‘My Old Man,’ and ‘Standing on Ceremony’ deal with Reed’s family issues with a direct force he hadn’t summoned since ‘Kill Your Sons’ (we’ll leave it to others to debate their accuracy), and ‘So Alone’ and ‘Keep Away’ both offer a trenchant but heart-rending look at modern relationships. And ‘The Power of Positive Drinking’ is amusing, but rather surprising coming from a guy who would give up alcohol and drugs a year after this was released.” AM2 “Growing Up in Public didn’t get much notice on its initial release, but all these years later it sounds like a dry run for what was to be the most creatively fruitful period of Lou Reed’s solo career.” AM2

Rock and Roll Diary: 1967-1980 (compilation) Velvet Underground/Lou Reed

Recorded: 1967-1980 Released: December 1980 Peak: 178 US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 3.398 out of 5.00 (average of 13 ratings)

Tracks: (1) I’m Waiting for the Man (2) White Light/White Heat (3) I Heard Her Call My Name (4) Pale Blue Eyes (5) Beginning to See the Light (6) Sweet Jane (7) Rock and Roll (8) Heroin (live) (9) Femme Fatale (live) (10) Walk on the Wild Side (11) Berlin (12) Men of Good Fortune (13) The Kids (14) Coney Island Baby (live) (15) Temporary Thing (16) All Through the Night (17) So Alone (18) How Do You Speak to an Angel (19) Keep Away (20) Street Hassle Total Running Time: 74:29 About the Album: This is more of a career retrospective than previous Lou Reed compilations as nearly half the set is dedicated to his Velvet Underground days. When it comes to the Lou Reed solo material, there are some obvious oversights (“Satellite of Love,” “Perfect Day,” “I Can’t Stand It,” “Berlin”).

The Blue Mask Lou Reed

Charted: February 27, 1982 Peak: 169 US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 3.766 out of 5.00 (average of 22 ratings)

Tracks: My House BT Women (1982 single) Underneath the Bottle (1982 single) LG The Gun VR, LG, BT, PD The Blue Mask (1982 single) BT, RS, DC, UC, GH Average Guy The Heroine Waves of Fear LG, BT The Day John Kennedy Died LG Heavenly Arms About the Album: “In 1982, 12 years after he left the Velvet Underground, Lou Reed released The Blue Mask, the first album where he lived up to the potential he displayed in the most groundbreaking of all American rock bands.” AM2 “The Blue Mask was Reed’s first album after he overcame a long-standing addiction to alcohol and drugs, and it reveals a renewed focus and dedication to craft – for the first time in years, Reed had written an entire album’s worth of moving, compelling songs, and was performing them with keen skill and genuine emotional commitment.” AM2 “Reed was also playing electric guitar again, and with the edgy genius he summoned up on White Light/White Heat. Just as importantly, he brought Robert Quine on board as his second guitarist, giving Reed a worthy foil who at once brought great musical ideas to the table, and encouraged the bandleader to make the most of his own guitar work. (Reed also got superb support from his rhythm section, bassist extraordinaire Fernando Saunders and ace drummer Doane Perry).” AM2 “As Reed stripped his band back to a muscular two-guitars/bass/drums format, he also shed the faux-decadent ‘Rock N Roll Animal’ persona that had dominated his solo work and wrote clearly and fearlessly of his life, his thoughts, and his fears, performing the songs with supreme authority whether he was playing with quiet subtlety (such as the lovely ‘My House’ or the unnerving ‘The Gun’) or cranked-to-ten fury (the paranoid ‘Waves of Fear’ and the emotionally devastating title cut).” AM2 “Intelligent, passionate, literate, mature, and thoroughly heartfelt, The Blue Mask was everything Reed’s fans had been looking for in his work for years, and it’s vivid proof that for some rockers, life can begin on the far side of 35.” AM2

Legendary Hearts Lou Reed

Released: March 1983 Peak: 159 US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 3.420 out of 5.00 (average of 20 ratings)

Tracks: Legendary Hearts LG, BT, RS, PD, UC, GH Don’t Talk to Me About Work (1983 single) Make Up Mind LG Martial Law (1983 single) The Last Shot VR, LG, BT, PD, UC Turn Out the Light Pow Wow Betrayed LG Bottoming Out LG Home of the Brave LG Rooftop Garden LG About the Album: “If Legendary Hearts seemed like a disappointment in 1983, that was largely because the year before Lou Reed had released The Blue Mask, one of the finest albums of his career, and Legendary Hearts just wasn’t quite as good. But pull it off the shelf today, give it a listen, and Legendary Hearts easily shuts down nearly anything Reed released in the 1970s.” AM2 “If it’s a less obvious masterpiece than The Blue Mask, it makes clear that Reed was once again in firm command of his strengths, and making the most of them in the studio. Guitarist Robert Quine and bassist Fernando Saunders were both back on board from The Blue Mask, and they reaffirmed their status as the linchpins of the strongest band of Reed’s solo career, and drummer Fred Maher rocked harder (and with fewer frills) than Doane Perry. The bracing cross-talk of Reed’s and Quine ‘s guitars had lost nothing in the year separating the two albums.” AM2 “If Reed didn’t seem to be aiming quite as high as a songwriter this time out, most of the tracks were every bit as intelligent and soul-searching as The Blue Mask ‘s lineup; if there were a few moments of comic relief, like ‘Don’t Talk to Me About Work’ and ‘Pow Wow,’ no one could argue that Reed hadn’t earned a few laughs after songs like ‘Make Up Mind,’ ‘The Last Shot,’ and ‘Betrayed.’” AM2 “On Legendary Hearts, Reed was writing great songs, playing them with enthusiasm and imagination, and singing them with all his heart and soul, and if it wasn’t his best album, it was more than good enough to confirm that the brilliance of The Blue Mask was no fluke, and that Reed had reestablished himself as one of the most important artists in American rock.” AM2

