Superb write up as usual, Phil. I know you have a great appreciation of early Stones as well as the late 70’s - mid 80’s catalogue. I truly love those as well, but I will always be partial to the Mick Taylor era. I have often championed Exile on Main St. as likely the greatest rock record ever recorded (I really hate hyperbolic statements like that). I think they hit their zenith on Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers, EOMS, Goats Head Soup, and to a lesser degree (IMO) It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll. Of course there’s so many great tunes before and after that period I’m sure I could be talked out of that opinion. In fact, scrap all that. The greatest album is Lou Reed’s Blue Mask. Yeah, I said it. I bet you thought I was going to say Street Hassle, didn’t you?
Thanks Matt! So you've decided on a single favorite Lou Reed record? You are a better man than I. I love The Blue Mask intensely but there's so many great ones. I dunno...
It's funny how that works. I think that whatever albums you are first exposed to by an artist typically carries a lot of weight. To me it would be Blue Mask (in your car) and the amazing Street Hassle. I remember being driven to tears listening to Waltzing Matilda, and though some people kind of pan that album, it will always be one of the greatest to those that really get it. That would also explain why I love Take No Prisoners, which if I am not mistaken was made during the tour for Street Hassle.
I remember purchasing Live in Italy while working at Mr. Jim's, and I don't think I took it out of my cassette player for weeks on end (probably the reason I love Bob Quine so much). Average Guy and Waves of Fear were so burned into my brain that I would hear them in my sleep. However, it was the incredible accompanying songs The Gun, My House, Women, Underneath the Bottle, and The Heroine make this album almost perfect. I realize I left off the greatest song, and likely one of my favorites songs by Lou, and that is The Blue Mask. I love that song. The way he belts out the last verse just sends chills up my spine. While the lyrics are a bit confusing, I get the feeling he is torqued about something and feels the need to berate the intended party.
I loathe and despise repentance
You are permanently stained
Your weakness buys indifference
And indiscretion in the streets
Dirty's what you are and clean is what you're not
You deserve to be soundly beat
Make the sacrifice
Take it all the way
There's no "won't" high enough
To stop this desperate day
Don't take death away
Cut the finger at the joint
Cut the stallion at his mount
And stuff it in his mouth
One more thing, I know that it would be easy to say Berlin or Transformer are his best efforts, and who could argue with that? I'm just more likely to listen to New Sensations, New York, or Set the Twilight Reeling. I am fooling myself if I omit the jewel of his entire catalogue, and that is Magic and Loss. I so love that album, but I cannot get through a listening session without crying. It is a heavy hitter on the old emotions. What a masterpiece.
Oh, I left off Songs for Drella, and not because it doesn't warrant inclusion in this discussion. It is such a superb album. I just considered it a duet that hovers between Lou/Cale and the Velvets. It deserves to be enshrined in it's own holy place.
Hmmm. When I said I can't decide I really meant it, but it sounds like you are in the same boat. You've said Blue Mask is the best album ever, Lou or otherwise. But then you say Magic & Loss is the jewel of his catalog and a masterpiece. And Drella doesn't get considered because of the Cale partnership.
What I find is that my "favorite" Lou albums have consistently changed throughout the years. It's easier for me to list the ones I don't think are so hot: Sally Can't Dance (although "Ennui" is one of his all-time greatest tracks), Rock 'n' Roll Heart, Coney Island Baby, The Bells... There's always great songs on all his albums but some of the stuff is just filler it seems to me. As of this particular moment, here are the ones I keep going back to; my favorites if you will and the ones that are chock full of great songs. I'll try to keep it to 10:
Velvet Underground & Nico
Velvet Underground Live 1969
Transformer
Growing Up in Public (Lou at his most poetic)
The Blue Mask
Legendary Hearts (Quine's on this one as well; I probably like it more than Blue Mask actually)
Songs for Drella
Ecstasy
The Raven
Berlin Live
Going back to The Stones, I really love the early-mid-70s records you mention as well. Exile has some of their best songs for sure but, in my opinion, some of the stuff on that album is also not their best. But the great songs more than make up for the lesser ones. Everybody really started praising Exile rather suddenly a few years ago; I guess it was rediscovered after languishing in obscurity for a couple of decades. Kind of like what happened with Dylan's Blood on the Tracks; all of a sudden it was the Stones' great masterpiece. It's hard to beat Happy, Sweet Virginia, Rocks Off. But a single record of those sessions would have sufficed for me. I think Sticky Fingers is a far better, more cohesive record. Let It Bleed is a fantastic record, but Goats Head Soup is pretty middling to me. But what matters is the consistent greatness of artists like Lou and The Stones not my criticism of them. And that they bring misfits like you and I together!
