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hbwriter
(thanks and you're welcome) it's funny - a lot of people have expressed this lately- that the Lou Reed thing is hitting really hard- i think his stubbornness and surliness just made him seem like he'd outlast them all- plus the music was just always so tough and sturdy. I dunno - my 20 year old son talks about it all the time - when he heard it on the news it was like a death in the family - i guess a loss like this just reminds us how important music is to all of us.
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hbwriter
(thanks and you're welcome) it's funny - a lot of people have expressed this lately- that the Lou Reed thing is hitting really hard- i think his stubbornness and surliness just made him seem like he'd outlast them all- plus the music was just always so tough and sturdy. I dunno - my 20 year old son talks about it all the time - when he heard it on the news it was like a death in the family - i guess a loss like this just reminds us how important music is to all of us.
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Doxa
And suddenly we realized that there would be none anymore; the book is finished. Reed is gone for good. In him there was that forever living kind of wandering spirit, true artistic honesty that is forever gone with him. He represented something unique, and he seemingly directly or indirectly affected a lot more to the culture - and generations of people - than what, say, his record sales, amount of hits and all that bullshit says. With him we lost more than just him.
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RollingFreak
Stonehearted, thanks for those videos and stories. I never knew about that event and you can see the happiness on the faces of two HUGE curmudgeons. Makes it even more special when two guys who always seem pissed off get to play with each other and really care because you can see so clearly how much they admire the other.
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hbwriter
(thanks and you're welcome) it's funny - a lot of people have expressed this lately- that the Lou Reed thing is hitting really hard- i think his stubbornness and surliness just made him seem like he'd outlast them all- plus the music was just always so tough and sturdy. I dunno - my 20 year old son talks about it all the time - when he heard it on the news it was like a death in the family - i guess a loss like this just reminds us how important music is to all of us.
Thats exactly it. It really is so weird. I'm just like your son. I'm 21 years old and my dad is a die hard Lou Reed fan. Like, the one that has every album on CD and has seen him many many times live. The amount of times I've heard his stories through the years: from the time he saw him live before or right when his debut album came out and he was playing colleges and just playing Velvet Underground songs, to when he claims Lou "sweat on him" at the Bottom Line, to when he saw the worse concert he ever saw, which was Lou at Carnegie Hall in 2004.
He's just been such a part of my life for so long, and while I'm nowhere near the fan he is, I really did love him, and its exactly as you said. He was the guy you thought would outlast them all and would always do what he wanted. Yeah he pissed me off many times, with crap like Like A Possum, but there was actually always something sort of good about it, and the good stuff by far outweighed the bad. Its like his death sparked this whole new interest for me that I didn't know was there. It makes sense my dad is so affected. I mean, he's been following him for over 40 years. But people can't really understand why he's affecting me so much.
And I really can't either, but it does definitely feel like that death in the family. And its in the way that The Stones or Paul McCartney dying should feel more like a death in the family but that I don't think it will. Those guys, sorry to burst anyone's bubble, are essentially done. When Paul McCartney dies, I will be sad, but I won't feel the same as when Lou Reed died. He was still creating and he would always be creating. But more importantly it would be at a level the same as his whole career has been. His stonefaced attitude made it seem like he'd never leave. Like, he was just gonna outlive anyone. It helps that he's been "old" since like 1990. So he hadn't really changed much, he was just Lou and he felt like the guy that would always be around.
It just felt like he wasn't done living yet. 71 isn't terribly young, and for how he's lived its luck that he lived that long. But for some reason with Lou, it feels like he died at 40. It feels like there's all this stuff we'll never get to hear from him even though he basically hadn't put out anything new in a decade. It always felt like he was with us though and relevant. Like, he gets the joke and he's ahead of all of us. He's seeing something that we aren't.
I don't know. Its just the weirdest feeling. His death shouldn't have affected me this much, yet it does. The fact that I can't wake up every morning anymore and think "he's still singing Sweet Jane somewhere"... its just unreal to me. Its like I'm mourning someone who I've followed for 40 years when, in reality, its been like 10 years for me. I miss him on this whole other level than most people.
But now and I'm rambling and thats because its 2 in the morning for me. Basically, I really like this thread, and I really like what people have said, and its touching that there's been so much outpour for him. The one thing I will say about his death is at least he's getting the respect I would hope he'd get. No one is really saying anything bad, when they easily could, and its good to know that after 70 years of unintentionally pissing people off, no one really wants to taunt the beast. Because even though he's gone, it still feels like if you said "he sucked" he could come up to you and punch you in the face.
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stonehearted
When I first got the DVD when it came out, it made me realize for the first time that Lou was really starting to look old. His face was weathered and his voice sounded a bit worn and shaky, but I did have a bit of a chuckle over the leather pants and thought how there weren't any other 65-year-olds I could think of who could wear them and still seem cool. Old or not, Lou Reed would always be Lou Reed, and that would be good enough for me.
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bitusa2012
So flame me - I like the album New York (LIKE - not LOVE) and a handful of other tunes, but I just never got any other Lou Reed. I CERTAINLY could never get his legendary status.So he's rude, or stubborn or surly. If that makes him a legend so is my Aunt Amy.
I could never listen to an album all the way thru, thats for sure.