New Sensations Lou Reed

Released: April 30, 1984 Peak: 56 US, 92 UK, 96 CN, 56 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 3.640 out of 5.00 (average of 20 ratings)

Tracks: I Love You, Suzanne (May 1984 single) BO, RT, VR, LG Endlessly Jealous My Red Joystick (Apr. 1984 single) RS Turn to Me LG New Sensations LG, BT Doin’ the Things That We Want To BT What Becomes a Legend Most LG Fly into the Sun LG My Friend George VR, BT, PD High in the City (Aug. 1984 single) LG Down at the Arcade About the Album: “Lou Reed never struck anyone as one of the happiest guys in rock & roll, so some fans were taken aback when his 1984 album New Sensations kicked off with ‘I Love You, Suzanne,’ a catchy up-tempo rocker that sounded a lot like a pop tune. After reaffirming his status as one of rock’s greatest poets with The Blue Mask and Legendary Hearts, what was Reed doing here? Lou was having a great time, and his pleasure was infectious – New Sensations is a set of straight-ahead rock & roll that ranks with the most purely enjoyable albums of Lou’s career.” AM2 “Reed opted not to work with guitarist Robert Quine this time out, instead overdubbing rhythm lines over his own leads, and if the guitars don’t cut quite as deep, they’re still wiry and in the pocket throughout, and the rhythm section of Fernando Saunders and Fred Maher rocks hard with a tough, sinewy groove.” AM2 “While much of New Sensations finds Reed in a surprisingly optimistic mood, this isn’t ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ by any stretch of the imagination. On ‘Endlessly Jealous,’ ‘My Friend George,’ and ‘Fly Into the Sun,’ Reed makes it clear that happiness can be a hard-won commodity, and when Reed embraces life’s pleasures on ‘Turn to Me’ and ‘New Sensations,’ he does so with a fierce joy that’s realistic, unblinking, and deeply felt, like a man whose signed on for the full ride and is going to enjoy the good times while they last.” AM2 “Like Coney Island Baby, New Sensations showed that Reed had a lot more warmth and humanity than he was given credit for, and made clear that he could ‘write happy’ when he felt like, with all the impact of his ‘serious’ material.” AM2

Retro (compilation) Lou Reed

Recorded: 1967-1984 Released: March 12, 1989 Peak: -- US, -- UK, -- CN, 125 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.06 UK Genre: rock Rating: 3.938 out of 5.00 (average of 11 ratings)

Tracks: (1) I Love You, Suzanne (2) Wild Child (3) How Do You Think It Feels (4) Lady Day (5) Coney Island Baby (6) Sweet Jane (live) (7) Vicious (8) Sally Can’t Dance (9) Berlin (10) Caroline Says II (11) Perfect Day (12) Kill Your Sons (13) White Light/White Heat (live) (14) I’m Waiting for the Man (15) Heroin (16) Walk on the Wild Side (17) Satellite of Love Total Running Time: 1:11:14 About the Album: This single-disc anthology was released in the UK.

The Best of Lou Reed & Velvet Underground (compilation) Lou Reed

Recorded: 1966-1984 Released: 1995 Peak: -- US, 56 UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.1 UK Genre: proto-punk/rock Rating: 3.426 out of 5.00 (average of 12 ratings)

Tracks: (1) Sunday Morning (2) I’m Waiting for the Man (3) Venus in Furs (4) Candy Says (5) Pale Blue Eyes (6) Beginning to See the Light (7) Satellite of Love (8) Nowhere at All (9) Vicious (10) Perfect Day (11) Walk on the Wild Side (12) How Do You Think It Feels (13) Sweet Jane (live) (14) White Light/White Heat (live) (15) Sally Can’t Dance (16) Wild Child (17) I Love You (18) Berlin (19) Coney Island Baby (20) I Love You, Suzanne About the Album: A

Perfect Day (compilation) Lou Reed

Recorded: 1972-1984 Released: September 26, 1997 Peak: -- US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 3.092 out of 5.00 (average of 13 ratings)