Legendary Hearts is great for sure, though Lou did Quine dirty by remixing the guitar parts and practically muting him. What I read was that it was just Lou being spiteful. Quine said he hardly spoke to him on the tour following (Live in Italy). Bob was hurt by the way it all fell apart. I don’t know if you remember, but you were with me when I purchased my vinyl copy at Bill’s. I think it was 1987. Below is the verse from Street Hassle that we often quoted back then.
I'm not being smart
Or trying to be cold on my part
And I'm not gonna wear my heart on my sleeve
But you know people get all emotional
And sometimes, man, they just don't act rational
They think they're just on TV
Regarding Exile, I think 3 or 4 of my favorite Stones songs are on that album, including my very favorite - Let it Loose. I think Mick’s vocals are some of the best he has ever offered up. My other favorites - Torn and Frayed, Shine A Light, Loving Cup, and Soul Survivor (along with the others you offered up). What an amazing album. Graham Parsons and Keith were going hard all the time. So much partying in France all while recording amazing music.
I'm going to request a re-do on da Lou list and take off The Raven and replace it with Street Hassle. What was I thinking? Too many great albums, as I've said. And I am going to use the live album double-dipping exception clause to include Live in Italy alongside the Berlin LP. Down this road lies madness. In an a 72 Chevy Malibu no less.
Superb write up as usual, Phil. I know you have a great appreciation of early Stones as well as the late 70’s - mid 80’s catalogue. I truly love those as well, but I will always be partial to the Mick Taylor era. I have often championed Exile on Main St. as likely the greatest rock record ever recorded (I really hate hyperbolic statements like that). I think they hit their zenith on Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers, EOMS, Goats Head Soup, and to a lesser degree (IMO) It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll. Of course there’s so many great tunes before and after that period I’m sure I could be talked out of that opinion. In fact, scrap all that. The greatest album is Lou Reed’s Blue Mask. Yeah, I said it. I bet you thought I was going to say Street Hassle, didn’t you?
Great work!
Thanks Matt! So you've decided on a single favorite Lou Reed record? You are a better man than I. I love The Blue Mask intensely but there's so many great ones. I dunno...
It's funny how that works. I think that whatever albums you are first exposed to by an artist typically carries a lot of weight. To me it would be Blue Mask (in your car) and the amazing Street Hassle. I remember being driven to tears listening to Waltzing Matilda, and though some people kind of pan that album, it will always be one of the greatest to those that really get it. That would also explain why I love Take No Prisoners, which if I am not mistaken was made during the tour for Street Hassle.
I remember purchasing Live in Italy while working at Mr. Jim's, and I don't think I took it out of my cassette player for weeks on end (probably the reason I love Bob Quine so much). Average Guy and Waves of Fear were so burned into my brain that I would hear them in my sleep. However, it was the incredible accompanying songs The Gun, My House, Women, Underneath the Bottle, and The Heroine make this album almost perfect. I realize I left off the greatest song, and likely one of my favorites songs by Lou, and that is The Blue Mask. I love that song. The way he belts out the last verse just sends chills up my spine. While the lyrics are a bit confusing, I get the feeling he is torqued about something and feels the need to berate the intended party.
