It ripped my heart out and I couldn't think about anything else for the rest of the night. Lou was one of those people who had cheated death so many times that I figured he was going to live forever. He was 71 years old, but it still shocked me. I had already recorded three or four of these songs when I heard the news that Lou Reed had died. I hope the listener can focus on the lyrics of this collection, since they're much easier to understand here than on the gloriously messy mixes of the Velvet's own albums. He was also a poet of the first degree, writing lyrics that would have easily stood on their own if he had never picked up a guitar. Lou Reed's voice went through me like an older brother who had cornered me in the kitchen and was very quietly and firmly telling me everything that was right and wrong with my life and the world at large. To paraphrase the song, my life was saved by rock and roll, and it was all right. It was four in the morning, I was on a cliff in New Jersey, and the skyline of Manhattan was laid out in front of me, lit up like a Christmas tree. I copied it to cassette, and "Rock And Roll" was playing in the car the first time I laid eyes on New York City. I was turned on to Lou Reed's work in the early eighties when I bought a cut-out compilation album of his work both with and without the Velvets. The Velvet Underground influenced rock music deeply and widely and their records still inspire musicians today. And Brian Eno had that great quote that although only 30,000 people bought the first VU album, every one of them formed a rock band. In fact, most people don't know any of their songs except for "Sweet Jane". Many of the VU songs were beautiful, but most people don't know that. And then, as if delivering a message from an angel, they'd throw in a song celebrating true love offered by someone who knew that you were far from perfect. In the middle of this hippy love fest, the Velvets produced songs that spoke to the darkness of drug addiction, prostitution, sexual deviation, jobs that sucked for life and that feeling that you would never fit in anywhere. Instead of "beautiful people", he found a bunch of sad homeless drug addicts. Even George Harrison became depressed when he visited the Haight. The sexual revolution meant that a lot of young women were taken advantage of by unsavory men. However, Lou Reed captured the reality of the sixties better than any "flower child" ever did. Neither did the lo-fi recordings (although tons of psychedelic lo-fi 45s by other bands were huge hits at the time). It didn't go over well in 1967's "Summer of Love". Everyone looked at me like I was a mass-murdering pedophile.Īnd there's the whole problem with the Velvet Underground and their legacy.ĭarkness. I mentioned the Velvet Underground, and the room went silent. A tribute to the Velvet Underground and Lou Reed from Doctor X, available as a high-resolution download package (more info).Īvailable as a standard audio CD or as a standard NTSC DVD with the entire album in 24-bit stereo PCM,Ģ4-bit DTS 5.1 surround sound, and 24 bit dolby digital.Īnd the VU meter runs through the whole record!Īfter we had finished our Lowbudget Records Monkees tribute album, the conversation amongst the participants turned to what group we should cover next.
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