Your favourite solo album by Laughing Lou?

Note: compilations excluded.

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See also Velvet Underground albums / Lou Reed albums as selected by Mojo / Lou Reed live albums / Lou Reed vs. Bob Dylan / Metal Machine Music / Lou Reed vs. John Cale / most influential singer – Lou Reed, Jim Morrison, Iggy Pop or David Bowie? / Favourite track on: Lou Reed / Transformer / Le Bataclan '72 / Berlin / Sally Can't Dance / Metal Machine Music / Coney Island Baby / Street Hassle / The Bells / Growing Up In Public / The Blue Mask / New York / Songs For Drella / Magic And Loss

Boringly predictable, I am afraid - really not familiar with his eighties stuff apart from New York which I loved at the time but dont really rate so much anymore. I am tempted by Blue Mask after reading the Quine obits recently - anyone care to comment on this one?

gotta be berlin (though the rspcc would probably beg to differ...)

Berlin is the 70s masterpiece.
New York is the 80s masterpiece.

But am growing increasingly fond of the utterly ludicrous Take No Prisoners – see live LPs poll at:

http://invisionfree.com/forums/thefall/ind...opic=2505&st=25

Find Transformer over-rated. Sound is thin and shabby (which may well be the point).

blue mask a bit overrated i reckon. is definitely MUCH better than the few albums that preceeded it though n prob best of 80s stuff after ny.

the heroine is my fave track fer wot it's worf (though pretty sure quine doesn't actually play on this one)

What's the LP Lou Reed Live like?

hard to choose between Metal Machine Music , Street Hassle and Take No Prisoners, but went w/ Metal. Didn't want to let the side down.

Ah, but which side: 1,2,3, or 4?

it's left-over stuff that wasn't on rock n roll animal - and to me this about sums it up. not great. walk on the wild side n waiting for the man get crushed in my opinion. but the stuff from berlin on it works ok (sad song - i think. anyone?)

rock n roll animal much better.

So IS he a rock 'n' roll animal? Or merely a Pop Pussycat? Like 'Take No Prisoners', you wonder how tongue-in-cheek these titles are...

well, he's also the Phantom of Rock (whatever that means) & sure he n iggy pop must fight it out over The Godfather of Punk title (lou wins it for me)

Live In Italy (1984) any good?

nah - hate live in italy: is a stadium gig n somehow you feel as if you're right at the back. a shame coz there's (couldabeen) interesting stuff on it like a some kinda love-sister ray medley and...um...well. (can't remember the rest to be honest - not a good sign eh)

anyone heard animal serenade? (and if so: any cop?)

Live in Italy is to Reed what Budokan is to Dylan.

I quite like At Budokan. This may mean I don't get your reference.

I quite like 'Ecstasy' & 'Blue Mask,' but not many other late Reed records are great.

For me the overall problem with a lot of Reed solo is he seems to 'oversing' the lines he's especially proud of, whereas with the Velvets they were all treated very casually.

The brilliance of the Velvets has kept me buying the odd Reed solo album (new or old) every couple of years (eventually you find them all used).

I think Cale's solo catalogue is richer.

sadly, post 'drella, this is a polite way of describing lou vocals doncha think?

I thought you agreed on the Dylan thread (or was it the dissappointing one?) that Budokan was very weak. I can't stand it: overproduced Vegas-sounding backup.

Live on Italy is a mite better (Satellite is good), but I'm still smarting for having paid a premium for it when it first came out. To my ears it suffers from the aforementioned stadium vibe. No subtlety; the musical climaxes seem forced & melodramatic; a sleepwalkers set. Perhaps some like their Reed this way, but I've never met a fan of this record.

It's certainly not a great album, but I admire the way he slashes his greatest songs and reinvents them as metal or mutant reggae or whatever. I like Bob Dylan enough that even his ropey albums interest me. And he's never dull.

The idea of the 'Vegas period' is interesting: many artists seem to go through it. I'm intrigued how Lou coped too.

I love Lou but this is true.

