Back in the day (the late 80s day specifically) getting into Lou Reed's solo career was a dangerous game. Transformer was the obvious place to start and set a standard which was difficult to follow. From there it was a New York lucky dip. Rock 'n' Roll Animal is still one of the worst albums I have ever heard and you'll never convince me it has any merits. Berlin is distressing. Coney Island Baby is a joke. Without the internet there was no way to try before you bought. A lot of his albums were available on the Mid-Price range which made them cheap and tempting and there were always fellow travellers willing to give advice along the lines of 'yeah, that one's shit but you should try The Blue Mask/Mistrial/New Sensations'.
The scene in Trainspotting where Sick Boy explains his theory about life, having it and then losing, is spot on. Renton replies to Sick Boy's theory that some of Lou Reed's solo stuff is 'no bad'. Sick Boy counters that although it's alright it's not great either which means that 'actually it's just shite'.
Let's make an exception for one eleven minute long song he put out in 1978, a three part tone poem that explores the underbelly of New York with prostitutes, drug dealers, the death of a woman and an uncredited spoken word section from Bruce Springsteen. It's been suggested that Street Hassle is also a response to the end of Lou's relationship with Rachel, a trans woman he had been seeing for three years. Street Hassle is a remarkable, moving piece of music with the same riff being played first on cello, guitar and bass. Reed's ambition for the song was that it was something that could have been written by Tennessee Williams, Raymond Chandler or William Burroughs set to music and I think he pulled it off. In typical Lou Reed fashion it is followed by I Wanna Be Black, a bemusing song which has nothing going for it at all and then a re-recorded Velvet Underground song. But in a solo career that up to his resurgence in the 1990s is wildly erratic, Street Hassle (the song) is a major achievement and a truly great song. I don't have an mp3 of it and my vinyl is in poor condition so can only provide you with the Youtube version.
6 comments:
Rock and Roll Animal was the first Reed album I bought and you are right. I also have Transformer but have never fewlt the need to own amything else.
Sick Boy is also correct, if I ever had "it" I most certainly lost it sometime ago.
"wildly erratic" is right. Personally, I really like a few of Lou's solo records, even the somewhat later once. 'Set The Twilight Reeling' and 'Ecstacy' are two I particularly like. But yeah, there's a lot of unlistenable twaddle in his back-cat too.
I have bought Berlin twice in the past. Both times I took it back because it was too depressing
Moments of brilliance, like Street Hassle, rose above the sewer muck that was the majority of Reed's solo output.
Then there's Metal Machine Music...Lou Reed's Fuck You to fans that wanted an album of Sweet Jane's and Walk On The Wild Side's... It's hostility transforms itself into experimental white noise that seems more like a side effect more than any sort of plan. Legendary critic Lester Bang's once said "sentient humans simply find it impossible not to vacate any room where it's playing."
I like Street Hassle, but the rest of that album's a bit ropey. I love New York though.
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