Tracks: (1) Rock and Roll Heart (2) Perfect Day (3) Coney Island Baby (4) Men of Good Fortune (5) How Do You Speak to an Angel (6) Downtown Dirt (7) Real Good Time Together (8) Vicious Circle (9) A Gift (10) Think It Over (11) My Friend George (12) Legendary Hearts (13) The Last Shot (14) Leave Me Alone (15) Temporary Thing (16) The Gun (17) Sad Song (18) Growing Up in Public

The Very Best of (compilation) Lou Reed

Recorded: 1972-1984 Released: May 16, 2000 Peak: -- US, 94 UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.06 UK Genre: rock Rating: 3.092 out of 5.00 (average of 12 ratings)

Tracks: (1) Perfect Day (2) Walk on the Wild Side (3) Vicious (4) Rock and Roll Heart (5) The Gun (6) I Love You, Suzanne (7) Caroline Says II (8) Men of Good Fortune (9) My Friend George (10) Lisa Says (11) I Want to Boogie with You (12) Ocean (13) The Last Shot (14) I Wanna Be Black (15) Sally Can’t Dance (16) Coney Island Baby (17) Berlin (18) Satellite of Love Total Running Time: 72:41

Mistrial Lou Reed

Released: April 1986 Peak: 47 US, 69 UK, 54 CN, 47 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 3.003 out of 5.00 (average of 22 ratings)

Tracks: Mistrial LG No Money Down (Apr. 1986 single) LG Outside LG Don’t Hurt a Woman Video Violence (1986 single) BT, RS Spit It Out The Original Wrapper (Apr. 1986 single) BT, RS Mama’s Got a Lover I Remember You LG Tell It to Your Heart BT About the Album: “Between 1982 and 1984, Lou Reed put together the best band of his solo career, recorded three superb albums, and left behind a fine live double after two rapturously received world tours – not a bad track record from a guy who had been so inconsistent throughout the 1970s. One might well have argued that Lou was due for a disappointment, and Mistrial certainly filled that bill.” AM2 “On Mistrial, Reed opted to handle both lead and rhythm guitar parts as he had on New Sensations, but with a few shades less precision, and while Fernando Saunders once again did yeoman work as a bassist, as a co-producer he didn’t fill out Reed’s sound especially well. The decision to use a drum machine on most of these tracks gives the album a stiff feeling, and a texture that captures what was least fortunate about ‘80s rock.” AM2 “Most importantly Reed didn’t have an album’s worth of top-shelf songs on tap. ‘No Money Down’ and ‘Tell It to Your Heart’ are smart and funny sketches on the difficult art of romance, while ‘Mama’s Got a Lover’ is an unexpectedly sweet character study and ‘The Original Wrapper’ is a game stab at hip-hop from a 44-year-old white guy. But ‘Outside’ and ‘Spit It Out’ are just filler, and ‘Video Violence’ is a pretty strange attack on the media from a guy who tried to bring the mindset of William S. Burroughs and Hubert Selby, Jr. to rock & roll.” AM2 “Mistrial wasn’t one of Reed’s worst albums (it’s hard to imagine Sally Can’t Dance ever being deprived of that honor), but it certainly lowered his batting average as he seemed to be on a hot streak – as if his longtime fans needed to be reminded that he was fallible.” AM2

A Retrospective (compilation) Lou Reed

Recorded: 1972-1986 Released: June 30, 1998 Peak: -- US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 2.993 out of 5.00 (average of 11 ratings)

Tracks: (1) I Can’t Stand It (2) Walk on the Wild Side (3) Satellite of Love (4) Vicious (5) Caroline Says I (6) Sweet Jane (live) (7) Kill Your Sons (8) Coney Island Baby (9) Nowhere at All (10) The Blue Mask (11) Legendary Hearts (12) My Red Joystick (13) The Original Wrapper (14) Video Violence

Legendary (box set) Lou Reed

Recorded: 1972-1986 Released: July 9, 2002 Peak: -- US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 3.407 out of 5.00 (average of 14 ratings)

Tracks: (1) Going Down (2) I Love You (3) Love Makes You Feel (4) Ocean (5) Walk on the Wild Side (6) Andy’s Chest (7) Perfect Day (8) Make Up (9) Vicious (10) Lady Day (11) Caroline Says I (12) How Do You Think It Feels (13) Oh Jim (14) Men of Good Fortune (15) Rock and Roll (16) Good Taste (17) Intro/Sweet Jane (18) Kill Your Sons (19) Billy (20) Sally Can’t Dance (21) Satellite of Love (live) (22) Crazy Feeling (23) A Gift (24) Nowhere at All (25) Nobody’s Business (26) Coney Island Baby (27) Underneath the Bottle (28) The Gun (29) Waves of Fear (30) The Day John Kennedy Died (31) Legendary Hearts (32) Home of the Brave (33) Rooftop Garden (34) Bottoming Out (35) Make Up Mind (36) The Last Shot (37) Betrayed (38) Sweet Jane (live) (39) I’m Waiting for the Man (live) (40) White Light/White Heat (live) (41) I Love You, Suzanne (42) Turn to Me (43) What Becomes a Legend Most (44) Fly into the Sun (45) High in the City (46) New Sensations (47) Outside (48) Mistrial (49) I Remember You (50) No Money Down About the Album: This three-disc box set was released a decade later than Between Thought and Expression and covered the same territory. The 1992 box set is the superior of the two.

