Lou Reed - Anybody Else Miss The Guy?

[Sean_A]

Yes, so California had peace and love.  New York had S&M.  When I poke my head above the parapet every so often to see whats going in pop music, I don't get the sense there is a guy doing what Lou Reed did.  It didn't really hit me that Lou wouldn't be doing what he did anymore until last Thursday.  Sure, back in October I registered Lou's death as a way of marking time; remember when? But it wasn't until I played 1969 last week during a car journey to Britsol that it really hit home, Lou is dead.  I have been a fan of VU since I don't know when, but have never followed Lou's solo career.  Though it didn't seem to matter.  What was important was that Lou was out and about doing what he does. I'm gonna miss the man.

Ciao

[Nigel Islam]

I love "Take a Walk on the Wild Side." Great song.

[Sean_A]

I love "Take a Walk on the Wild Side." Great dong.  What Reedian tyop!

Ciao

[Tony_Muldoon]

I normally try and resist speaking ill of..

But ...no I won't miss him one little bit.  Walk on the Wild side was great because of the production and the thrill us golfing folks get hearing about the darker side of life. But Heroin, Waiting for the man, White Noise, Perfect Day etc etc etc.  are boring and musically very lame. Yes they had a certain frisson when I was 17 but I just can't listen to boring stuff anymore.


It is often quoted about the VU.  “only 1000 people ever bought their albums but then they all went out and formed bands “  and that's the problem.  For the past 40 years owning a leather jacket and having an attitude has been more important than being a decent musician or having something interesting to say.


Just before he died he accepted some bogus award in front of a trendy audience: “he received one of the loudest cheers of the night. "There's only one great occupation that can change the world," he said, accepting his award, "and that is real rock 'n' roll."”  

Bullshit.  R&R has been around all my life and it's been part of a changing world, not the agent of change.  I've seen so many people taken  in by this kind of crap, it really saddens me.



Sorry sorry Sean I can't agree one little bit. Now when are you you going to burn me the CD of the Basie band warming up the audience for Frank?  

(Just got back from a 6 hour lunch, Hope Lou would approve  )

[Marty Bonnar]

Waiting for my man - great bong.

[Bradley Anderson]

Saw him in 1976 at the height of his solo career. Unbelievable show and I felt like I was the only straight person in the audience. That was an experience for a teenager from Rockford Illinois. 

The first Velvet Underground album was recorded very quickly and the genius of the music still shines through.

[Bill_McBride]

Other than Walk, there was little worth listening to, mostly hip insider NYC stuff.  

[Jud_T]

Sean,

I'll certainly miss him.  If you think his solo work wasn't important, pick up a copy of The Blue Mask.  One of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.  He was an artist taking risks till the end.  While most bands are out cashing in by playing hits from 40 years ago, Lou was writing and playing hardcore material with Metallica.  Punk rock, in particular, is unimaginable without the VU, not to mention dozens of other alternative bands.  One of the best shows I've seen in recent years was last month when the Dream Syndicate played a handful of reunion shows.  If it weren't for Lou they probably would have all gone to Law School.  If you think it's about technical musicianship and swing, then you simply don't get it.  Saw him at Radio City in the mid 90's, where he brought Jimmy Scott out for a few numbers, and it was great.

[Sean_A]

Spangles, I can definitely see where you are coming from - as you are a die hard Van the Man fan through 40 lean years.  When in the right mood, nothing hits homein like VU.  The music was cutting against every commercial grain through the back half of the 60s.  The Doors got the limelight for some of the same themes, but they were child's play when compared to VU.       

Jud

I didn't say Lou reed's solo stuff wasn't important.  Only that it doesn't resonate with me nearly as much as VU.  The range of VU is incredible, but I think Cale was a big reason why.  Reed was at his best with Cale and that held true for me throughout his career.

Ciao

[Jason Thurman]

Waiting for the Man is the best song I've ever heard about showing up to a private club before your host arrives.

[Greg Gilson]

I made a rule for myself not to read (& definitely not POST) anything OT. However, I make an exception here because Lou was my introduction to adult music when I was in first year at Uni. He produced a lot of crap but all the great stuff made the search worthwhile (for me at least).

For anyone interested, its 30 years exactly on 21 December since the live "Rock & Roll Animal" was recorded. Sean that's another opportunity for a drive this Saturday!

[Nigel Islam]

I love "Take a Walk on the Wild Side." Great dong.  What Reedian tyop!

Ciao

I fixed it but oops!

[Jud_T]

check it out.  if this doesn't set your toe to tappin' you should pack it in...:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArRexgJ41NQ

[Ronald Montesano]

I don't miss anyone I didn't know personally.

[Matt Kardash]

I love Lou Reed and VU more than just about anyone I know. I was surprised how sad I was on hearing the news of his passing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwLlvcDi4PQ

[DMoriarty]

Just before he died he accepted some bogus award in front of a trendy audience: “he received one of the loudest cheers of the night. "There's only one great occupation that can change the world," he said, accepting his award, "and that is real rock 'n' roll."”  