Wahey! Blue Mask is my pick (his best guitar playing by a mile). But good to see Metal Machine currently has more votes than Transformer

Talking of stadium, there's never been a more disappointing reunion than the Velvets.. Almost entirely ruined by Lou's stupid ego. He's nothing without Cale really - like McCartney without Lennon

hmm. bit of a harsh comparison there...

Metal Machine Music stands apart from the rest of his (and anyone else's) canon. I find it hard to reconcile it with the rest of his more "musical" efforts.

SO, MMM for being important and unique.

Berlin and Blue Mask for rock and roll.

sad to see no votes for coney island baby (yet?!) - didn't vote for it myself but personally think it's one of his best & most underrated albums (n the title track is one of the best things he's ever done: "killer" last line. grown men weep etc.)

I really don't think so. I don't rate most of his 80s stuff above The Frog Chorus. Whereas Cale's never been less than interesting.

I chose Street Hassle, but maybe I should've picked New York, which is probably the one I've played most. I haven't listened to any of these albums in a long time, though (and I only have maybe a third of them anyway).

Saw a video for a song from Mistrial a couple weeks ago where for the first couple minutes all there was was Reed in sunglasses lip-synching really badly, but then his image went into the corner of the screen and there was a robot dummy of Lou Reed tearing his face off. Mildly disturbing, especially as it didn't seem to have anything to do with the song's lyrics. I wonder if it was his idea?

Cale solo has definitely been better than Reed, but then I've said that before.

yes well I voted for it and then scrolled down and saw your comment.

I DO actually think it's the best, although a good case could be made for Street Hassle, or Legendary Hearts, or Metal Machine Music, or Berlin.

no question that The Raven is the worst, none whatsoever

-s

Depressing that Transformer is winning – why considered so great? Lots of filler on there.

That Lou Reed/Fall connection in full

• Heroin by the VU inspired structure/approach of Surrogate Mirage by The Fall
• I'm Waiting For My Man by the VU (supposedly) inspired Touch Sensitive by The Fall
• Lou Reed's Kill Your Sons became The Fall's Ketamine Suns (early live versions of the latter were especially close to the Lou original, but the song naturally mutated into a separate track by the time of The Unutterable)

Any more?

new sensations.....cos nobody else will vote for it

sister ray - my ex-classmates' kids (one of most borrowed riffs of all time surely?)

think i hate mistrial more than the raven (though am just nit picking really - n haven't actually managed to make it all the way through either of these beasts in one sitting. "the horror...the horror" etc.)

But aren't 93% of all Fall riffs in some way related to Sister Ray?

yeah, i'm sure every "alternative" group has got a sister ray lurking somewhere in their back cat'...

fair nuf. don't spose you'll be too pleased about this then??

"Infamous childrens' song..."

A fan of this record seems to have placed a vote for the album. So it can't be all bad. I'm all the more intrigued now.

Person that voted, are you willing to come forwards and tell us more?

put this on last night to give it another go after all this discussion: the worst thing about it is that it's not exactly bad: just utterly anonymous n workmanlike. v depressing.

Glorified Tour Programme sez i...

More info, go on!
Detailed descriptions of the full horror please.

that's the thing: it's not even bad enough to qualify for a "the horror the horror" rating (that'd at least make it kinda interesting). just a deathlessly bland stadium show. as squarehead said: "sleepwalkers set".

the same band play similar sets on the two live vids from nyc around the same time (coney island baby & a night with lou reed) and are much better artifacts ("artifacts"? that right??). in fact, the version of coney island baby on the vid of the same name is one of the best things i've ever seen music-vid wise & worth getting for this track alone (seriously!) - lou really does look on the brink of tears as he bawls out "OH! the glory of love!" over and over again at the end. and the satelite of love on t'other vid is v moving too. a great great version.

Will that mysterious voter ever come forwards? Probably terrified of being thought of as a stadium rock fan. Either that, or someone was going for Legendary Hearts and hit the wrong option by mistake!