Between Thought and Expression: The Lou Reed Anthology (box set) Lou Reed

Recorded: 1972-1988 Released: April 14, 1992 Peak: -- US, -- UK, -- CN, 165 AU, 12 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 4.174 out of 5.00 (average of 16 ratings)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Tracks, Disc 1: (1) I Can’t Stand It (2) Lisa Says (3) Ocean (4) Walk on the Wild Side (5) Satellite of Love (6) Vicious (7) Caroline Says I (8) How Do You Think It Feels (9) Oh, Jim (10) Caroline Says II (11) The Kids (12) Sad Song (13) Sweet Jane (live) (14) Kill Your Sons (15) Coney Island Baby Tracks, Disc 2: (1) Nowhere at All (2) Kicks (3) Downtown Dirt (4) Rock and Roll Heart (5) Vicious Circle (6) Temporary Thing (7) Real Good Time Together (8) Leave Me Alone (9) Heroin (10) Here Comes the Bride (11) Street Hassle (12) Metal Machine Music (excerpt) (13) The Bells Tracks, Disc 3: (1) America (2) Think It Over (3) Teach the Gifted Children (4) The Gun (5) The Blue Mask (6) My House (7) Waves of Fear (8) Little Sister (9) Legendary Hearts (10) The Last Shot (11) New Sensations (12) My Friend George (13) Doin’ the Things That We Want To (14) The Original Wrapper (15) Video Violence (16) Tell It to Your Heart (17) Voices of Freedom Total Running Time: 219:30 About the Album: This is a well-needed snapshot of Lou Reed’s solo career. While he had few radio hits, this box set does a more than respectable job offering snapshots of some of his best work over more than a decade. Go to the DMDB page for more about this album. Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums: Here Comes the Bride BT Metal Machine Music (excerpt) BT America BT Little Sister BT Voices of Freedom BT

New York Lou Reed

Released: January 10, 1989 Peak: 40 US, 14 UK, 44 CN, 25 AU, 12 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, 0.1 UK, 0.6 world (includes US + UK) Genre: rock Rating: 4.222 out of 5.00 (average of 21 ratings)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Tracks: Romeo Had Juliette DC Halloween Parade Dirty Blvd. DC, UC, GH Endless Cycle There Is No Time Last Great American Whale Beginning of a Great Adventure Busload of Faith Sick of You Hold On Good Evening Mr. Waldheim Xmas in February Strawman Dime Store Mystery About the Album: “If the city of New York didn’t exist, Lou Reed would have had to invent it in order to create a suitable environment for himself, a place where high art and street-level rock & roll stand side by side. New York figured so prominently in Reed’s music, it’s surprising it took him until 1989 to make an album simply called New York, a set of 14 scenes and sketches from the city that was his spiritual home.” AM2 “As a songwriter, New York is the strongest and best-realized set of songs in Reed’s solo catalog; while his superb 1982 comeback The Blue Mask sometimes found him reaching for his effects, New York’s accumulated details and deftly drawn caricatures hit bull’s-eye after bull’s-eye for 57 minutes, all with an easy stride and striking lyrical facility.” AM2 “New York also found Reed writing about the larger world rather than personal concerns for a change, and in the beautiful, decaying heart of New York City, he found plenty to talk about – the devastating impact of AIDS in ‘Halloween Parade,’ the vicious circle of child abuse in ‘Endless Cycle,’ the plight of the homeless in ‘Xmas in February.’ Even on the songs where he pointedly mounts a soapbox (‘There Is No Time,’ ‘Hold On,’ and ‘Good Evening Mr. Waldheim’), he does so with a down-to-earth intelligence and smart-assed wit that makes him sound opinionated rather than preachy; the specific details of his rants may have faded into memory a few decades later, but the essential themes still ring true.” AM2 “When Reed looks into his own life, it’s with humor and perception; ‘Beginning of a Great Adventure’ is a hilarious meditation on the possibilities of parenthood, and ‘Dime Store Mystery’ is a moving elegy to his former patron Andy Warhol.” AM2 “Reed introduced a new band on this set, and though guitarist Mike Rathke didn’t challenge him the way Robert Quine did, he didn’t need much prodding to play at the peak of his game, and Rob Wasserman ‘s fluid, inventive bass and Fred Maher ‘s precise drumming are strong, smart, and rock hard.” AM2 “Produced with subtle intelligence and a welcome absence of flash, New York is a masterpiece of literate, adult rock & roll, and the finest album of Lou Reed’s solo career.” AM2 Go to the DMDB page for more about this album.