I loathe and despise repentance
You are permanently stained
Your weakness buys indifference
And indiscretion in the streets
Dirty's what you are and clean is what you're not
You deserve to be soundly beat
Make the sacrifice
Take it all the way
There's no "won't" high enough
To stop this desperate day
Don't take death away
Cut the finger at the joint
Cut the stallion at his mount
And stuff it in his mouth
One more thing, I know that it would be easy to say Berlin or Transformer are his best efforts, and who could argue with that? I'm just more likely to listen to New Sensations, New York, or Set the Twilight Reeling. I am fooling myself if I omit the jewel of his entire catalogue, and that is Magic and Loss. I so love that album, but I cannot get through a listening session without crying. It is a heavy hitter on the old emotions. What a masterpiece.
Oh, I left off Songs for Drella, and not because it doesn't warrant inclusion in this discussion. It is such a superb album. I just considered it a duet that hovers between Lou/Cale and the Velvets. It deserves to be enshrined in it's own holy place.
God, I love Lou!
Hmmm. When I said I can't decide I really meant it, but it sounds like you are in the same boat. You've said Blue Mask is the best album ever, Lou or otherwise. But then you say Magic & Loss is the jewel of his catalog and a masterpiece. And Drella doesn't get considered because of the Cale partnership.
What I find is that my "favorite" Lou albums have consistently changed throughout the years. It's easier for me to list the ones I don't think are so hot: Sally Can't Dance (although "Ennui" is one of his all-time greatest tracks), Rock 'n' Roll Heart, Coney Island Baby, The Bells... There's always great songs on all his albums but some of the stuff is just filler it seems to me. As of this particular moment, here are the ones I keep going back to; my favorites if you will and the ones that are chock full of great songs. I'll try to keep it to 10:
Velvet Underground & Nico
Velvet Underground Live 1969
Transformer
Growing Up in Public (Lou at his most poetic)
The Blue Mask
Legendary Hearts (Quine's on this one as well; I probably like it more than Blue Mask actually)
Songs for Drella
Ecstasy
The Raven
Berlin Live
Going back to The Stones, I really love the early-mid-70s records you mention as well. Exile has some of their best songs for sure but, in my opinion, some of the stuff on that album is also not their best. But the great songs more than make up for the lesser ones. Everybody really started praising Exile rather suddenly a few years ago; I guess it was rediscovered after languishing in obscurity for a couple of decades. Kind of like what happened with Dylan's Blood on the Tracks; all of a sudden it was the Stones' great masterpiece. It's hard to beat Happy, Sweet Virginia, Rocks Off. But a single record of those sessions would have sufficed for me. I think Sticky Fingers is a far better, more cohesive record. Let It Bleed is a fantastic record, but Goats Head Soup is pretty middling to me. But what matters is the consistent greatness of artists like Lou and The Stones not my criticism of them. And that they bring misfits like you and I together!
Great coverage (and history!) of the Stones…I felt as if I were there with you!
Legendary Hearts is great for sure, though Lou did Quine dirty by remixing the guitar parts and practically muting him. What I read was that it was just Lou being spiteful. Quine said he hardly spoke to him on the tour following (Live in Italy). Bob was hurt by the way it all fell apart. I don’t know if you remember, but you were with me when I purchased my vinyl copy at Bill’s. I think it was 1987. Below is the verse from Street Hassle that we often quoted back then.
I'm not being smart
Or trying to be cold on my part
And I'm not gonna wear my heart on my sleeve
But you know people get all emotional
And sometimes, man, they just don't act rational
They think they're just on TV
Regarding Exile, I think 3 or 4 of my favorite Stones songs are on that album, including my very favorite - Let it Loose. I think Mick’s vocals are some of the best he has ever offered up. My other favorites - Torn and Frayed, Shine A Light, Loving Cup, and Soul Survivor (along with the others you offered up). What an amazing album. Graham Parsons and Keith were going hard all the time. So much partying in France all while recording amazing music.
I'm going to request a re-do on da Lou list and take off The Raven and replace it with Street Hassle. What was I thinking? Too many great albums, as I've said. And I am going to use the live album double-dipping exception clause to include Live in Italy alongside the Berlin LP. Down this road lies madness. In an a 72 Chevy Malibu no less.