Sorry he has passed. Especially feel for his family. But his music? No, sorry, not my cup of tea.
Rgds
Rod
Perth
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RollingFreak
I'm 21 years old and my dad is a die hard Lou Reed fan. Like, the one that has every album on CD and has seen him many many times live. The amount of times I've heard his stories through the years: from the time he saw him live before or right when his debut album came out and he was playing colleges and just playing Velvet Underground songs, to when he claims Lou "sweat on him" at the Bottom Line, to when he saw the worse concert he ever saw, which was Lou at Carnegie Hall in 2004.
I've tried and he's tried to explain it. It was the weirdest thing. Lou played a lot of Magic And Loss an album my dad really likes, but also a lot from The Raven. But for some reason it was just a really downer night. Lou Reed didn't say a word at all, and the whole night was really subdued. My dad didn't need hits, but he was just waiting for the night to pick up and it just seemed like overall it was a rather boring show. Probably what Lou decided on for that night, but not knowing that beforehand it really can be a let down for the audience.Quote
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RollingFreak
I'm 21 years old and my dad is a die hard Lou Reed fan. Like, the one that has every album on CD and has seen him many many times live. The amount of times I've heard his stories through the years: from the time he saw him live before or right when his debut album came out and he was playing colleges and just playing Velvet Underground songs, to when he claims Lou "sweat on him" at the Bottom Line, to when he saw the worse concert he ever saw, which was Lou at Carnegie Hall in 2004.
Hi Rolling Freak, I'm curious about the Carnegie Hall show - why did your dad feel it was so bad?
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RollingFreak
I didn't see the VU reunion although I just heard the album last week. I would agree it does sound like there's something missing from it. And I mean they basically played everything you'd want, with all the well known stuff plus some great rarities like The Gift, I Can't Stand It, Real Good Time Together. But for some reason the whole thing just sounds... off. Like they really aren't that into it. IMO Moe and Sterling shine and really do well. In fact, I don't think the live album even picks up till Moe does After Hours four songs in. John Cale and Lou are fine, although they just seem there. I would actually say Lou is my least favorite part of the record. His vocals, while not glaringly bad or wrong, just sound SO uninterested. Again, that could just be Lou, be he sounds like he's singing nothing with feeling. The whole concert just almost seems to planned and like a task to them. John Cale does fine. Its not a bad album, I don't know how the shows were, but there's definitely something off that keeps it from being as amazing as the tracklist seems to imply. And I can't even give how they should play better, because they play fine. Maybe the Velvet Underground just didn't work in the 90s, at least in that organized reunion type way.
I would also say, minor change, but if I were to change anything to make the setlist perfect, I would switch out Hey Mr. Rain for Sister Ray. If you're gonna do the 20 minute jam, it might as well be the famous one.
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RollingFreak
I didn't see the VU reunion although I just heard the album last week. I would agree it does sound like there's something missing from it. And I mean they basically played everything you'd want, with all the well known stuff plus some great rarities like The Gift, I Can't Stand It, Real Good Time Together. But for some reason the whole thing just sounds... off. Like they really aren't that into it. IMO Moe and Sterling shine and really do well. In fact, I don't think the live album even picks up till Moe does After Hours four songs in. John Cale and Lou are fine, although they just seem there. I would actually say Lou is my least favorite part of the record. His vocals, while not glaringly bad or wrong, just sound SO uninterested. Again, that could just be Lou, be he sounds like he's singing nothing with feeling. The whole concert just almost seems to planned and like a task to them. John Cale does fine. Its not a bad album, I don't know how the shows were, but there's definitely something off that keeps it from being as amazing as the tracklist seems to imply. And I can't even give how they should play better, because they play fine. Maybe the Velvet Underground just didn't work in the 90s, at least in that organized reunion type way.
I would also say, minor change, but if I were to change anything to make the setlist perfect, I would switch out Hey Mr. Rain for Sister Ray. If you're gonna do the 20 minute jam, it might as well be the famous one.
Lou's live vocals haven't particularly struck me for decades (since perhaps that great Bottom Line Club performance from 83). I'd say his vocals displayed a little more energy in the late nineties onwards though. It's difficult, i feel, to listen to the reformed Velvet Underground from 93, alongside the great 1969 Live album (and that's with the reintroduction of Cale too, who had already left them by 69). Lou's voice had certainly lost a lot of its former greatness in my opinion. However, i don't think this exclusively relates to Lou alone. There are few artists that can pull off vocally what they could do in their youth.
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RollingFreak
Absolutely. Except I wouldn't say his voice hadn't struck me for that long. Yes, there was that decade from 84-94 where he was pretty flat and dry and you can hear it in stuff like New York, Drella or the VU reunion. More than ever, it feels like he's reading and not singing. But with Set The Twilight Reeling and all the way up until at least the Berlin album performance in 2006 I thought his voice was great. He found this new energy and he was still kind of talk-singing, but it was an older wiser Lou and I think it gave the songs a whole new spin. He wasn't trying to sound young anymore because he wasn't, but he also had this vigor to start delivering quality shows again (not that New York and Magic And Loss shows were bad, just his voice was an acquired taste at the time). I think that his vocals on Perfect Night and Animal Serenade are a perfect example of how amazing he could sound at an older age. The VU reunion was unfortunately just during that period where he seemed a little out of it.