Songs for Drella Lou Reed & John Cale

Released: April 24, 1990 Peak: 103 US, 22 UK, -- CN, 100 AU, 14 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 4.005 out of 5.00 (average of 22 ratings)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Tracks: Small Town Open House Style It Takes Work Trouble with Classicists Starlight Faces and Names Images Slip Away (A Warning) It Wasn’t Me I Believe Nobody But You A Dream Forever Changed Hello It’s Me About the Album: “John Cale, the co-founder of the Velvet Underground, left the group in 1968 after tensions between himself and Lou Reed became intolerable; neither had much charitable to say about one other after that, and they seemed to share only one significant area of agreement – they both maintained a great respect and admiration for Andy Warhol, the artist whose patronage of the group helped them reach their first significant audience. So it was fitting that after Warhol ‘s death in 1987, Reed and Cale began working together for the first time since White Light/White Heat on a cycle of songs about the artist’s life and times.” AM2 “Starkly constructed around Cale’s keyboards, Reed’s guitar, and their voices, Songs for Drella is a performance piece about Andy Warhol, his rise to fame, and his troubled years in the limelight. Reed and Cale take turns on vocals, sometimes singing as the character of Andy and elsewhere offering their observations on the man they knew.” AM2 “On a roll after New York, Reed’s songs are strong and pithy, and display a great feel for the character of Andy, and while Cale brought fewer tunes to the table, they’re all superb, especially ‘Style It Takes’ and ‘A Dream,’ a spoken word piece inspired by Warhol‘s posthumously published diaries.” AM2 “If Songs for Drella seems modest from a musical standpoint, it’s likely neither Reed nor Cale wanted the music to distract from their story, and here they paint a portrait of Warhol that has far more depth and poignancy than his public image would have led one to expect. It’s a moving and deeply felt tribute to a misunderstood man, and it’s a pleasure to hear these two comrades-in-arms working together again, even if their renewed collaboration was destined to be short-lived.” AM2 Go to the DMDB page for more about this album.

Magic and Loss Lou Reed

Released: January 14, 1992 Peak: 80 US, 6 UK, 56 CN, 56 AU, 11 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 3.686 out of 5.00 (average of 22 ratings)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Tracks: Dorita What’s Good (Jan. 1992 single) Power and Glory Magician Sword of Damocles Goodbye Mass Cremation/Ashes to Ashes DC Dreamin’ No Chance Warrior King Harry’s Circumcision Gassed and Stoked Power and Glory, Part II Magic and Loss – The Summation UC, GH About the Album: “With 1982’s The Blue Mask, Lou Reed began approaching more mature and challenging themes in his music, and in 1992, Reed decided it was time to tackle the Most Serious Theme of All – Death. Reed lost two close friends to cancer within the space of a year, and the experience informed Magic and Loss, a set of 14 songs about loss, illness, and mortality.” AM2 “It would have been easy for a project like this to sound morbid, but Reed avoids that; the emotions that dominate these songs are fear and helplessness in the face of a disease (and a fate) not fully understood, and Reed’s songs struggle to balance these anxieties with bravery, humor, and an understanding of the notion that death is an inevitable part of life – that you can’t have the magic without the loss.” AM2 “It’s obvious that Reed worked on this material with great care, and Magic and Loss contains some of his most intelligent and emotionally intense work as a lyricist. However, Reed hits many of the same themes over and over again, and while Reed and his accompanists – guitarist Mike Rathke, bassist Rob Wasserman, and percussionist Michael Blair – approach the music with skill and impeccable chops, many of these songs are a bit samey.” AM2 “The album’s most memorable tunes are the ones that pull it out of its mid-tempo rut, like the grooving ‘What’s Good’ and the guitar workout ‘Gassed and Stoked.’” AM2 “Magic and Loss is an intensely heartfelt piece of music, possessing a taste and subtlety one might never have expected from Reed, but its good taste almost works against it; it’s a sincere bit of public mourning, but perhaps a more rousing wake might have been a more meaningful tribute to the departed.” AM2

Set the Twilight Reeling Lou Reed

Released: February 20, 1996 Peak: 110 US, 26 UK, 46 CN, 109 AU, 13 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 3.530 out of 5.00 (average of 24 ratings)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Tracks: Egg Cream NYC Man UC, GH Finish Line Trade In Hang on to Your Emotions Sex with Your Parents Hooky Wooky The Proposition Adventurer Riptide Set the Twilight Reeling DC About the Album: “After contemplating the decline of New York City, the passing of his mentor Andy Warhol, his place in (perhaps) the greatest American rock band of all time, and the very nature of life and death, in 1996 Lou Reed finally began to consider a really important subject – where to get a good chocolate egg cream.” AM2 “‘Egg Cream’ kicked off Set the Twilight Reeling, and for many fans it was a kick to hear Reed cranking up his amps and having some fun again, but much of the rest of the album turned out not to be as lightweight as the opener would have led you to expect. On Set the Twilight Reeling, Reed is preoccupied with relationships, as he tries to figure if he wants a long-term commitment (‘Trade In’), if he’s better off as a lone wolf (‘NYC Man’), if he’s in love (‘The Proposition’), or if he just wants to fool around (‘Hookywooky’).” AM2 “While ‘Sex with Your Parents (Motherfucker), Pt. II’ is an amusing attack on conservative politicians, his logic isn’t exactly clear.” AM2 “Reed rocks a lot harder here than on the two albums that preceded it (and plays plenty of great crunchy guitar), but much of the album is set in a mellow mid-tempo groove that’s casual and comfortable but not especially compelling.” AM2 “Longtime fans are no doubt grateful that Reed’s relatively unfocused and unsubstantial albums these days are such a vast improvement over his fallow period in the 1970s, but for the most part Set the Twilight Reeling sounds like a standard issue 1990s Lou Reed album – smart, well-crafted, with plenty of guitar, but nothing terribly special, either.” AM2

