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stonehearted
Now why would he show up just to sleep while someone is publicly speaking? Unless he was, erm, "nodding off"....

It is surprising, some of Reed's opinions on other artists one would think he would respect and admire, if not actually like.

For instance, you would think that Reed would have liked Jim Morrison for his dark visions, iconoclastic nature, high intelligence, and well-read, educated background and penchant for poetry writing.

Yet, Reed has been quoted as saying how delighted he was to hear of the death of "that silly Los Angeles person".

With total respect, not sure if that story can be sourced, not doubting you. Because when this story broke Sunday and I was using bing.com in images, at the top for other searches that came up were "Lou Reed Jim Morrison" but nothing came of those searches so I guess the two didn't know each other.

Also, LR if he did say this, might have said it at an earlier time when he was a more bitter-type of person and less mature. Early '70s if it happened.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-10-30 22:19 by BroomWagon.

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BroomWagon
I was using bing.com in images, at the top for other searches that came up were "Lou Reed Jim Morrison" but nothing came of those searches so I guess the two didn't know each other.

Also, LR if he did say this, might have said it at an earlier time when he was a more bitter-type of person and less mature. Early '70s if it happened.

I didn't mean to imply that they actually knew each other, because I'm sure they never met. I was just referencing the quote he made about Morrison's passing, which I'm not certain of when he said it.

I suspect maybe there was a professional jealousy thing going on, because Jim also was a poet, and perhaps at one point Reed may have resented The Doors' commercial success, because after The Velvet Underground folded up in 1970 (or after Reed left the band), he had to return home to Long Island to live in his parents' house and work in his father's office while The Doors were enjoying top 10 hit singles, gold albums and critical success, with Morrison already having had a book of poems published.

Since I was acquainted with both Jim Morrison and Lou Reed,both of whom had their 'problems,' if I had to choose who I would rather spend an hour with, it would be Morrison in a heartbeat.

I can't imagine Keith wanting to be around Lou Reed. a rather jealous and insecure fellow. Somewhere in this thread I saw what Iggy Pop had to say about Lou and I was glad Reed treated him well. Iggy is a good person and a great performer.

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stonesrule
Since I was acquainted with both Jim Morrison and Lou Reed,both of whom had their 'problems,' if I had to choose who I would rather spend an hour with, it would be Morrison in a heartbeat.

I can't imagine Keith wanting to be around Lou Reed. a rather jealous and insecure fellow. Somewhere in this thread I saw what Iggy Pop had to say about Lou and I was glad Reed treated him well. Iggy is a good person and a great performer.

I knew Lou in the 1980's and early 1990's he was a straight up no nonsense person by then. His word was solid and he was an easy going boss. As an recording artist he was second to none, he had a complete vision of the end results and knew how construct songs and run sessions in a genius way. I know what you mean about jealousy as like Keith he seemed to always have something derogatory to say about other rockers but just as with Keith there was a sense of humor to it. Funny story I remember, Lou had just sold a song for a Honda motorcycle ad and was quite embarrassed he had to resort to this in this early age of licensing. He felt his one equal as far as credibility in music was Neil Young. We sat over lunch watching MTV when "This Notes for You" came on. Lou felt it was aimed just at him and got a giant stomach ache and moped on the couch for hours afterwards. He really took it bad but now everyone does this of course, except Neil. Lou had to have met Jim Morrison, he was really into celebrity, night clubs, seeing and being seen. No way during his Warhol years they didn't cross paths....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-10-31 00:27 by DoomandGloom.

^ Oh yes, that's right! The Doors did meet Andy when they first became big and were visiting New York. This had to have been around the time of their Ed Sullivan appearance, which would place it toward the fall of '67. But weren't Lou and Andy on the outs by then? It was around that time that The Velvets were getting their second album together, which was done completely without Warhol's involvement.

I think what is more interesting is the fact that David Bowie/Mick Ronson were impresssed by the VU and hooked up with Lou Reed to mak eone of the greatest R&R Albums ever - Transformer.

Richie Unterberger has the low-down on Velvet/Reed-related interactions with other significant artists of their time such as The Beatles, Stones, Doors, etc.

Danny Fields tried to get Beatles manager Brian Epstein to sign VU and even got Lou Reed to wrangle his way into accompanying Epstein in a taxi ride, during which they shared a joint and Epstein told Reed how much he liked the "banana" album, but the Beatles' manager died only a few months later. Considering Reed's inclinations, it seems likely that Epstein would have been pleased to have had Reed as a protege.