Bullshit.  R&R has been around all my life and it's been part of a changing world, not the agent of change.  I've seen so many people taken  in by this kind of crap, it really saddens me.

Vaclav Havel might have disagreed.



Oh, sweet nothin.  Ain't got nothing at all.

[Ally Mcintosh]

I don't miss anyone I didn't know personally.

This would have been my stock answer with musicians I liked (but didn't know personally) as I watched friends and fans crumble around me...

Until this year when Jason Molina died... I sure miss the fact he won't be producing any new music...

[Paul Gray]

Speaking as a slightly younger GCAer and, to cringe upon a phrase,  member of the "rave generation," Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground will forever hold a soft spot. For a generation that was influenced far more by earlier youth culture than by the bland junk that was floating about in 80's pop music the likes of Lou Reed offered an insight into a counter culture which made far more sense to us than anything the likes of Duran Duran were doing.    

[Thomas Dai]

After playing which one course would you slip 'Perfect Day' into the car's CD player as you drive out of the car-park?
ATB

[Rich Goodale]

After playing which one course would you slip 'Perfect Day' into the car's CD player as you drive out of the car-park?
ATB

Great post, Thomas.  It epitomizes the essence of the game of golf.
There are two superb videos of "A Perfect Day," the first is the best known BBC charity appeal (2007) which brought together all the usual suspects--Bowie, Bono, Shane McGowan, Lulu, Laurie Anderson, Tom Jones, various opera stars, etc.--to sanitize (or should we say "perfect") Lou's beautiful melodies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJpQJWpVJds
Then there is Lou’s single (1972).  Just Lou....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYEC4TZsy-Y
The latter is the important one, and one which can only reflectively resound within those who were children (i.e. Arble) or geezers (i.e. McBrdie) when this was released in 1972.  Golf-wise my first perfect day was in 1981 playing Golspie with the teenager who would eventually marry me in 1991.  Despite our age gap, and irrelevant to the quality of the course, we connected and the rest is history.
This late summer/early autumn Josie and I spent a large but modest part of our kid’s inheritance to celebrate one of her birthdays, and played Pebble Beach at full whack.  Weather-wise it was a perfect day, and our companions were fine and our scores acceptable, and had the pleasure of Sir Bob Huntely joining us for lunch, and will always remember that day, but will it be a “perfect” day vis a vis Golspie?  Close but no cigar.
A few weeks after our return to the auld sod, I got a chance (through a link from you, Thomas, you star!) and played Trump International north of Aberdeen.  For the time of year and for the newness of the course and for the quality of my playing partners and for the design and routing, Trump was a “perfect day,”  but not really....   There is a distinction in golf between a slog and a walk in the park.  Like virtually all “wanna be great” new courses I have played over the past 20 years, Trump fails this test.  Lotsa props as a golf design, but too disjointed to be a truly great golf course.
For various reasons I did not play golf again after that gig in late September, but a week ago one of my old serious golfing buddies showed up in Aberdour as the proud owner of a new house in the villag--from which they had left in the early 90’s.  The next day after a boozy night my pal and I played 11 holes at our local dog track, Aberdour.  I hit 9 of those in regulation.  My old buddy hit 10 of 11, and we retired to the bar.  After far too many Macallans and gossiping about players in the UK golfing establishment we both eventually staggered home to spousal bollickings.  It was a Perfect Day.
Golf does not get better than that and I hope that next year may be a very good one for me.....

Rich

[Peter Pratt]

Royal Oak Music Theater, tenth row, Reed and Robert Quine. New Sensations tour. I'll never forget it.

[Jason Thurman]

Royal Oak used to have rows?

[Jim Sherma]

I don't miss anyone I didn't know personally.

This would have been my stock answer with musicians I liked (but didn't know personally) as I watched friends and fans crumble around me...

Until this year when Jason Molina died... I sure miss the fact he won't be producing any new music...

I have also been saddened by Molina's passing. His loss certainly hit me much more so than most "celebrity" deaths.

As far as the Lou Reed question:

He had two magical periods in my opinion, either one of which would put him in my all time important artists list:

1: The first three VU albums - VU w/ Nico, White Light/White Heat and VU

2: Then the three albums New York, Songs for Drella and Magic & Loss (you could probably add the Blue Mask into this group although it never really grabbed me to that extent)

The rest of his solo career was a series of near misses. Some real good stuff, Street Hassle being my favorite of the rest, but also a lot of real questionable work (Berlin and Coney Island Baby). As a personality he was more interesting than his musical output for long stretches of his career.

[John Kavanaugh]

I bought as many of his albums as any other artist simply because he was the king of the bargain bin.

[Tim Pitner]

Not especially.  I'm a fan of The Velvet Underground's self-titled album and Loaded, but the rest are hit and miss for me.  No question they were hugely influential to a lot of my favorite bands.  To name one such band, The Feelies do some great covers of VU songs; in some cases, their covers are better than the originals.  Some day, I'll dive into Lou Reed's solo work more deeply.  It does seem like there is a fair amount of crap through which to sift.