The Definitive Collection (compilation) Lou Reed

Recorded: 1972-1996 Released: August 24, 1999 Peak: -- US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 3.051 out of 5.00 (average of 11 ratings)

Tracks: (1) The Blue Mask (2) I Wanna Be Black (3) Looking for Love (4) Coney Island Baby (5) Shooting Star (6) Romeo Had Juliette (7) I Want to Boogie with You (8) Set the Twilight Reeling (9) Vicious (10) Street Hassle (11) Vicious Circle (12) Walk on the Wild Side (13) Temporary Thing (14) Cremation/Ashes to Ashes (15) The Bells (16) Dirty Blvd. (live)

Ecstasy Lou Reed

Released: April 4, 2000 Peak: 183 US, 54 UK, -- CN, 121 AU, 12 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 3.518 out of 5.00 (average of 25 ratings)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Tracks: Paranoia Key of E Mystic Child Mad Ecstasy UC, GH Modern Dance Tatters Future Farmers of America Turning Time Around White Prism Rock Minuet UC Baton Rouge Like a Possum Rouge Big Sky About the Album: “Never let it be said that Lou Reed has lost the ability to surprise his audience; who would have thought that at the age of 58, on his first album of the new millennium, Reed would offer us an 18-minute guitar distortion workout with lyrics about kinky sex, dangerous drugs, and (here’s the surprise) imagining what it would be like to be a possum?” AM2 “For the most part, Ecstasy finds Reed obsessed with love and sex, though (as you might expect) his take on romance is hardly rosy (‘Paranoia Key of E,’ ‘Mad,’ and ‘Tatters’ all document a relationship at the point of collapse, while ‘Baton Rouge’ is an eccentric but moving elegy for a love that didn’t last) and Eros is usually messy (‘White Prism’), obsessive (‘Ecstasy’), or unhealthy and perverse (‘Rock Minuet’).” AM2 “Reed genuinely seems to be stretching towards new lyrical and musical ground here, but while some of his experiments work, several pointedly do not, with the epic ‘Like a Possum’ only the album’s most spectacular miscalculation.” AM2 “Still, Reed and producer Hal Wilner take some chances with the arrangements that pay off, particularly the subtle horn charts that dot several songs, and Reed’s superb rhythm section (Fernando Saunders on bass and Tony ‘Thunder’ Smith on drums) gives these songs a rock-solid foundation for the leader’s guitar workouts. As Reed and his band hit fifth gear on the album’s rousing closer, ‘Big Sky,’ he once again proves that even his uneven works include a few songs you’ll certainly want to have in your collection – as long as they’re not about possums.” AM2

The Raven Lou Reed

Released: January 28, 2003 Peak: -- US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 1.929 out of 5.00 (average of 11 ratings)