Morrison did apparently attend a VU gig in May 1966 when they were playing shows at the LA club the Trip, at which The Doors also played for a short span, and Unterberger speculates that had the VU stand of dates not been cancelled The Doors might have been the supporting act for VU at one point, which would have made for an interesting addition to the respective eventual biographies of both acts.

Full details at: [www.richieunterberger.com]

This reminds me of a Keef riff just a little bit.


video: [youtu.be]

[savoirfaire-hoorayforhollywood.blogspot.com]

About ten years ago when an interviewer asked Keith who he thought among his generation of rockers was still producing solid stuff and had maintained his integrity, Keith said, “Lou Reed.” And named no one else.

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Chris Fountain
I think what is more interesting is the fact that David Bowie/Mick Ronson were impresssed by the VU and hooked up with Lou Reed to mak eone of the greatest R&R Albums ever - Transformer.

I just thought today when I heard the album. I wonder how much of Bowie helped that? Obviously his backing vocals are great, but its not like he wrote the songs, and the female backing vocals are kind of a Lou Reed staple. Ronson's guitar work is excellent, but I also wouldn't credit Bowie for that either. Was it just that Lou Reed was at his pop zenith at the exact time he hooked up with someone that had enough touch to make things really popular at the time? Just find it interesting that it seems like it could all be so coincidental. I don't picture Lou taking advice from Bowie about writing, so I'm thinking its just possible Bowie got hooked up with him at the perfect time.

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Title5Take1
About ten years ago when an interviewer asked Keith who he thought among his generation of rockers was still producing solid stuff and had maintained his integrity, Keith said, “Lou Reed.” And named no one else.

That I didn't know. But if my memory serves me, was it in some television interview back in 1974 or so, when Keith was asked how he feels like being the first in the list of 'next dying rock stars', and he responded, and seemingly not being very comfortable (guess why...) something to the effect that "It's Lou Reed topping that list now"... But in any case, those two guys were rather high in that (idiotic) list those days...

- Doxa



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2013-11-01 10:33 by Doxa.

Keith had passed the 27 years limit with two years by then

He must have listened a lot to Velvet. Heroin and the early live versions sound very much like YCAGWYW and SFM did in 1972/1973.

Yes, i think that Keith was probably right, although Bob Dylan (and maybe one or two others) have been pretty solid, if intermittently so, too. However, Bob did struggle somewhat during the eighties, just like pretty much every other rock veteran, in trying to fit into a musical/cultural environment he was ill suited to. I give Lou Reed credit, however, for successfully incorporating modern technology onto his album NEW SENSATIONS. Unlike the Stones, Dylan and many others, NEW SENSATIONS is one of the few albums that manages to mesh convincingly contemporary sounds, with an older artist's sensibilities. Maybe the difference with Lou was throughout his career he's always been interested in trying new things musically, and often on making every release (and that's especially true during the seventies) radically different sounding from the one before. In a sense this worked in his favour when there appeared such giant shifts in technology during the eighties, because, with the exception of maybe MISTRIAL, the albums sounded merely another strand to Lou's creativity. NEW SENSATIONS still sounds essentially 'him', despite being of its time, too.





I get a little bored when people keep acknowledging TRANSFORMER as if it was the only album Lou recorded outside of his Velvet Underground days. I think TRANSFORMER is good, but not great, certainly as a whole, although the best songs on the album ('Walk On The Wild Side', 'Satellite Of Love' and 'Perfect Day' especially) are truly memorable. The Bowie connection certainly contributed of course to its high profile then, and ever since, in addition to Bowie pretty much single handedly drawing attention to Lou, by name dropping him as an influence.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2013-11-01 13:10 by Edward Twining.

Well, there are other bands formed in 1962 out there rocking just as good as our boys, imo

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Edward Twining
Yes, i think that Keith was probably right, although Bob Dylan (and maybe one or two others) have been pretty solid, if intermittently so, too. However, Bob did struggle somewhat during the eighties, just like pretty much every other rock veteran, in trying to fit into a musical/cultural environment he was ill suited to. I give Lou Reed credit, however, for successfully incorporating modern technology onto his album NEW SENSATIONS. Unlike the Stones, Dylan and many others, NEW SENSATIONS is one of the few albums that manages to mesh convincingly contemporary sounds, with an older artist's sensibilities. Maybe the difference with Lou was throughout his career he's always been interested in trying new things musically, and often on making every release (and that's especially true during the seventies) radically different sounding from the one before. In a sense this worked in his favour when there appeared such giant shifts in technology during the eighties, because, with the exception of maybe MISTRIAL, the albums sounded merely another strand to Lou's creativity. NEW SENSATIONS still sounds essentially 'him', despite being of its time, too.





