Latest Release
- 27 SEPT 2024
- 25 Songs
- Open Invitation - Single · 2023
- Gee Whiz, 1958-1964 - EP · 2022
- Gee Whiz, 1958-1964 - EP · 2022
- Gee Whiz, 1958-1964 - EP · 2022
- Gee Whiz, 1958-1964 - EP · 2022
- Gee Whiz, 1958-1964 - EP · 2022
- Gee Whiz, 1958-1964 - EP · 2022
- Words & Music, May 1965 · 2022
- Words & Music, May 1965 · 2022
- Words & Music, May 1965 · 2022
Essential Albums
- At the time of its 1973 release, Berlin was met with quizzical stares. After the success of Transformer and the hit "Walk on the Wild Side," Lou Reed had positioned himself as a leader of the glam rock movement. However, the former Velvet Underground leader always found greater comfort on society's margins, and his college days studying with Delmore Schwartz had instilled in him a sense of literary purpose. So doing Transformer II was out of the question. Instead, Reed released an album that's as introspective and painful as any album could be. Great beauty rests alongside the ache of "The Kids," inside the Bob Ezrin–produced orchestration of "Sad Song," and in the lyrical directness of "Caroline Says II." Berlin features an all-star cast of musicians, from Jack Bruce to Steve Winwood to Tony Levin. Its reputation has grown to the point of legend; it received a historic live performance at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn in 2006.
- The album cover photo was overexposed, and so, in 1972, was Lou Reed, in all the wrong ways. The Velvet Underground had sputtered out, he was strung out and turning weird in interviews, and he was trying to find his way as a solo artist. But David Bowie owed him much and loved to help, and so produced his friend at the best possible time: right when glam, which Bowie sort of predicted, was ascendant. The result was Reed’s best-selling album, containing his biggest hit, “Walk on the Wild Side”. On Transformer Reed revisits beloved New York sounds for a new age: cabaret, doo-wop, jazz. And yet he recorded most of this distinctly New York album in London—Marc Bolan, Bowie, Mott the Hoople, Roxy Music and others were all looting rock 'n' roll of the past like they were raiding the thrift store for as much pose and artifice as they could get their hands on. Reed plays along, sounding playfully cheeky on the opener, “Vicious”, and never looking back. When it came out, a lot of male rock writers dismissed Transformer as a sellout, a cash-in on the new “androgyny trend”. But what once looked like a marketing strategy turned out to be a new world being born, and “Wild Side”, “Satellite of Love”, “Make Up” and “Goodnight Ladies” are some of its founding songs of innocence and experience. The Velvets’ fuzz and feedback had fallen away into dust, and here was Reed, throwing confetti into the air with a perfectly turned wrist. Transformer is artificially jolly, frivolous in a way that stands brightly against the grain of its dark lyrics. It was one more edition of Lou, introducing him to a world audience at a propitious moment.
- 2015
- 2015
- 2006
Artist Playlists
- After The Velvet Underground, a career of perpetual reinvention.
- Rock 'n' roll chameleon–inspired trailblazers.
- This musical revolutionary inspired generations of iconic rockers—but who inspired him?
- The softer side of one of rock's leading provocateurs.
- Onstage encounters with the original underground rocker.
- Discover the pain and beauty found by the punk poet on the wild side.
Singles & EPs
Compilations
- 1997
Appears On
- Fernando Saunders
More To Hear
- Another eclectic playlist that will have you showing gratitude.
- A tribute to Lou Reed's 1973 LP, Berlin.
About Lou Reed
A career-long chronicler of New York streets, Lou Reed (born Lewis Allan Reed in Brooklyn in 1942) fleshed out the city’s fringes with serpentine tales of blurred genders and late-night misadventure. Musically, Reed maintained a chameleonic presence from album to album, dramatically changing his sound while staying continually ahead of the times. A young student of doo-wop and free jazz alike, he became an in-house songwriter (and occasional session player) for New York’s Pickwick Records in his early 20s, toying with unconventional guitar tunings and other avant-garde touches lifted from his cross-genre spectrum of influences. There he met Welshman John Cale, with whom he cofounded The Velvet Underground before entering the orbit of cutting-edge pop artist Andy Warhol. The band’s first four albums before frontman Reed departed in 1970 have provided an undiminished north star for underground rock ever since. Even after scoring a crossover hit with 1972’s hummable urban postcard “Walk on the Wild Side”—produced by David Bowie and Bowie’s guitarist Mick Ronson—Reed didn’t stick to pop-friendly glam but followed it with the throwback orchestral flair of Berlin. Further experiments included the industrial noise and drone of 1975’s Metal Machine Music as well as other ambitious concept albums and winding, suite-like structures, all guided by a grainy drawl that often swerves into streetwise talk-singing. Reed’s soaring piano ballad “Perfect Day” was repurposed to heartbreaking effect in 1996’s Trainspotting, and Reed remained relevant right up until his death in 2013, collaborating with Metallica, Gorillaz and his wife Laurie Anderson. He remains an eternally cool spirit guide for new generations of misfits and outsiders.
- HOMETOWN
- Brooklyn, NY, United States
- BORN
- 2 March 1942
- GENRE
- Rock