Tracks, Disc 1: The Conqueror Worm Overture Old Poe Prologue (Ligeia) Edgar Allan Poe The Valley of Unrest Call on Me The City in the Sea/Shadow A Thousand Departed Friends Change The Fall of the House of Usher The Bed Perfect Day The Raven Balloon Tracks, Disc 2: Broadway Song The Tell-Tale Heart (Pt. 1) Blind Rage The Tell-Tale Heart (Pt. 2) Burning Embers Imp of the Perverse Vanishing Act The Cask Guilty (spoken) Guilty (sung) A Wild Being from Birth I Wanna Know (The Pit and the Pendulum) Science of the Mind Annabel Lee – The Bells Hop Frog Every Frog Has His Day Tripitena’s Speech Who Am I? (Tripitena’s Song) UC, GH Courtly Orangutans Fire Music Guardian Angel About the Album: “Edgar Allan Poe was a man who usually looked on the dark side of life, had more than a few less-than-healthy romantic and sexual obsessions, was known to dabble in dangerous drugs, and was fascinated with the possibilities of the English language, so it’s no wonder why Lou Reed regards Poe as a kindred spirit. In his liner notes to the album The Raven, Reed touches on the parallels between their work when he writes, ‘I have reread and rewritten Poe to ask the same questions again. Who am I? Why am I drawn to do what I should not?...Why do we love what we cannot have? Why do we have a passion for exactly the wrong thing?’” AM2 “Reed’s obsession with Poe ‘s work found a creative outlet when visionary theatrical director Robert Wilson commissioned Reed to adapt Poe ‘s works to music for a production called POE-Try, and The Raven collects the material Reed wrote for this project, as well as a number of dramatic interpretations of Poe ‘s work, featuring performances by Willem Dafoe, Steve Buscemi, Elizabeth Ashley, Amanda Plummer, and others.” AM2 “The limited-edition two-disc version of The Raven gives a nearly equal balance to words and music; while the single-disc edition is dominated by Reed’s songs, the double-disc set features a much greater number of spoken-word pieces, most of which have been filtered through Reed’s imagination, with a more intense focus on sex, drugs, and conflict as a result.” AM2 “While the condensed version of The Raven sounds like one of the oddest and most audacious rock albums of recent memory, the complete edition feels more like a lengthy performance piece (albeit a rather unusual one), and while it lacks something in the way of a central narrative, the focus on the letter as well as the spirit of Poe‘s work seems a great deal clearer here.” AM2 “The pitch of the acting is sometimes a bit sharp (especially Dafoe, who seems to be projecting to the last row of the balcony), but the con brio performances certainly suit the tenor of the material and Poe‘s writing style.” AM2 “Musically, The Raven is all over the map, leaping from low-key acoustic pieces to full-bore, window-rattling rock & roll, with a number of stops along the way.” AM2 “Reed also touches more than casually on his own past as well, with new recordings of ‘The Bed’ and ‘Perfect Day’ added to the sequence.” AM2 “For a man not known for his ability to collaborate well, The Raven is jam-packed with guest artists, including David Bowe, the Five Blind Boys of Alabama, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Ornette Coleman, and Laurie Anderson, all of whom are used to their best advantage.” AM2 “The mix of ingredients on The Raven is heady, and the result is more than a little bizarre, but there’s no mistaking the fact that Reed’s heart and soul are in this music; even the most oddball moments bleed with passion and commitment, whether he’s handing the vocal mic over to Buscemi for a faux-lounge number, conjuring up brutal guitar distortion while his band wails behind him, or confronting his fears and desires with just a piano to guide him.” AM2 “Truth to tell, Reed hasn’t sounded this committed and engaged on record since Magic and Loss over a decade before; The Raven reaches for more than it can grasp, especially in its two-hours-plus expanded edition, and is dotted with experiments that don’t work and ideas that don’t connect with their surroundings. But the good stuff is strong enough that anyone who cares about Lou Reed’s body of work, or Edgar Allan Poe ‘s literary legacy, ought to give it a careful listen.” AM2

NYC Man – The Ultimate Collection (aka “The Essential”) (compilation) Lou Reed

Recorded: 1966-2003 Released: June 3, 2003 Peak: 155 US, 31 UK, -- CN, 195 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 3.148 out of 5.00 (average of 12 ratings)

Tracks, Disc 1: (1) Who Am I (Tripitena’s Song) (2) Sweet Jane (3) Rock and Roll (4) I’m Waiting for the Man (5) White Light/White Heat (live) (6) Street Hassle (7) Berlin (8) Caroline Says II (9) The Kids (10) Walk on the Wild Side (11) Kill Your Sons (live) (12) Vicious (13) The Blue Mask (14) I’ll Be Your Mirror (live) (15) Magic and Loss – The Summation (16) Ecstasy Tracks, Disc 2: (1) I Wanna Be Black (live) (2) Temporary Thing (3) Shooting Star (4) Legendary Hearts (5) Heroin (live) (6) Coney Island Baby (7) The Last Shot (8) The Bells (9) Perfect Day (10) Sally Can’t Dance (11) Satellite of Love (12) NYC Man (13) Dirty Blvd. (14) Rock Minuet (15) Pale Blue Eyes

NYC Man – Greatest Hits (compilation) Lou Reed

Recorded: 1967-2004 Released: August 31, 2004 Peak: -- US, 43 UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 3.521 out of 5.00 (average of 11 ratings)

Tracks: (1) I’m Waiting for the Man (2) White Light/White Heat (3) Pale Blue Eyes (4) Sweet Jane (5) Satellite of Love (6) Walk on the Wild Side (7) Perfect Day (8) Berlin (9) Coney Island Baby (10) The Blue Mask (11) Legendary Hearts (12) Dirty Blvd. (13) Magic and Loss – The Summation (14) NYC Man (15) Ecstasy (16) Who Am I? (Tripiena Song) (17) Satellite of Love (2004 version) (18) Walk on the Wild Side (Bertallot Radio Remix)

Hudson River Wind Meditations Lou Reed

Released: April 2007 Peak: -- US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 1.901 out of 5.00 (average of 8 ratings)