I get a little bored when people keep acknowledging TRANSFORMER as if it was the only album Lou recorded outside of his Velvet Underground days. I think TRANSFORMER is good, but not great, certainly as a whole, although the best songs on the album ('Walk On The Wild Side', 'Satellite Of Love' and 'Perfect Day' especially) are truly memorable. The Bowie connection certainly contributed of course to its high profile then, and ever since, in addition to Bowie pretty much single handedly drawing attention to Lou, by name dropping him as an influence.

New York is the album I enjoy the most - far more than Transformer.

The lyrics, the album feel and stellar song writing - it's simply brilliant.

"I play all the solos, except for the two clean ones" - Funny liner notes as well

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DandelionPowderman


New York is the album I enjoy the most - far more than Transformer.

The lyrics, the album feel and stellar song writing - it's simply brilliant.

"I play all the solos, except for the two clean ones" - Funny liner notes as well

Dandelion, almost every album Lou has recorded, i've had a certain fixation for. However, it's sometimes hard to get a perspective on his music, simply because of his sudden shifts in style. I believe he was a very underrated guitarist (and very distinctive, too). Those seventies albums tend to include less of his own guitar playing, unfortunately, although there are perhaps odd examples here and there. However, as a serious musician, it's his sixties work in the VELVET UNDERGROUND, and his solo work from THE BLUE MASK onwards, that are the best examples of what he was capable of as a guitar player. He had a great group backing him on THE BLUE MASK, which included Robert Quine and Fernando Saunders, who is an ace bass player. Fernando played with him intermittently until fairly recently.

As a guitar player, Lou has many of the same qualities that Keith have, albeit a little more primitive.

However, it shows how important a distinctive style and the sense of the effective chords, riffs and tones are for a good guitarist.

Lots of guitar players can play rings around him, but will never figure out the sweet stuff, nor the piece that people will remember forever. Lou could do that.

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DandelionPowderman
As a guitar player, Lou has many of the same qualities that Keith have, albeit a little more primitive.

However, it shows how important a distinctive style and the sense of the effective chords, riffs and tones are for a good guitarist.

Lots of guitar players can play rings around him, but will never figure out the sweet stuff, nor the piece that people will remember forever. Lou could do that.

Wise words indeed

I'm sure they had some mutual respect. I mean obviously they have/had. It wouldn't surprise me if Lou found Keiths minimalistic riffs brilliant. Like Dance little Sister.

The live version of New Sensations from Perfect Night is epic!

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Spud

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DandelionPowderman
As a guitar player, Lou has many of the same qualities that Keith have, albeit a little more primitive.

However, it shows how important a distinctive style and the sense of the effective chords, riffs and tones are for a good guitarist.

Lots of guitar players can play rings around him, but will never figure out the sweet stuff, nor the piece that people will remember forever. Lou could do that.

Wise words indeed

Nicely said... I'd say I heard Lou reference Keith quite a few times saying stuff like that sounds like a KR lick. Keith didn't talk of Reed even though they were in the same building recording for a bit. Plus he was hard to understand so with Keith you stay focused on the job at hand, he'd say something and only the other Brits would understand. Keith's style is an universal reference like Steve Cropper or drummer Steve Gadd...
As a "New York" guitarist I try never to forget Lou. Sometimes I'll play with no vibrato, a side ways vibrato or crunch double stops in an atonal fashion always thinking about cutting my teeth at CBGB's... Lou had a rule in his first band after The Velvets, "No blues", that's the beginning of punk and metal. No vibrato, staccato bends, big ugly chords. Discerning from a good Lou take and a bad one is highly subjective, with guys like Richards or Cropper a musical bell goes off and it's pretty clear when they reach a sweet spot. All three guitarists I mentioned labored endless hours and sometimes days to get a part correct. Cropper being maybe just slightly quicker. This always served as an example for me to work hard and be confident you'll succeed .. If there is such a thing as a New York guitar style Reed invented it, unlike Keith's recognized style Reed imitators are still underground...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2013-11-01 19:15 by DoomandGloom.