Tracks: Move Your Heart Find Your Note Hudson River Wind (Blend the Ambiance) Wind Coda About the Album: “At the time of the spring 2007 release of Hudson River Wind Meditations, four years had transpired since the release of The Raven, Lou Reed’s extremely ambitious collaborative take on the writings of Edgar Allan Poe.” AM2 “What transpired during those years is anybody’s guess, but if one had to judge by this, his debut album for Sounds True Audio, one would have to guess that it was somewhat drastic, at least by evidence presented. Reed states in his brief note to the album he co-produced with Hal Willner that ‘I composed this music for myself as an adjunct to meditation, Tai Chi, bodywork, and as music to play in the background of life – to replace the everyday cacophony with new and ordered sounds of an unpredictable nature.’” AM2 “Fair enough. The bottom line is that the music found here is electronic and not in any manner associated with Metal Machine Music. It follows – loosely – the dictums of Brian Eno ‘s notion of ambient music in that it can be listened to in the background and perhaps ignored, but not without very low volume, and not without trying.” AM2 “These four pieces – the first two, ‘Move Your Heart’ and ‘Find Your Note,’ last over an hour – are movement-oriented, albeit very slow movement. They match the breath, they match the pulse, and if listened to in meditation or with movement, offer a base, a starting point, a way of moving through the time and space of sitting or slow action that can actually focus your attention on your practice. They are not cold or emotionless, and if anything, resemble the work in Reed’s photographs of the Hudson River. They are nearly still but move – the listener – into places in the heart itself. Sure, this isn’t the crazy dog of rock from the past 40 years, but he doesn’t need to be.” AM2 “With Willner as a sympathetic editor and co-producer, Reed can let these pieces unfold by themselves with no set end point other than the silence between each track. Certainly this won’t be for everyone, but for those seeking out a recording to help induce quiet in the midst of a crazy busy life, it will be indispensable. For those seeking an accompaniment to nearly any kind of spiritual practice or bodywork, this will deepen the atmosphere. For those seeking rock & roll, it’s best to look elsewhere. This one may score Reed some new fans, while causing some of his other ones to guffaw in cynical delight, but that’s OK – it’s a sure bet he could still take ‘em in an alley fight.” AM2

Lulu Lou Reed & Metallica

Released: November 1, 2011 Peak: 36 US, 36 UK, 25 CN, 33 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock Rating: 2.334 out of 5.00 (average of 17 ratings)

Tracks: Brandenburg Gate The View Pumping Blood Mistress Dread Iced Honey Cheat on Me Frustration Little Dog Dragon Junior Dad About the Album: “First and foremost, Lulu is a Lou Reed album. Metallica may receive collaborative billing, and Reed has made canny use of the band’s skill set, but it’s clear after the first ten minutes that he is the auteur on this project, and most Metallica fans are going to be awfully puzzled by Lulu. Then again, Reed’s fans may be scratching their heads, too – Lulu is a purposefully difficult album, one that insists you meet it on its own terms, and the angry flood of sounds and ideas that pours from its ten long songs demands more than a little patience.” AM2 “Lulu had its genesis in a theater project by frequent Reed collaborator Robert Wilson, who was creating a new adaptation of the plays of Frank Wedekind; in these songs Reed sings from the perspective of a young woman who is corrupted by her experiences with men, as well as some of the characters she meets.” AM2 “The personal pronouns offer occasional clues as to whom Reed is channeling at a given moment, but for most of its 87 minutes, Lulu sounds like one long, bitter, spiteful rant as Reed pours out gallons of lyrical bile, mostly unfettered by rhyme schemes, and with rare exception Reed doesn’t sing here, he mutters or shouts or barks like an angry beast.” AM2 “At the age of 69, time seems to be catching up with Reed’s strength, but he uses it to his advantage on Lulu, and while he frequently sounds like a mean and slightly crazy old man here, it absolutely suits the tenor of the piece. Reed holds nothing back, and the torrent of curious, ugly, and puzzling images gets to be more than a bit much, rarely cohering into a larger whole.” AM2 “As for Metallica, it’s easy to see why Reed wanted to work with them – for this music, he obviously wanted a massive wall of guitars, and James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett certainly deliver, and with the band’s usual acrobatic soloing stripped from these performances, they summon a towering wall of chugging menace on ‘Dragon,’ ‘Frustration,’ and ‘Mistress Dread.’” AM2 “Reed wanted Metallica for their strength and stamina, and they deliver, but when he needs subtlety or dynamics they often drop the ball, especially in Lars Ulrich‘s drumming, which is clumsier and busier than it should be, and Hetfield‘s vocal interjections, which are full of arena-level bombast and sound silly compared to Reed’s weary croak, making the frequent disconnect between the music and the lyrics all the more telling.” AM2 “It’s not difficult to see what Reed was shooting for on Lulu, but one might argue Metallica were not the right collaborators for the project – the huge, arty drone of Sunn 0))), the stop-on-a dime assault of the Jesus Lizard, or the limber noise of Shellac might have better served Reed’s vision. Ultimately, Lulu is a brave experiment for both Reed and Metallica, but it’s one that falters as often as it succeeds.” AM2

Resources/References: AM1 AllMusic.com bio by Richie Unterberger & Greg Prato AM2 AllMusic.com album reviews, primarily by Mark Deming ER Ethan Roy (2023). On Track…Lou Reed 1972-1986. Sonicbond Publishing: United Kingdom. Related DMDB Links: First posted 2/3/2007; last updated 9/4/2026.