Man, I'd love to see this released as a complete show, with the correct song order. Two live albums came out of this single gig -- 1973's "Rock N Roll Animal" and "Lou Reed Live" in 1974.

The correct setlist was this:

1. Intro
2. Sweet Jane
3. How Do You Think It Feels
4. Caroline Says I
5. I'm Waiting For The Man
6. Lady Day
7. Heroin
8. Vicious
9. Satellite of Love
10. Walk On The Wild Side
11. Oh Jim
12. Sad Song
13. White Light/White Heat
14. Rock And Roll

I thought they did put the whole show out in order. Oh well, you almost get it all with the 2 albums.... Great set list,,,,Lou's best period IMHO....

MicksBrain Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I thought they did put the whole show out in
> order. Oh well, you almost get it all with the 2
> albums.... Great set list,,,,Lou's best period
> IMHO....

Actually, it's two separate CDs. I just ordered them thru Amazon, so I can put together the show as a WMP playlist.

What's funny is that this performance wasn't one of Lou's personal best, but he DID have an elite backup band, with two of the hottest guitarists of that time (Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner). I also liked bassist John Prakash. The concert is more of a showcase for the band's interpretations of these classics, rather than Lou himself.

Personally i've always preferred Lou late 72 sound as on the CD American Poet. It relects the core of his talent so much better.
Rock 'n' Roll Animal always reminds me of Dylan's tour of 74 which is documented on Before The Flood - it's bloated overblown rock which bares little relation to Lou's true strengths.

Well, Edward, I haven't heard "American Poet", but as a showcase for Lou himself, I'm happy with "New York".

"RnR Animal" and "Lou Reed Live" were probably the closest Lou ever got to, uh, how do I put it? -- "going Zeppelin" LOL. It's 70s-style guitar-driven arena rock in a club.

I agree. One (or 2 actually) of my favorite albums of all time.

INTERESTING NOTES :

The Hunter Wagner band was put together by Bob Ezrin (producer and keyboard player for the Berlin album) NOT Lou Reed.

Lou Reed NEVER liked this band OR the live album. He felt the soaring guitars and majestic arrangements detracted from his lyrics. Hence Lou never worked with this lineup again.

The New York show was the culmination of the European "Berlin" tour. I don't know if they did ANY other U.S. dates on that tour. (I'll have to look that up)

Despite years of looking I have never been able to turn up a SINGLE boot of this tour (other than the New York gig) or ANY video of it. (correct me if I',m wrong)

He played Boston (2 shows, including the Orpheum), Toronto & Providence before wrapping it up in NYC. See here:

[www.arrakis.es]

Duane, I read that he actually did like the band for a while. Like anyhting in Lou's career, he comes and goes with his opinion of it. The one constant though I have heard is that he VERY much wanted to be a major rockstar in the 70's. And was pretty bitter that he didn't get the chart toppers and accolades he felt he deserved. But an artist like Lou will quickly see that no matter how accomplishedan arrangher and guitarrist Hunter was, he was completely wrong for a masterpiece like "Heroin". That version from RRAnimal does go down easily, and is very homogenized, but that Tom Scholtz type sound is an artistic crime. I do dig Prakash a lot on both albums. On "White Light" he just thunders donw in the basment...
I've seen some video fottage from Paris from those days. In 70's when he had the blond hair. he was electric. Very skinny, all in sleek black and a sex machine.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

Well, in any case, I'll have these in a few days -- I still have both original LPs. Unfortunately, I no longer own a turntable. Everything I have is presented digitally.

I retain two boxes of old LPs -- man, what a shame that I let these sit packed away for safekeeping. A few boot LPs are there, too.

FYI CONEY ISLAND BABY is being reissued in September with bonus tracks. I think it's the 30th anniversary of its release.

I wish they'd reissue "Rock'n Roll Heart" and/or "Street Hassle".
bassplayer, doesn't the version of "Oh Jim" just rock so well on Live? One time I was in a disco in Hamburg on the Reeperbahn. Not a Disco disco, but a ROCK discoteque. They had as the dance floor a boxing ring. And they were blasting the Live "oh Jim". I will never forget that because I was kind of stoned and ended up in the ropes.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

Hey Duane, There is at least one boot on silver cd out there-it's from the Euro leg of the tour and is called Phantom Animal (not the same as Phantom of Rock and Roll which is from the '72 tour with the Tots). The show is Copenhagen 9/19/73 and is quite good.The arrangements are in more of an embryonic stage as it's three months before the Academy of Music show. Come to think of it, there's also a vinyl boot called Rock and Roll Animal which is Amsterdam I believe a few nights before Copenhagen ( date not on the cover). Phantom Animal is the better of the two soundwise and probably much easier to find.

Duane, plenty of tapes from this tour have been torrented in the past year on dimeadozen.org . You might still be able to grab a couple.

Glam, thanks for the note on the reissue of Coney Island Baby. I wonder what the bonus tracks will be? Hopefully some of the songs that were slated to be on the album as he announced it originally... it was supposed to be a much more aggressive collection than it ended up. Then again, most of those probably ended up on Street Hassle. He was never very prolific (despite the loads of albums) and recycled anything he had.

>I wish they'd reissue "Rock'n Roll Heart" and/or "Street Hassle".

RNR HEART was reissued a few years ago and should still be in print. SH is way overdue for a decent reissue.

As for the bonus tracks on CONEY ISLAND BABY, I read they would include "Nowhere At All", "Downtown Dirt"& "Leave Me Alone", all of which appeared on his box set. There are some others too but I don't remember the titles, maybe I can find the article.

from Billboard:

The 30th anniversary of Lou Reed's 1976 album "Coney Island Baby" will be celebrated with a deluxe edition of the set, due Aug. 15 via RCA/Legacy. The album was originally released on the heels of the infamous "Metal Machine Music," which consisted of nothing but amplified noise and feedback.

“’Metal Machine Music’ had an unusually high number of returns and was taken off the market in three weeks,” Reed writes in the new liner notes. “I had no money and no guitars. The roadies had taken them when they hadn't been paid. I was in debt to everyone including the musicians union. RCA put me up in a hotel while the future fell, to be decided.”

What Reed wound up with was an album full of “basic fun rock and, in a few cases, even humor," Billboard wrote in a Jan. 24, 1976, review.

"Coney Island Baby" will be expanded with several rarities from the era, including the B-side "Nowhere at All," "Downtown Dirt" and "Leave Me Alone," the latter two of which were first released on the 1992 Reed boxed set "Between Thought and Expression."

Of most interest to devotees will be versions of "Crazy Feeling," "She's My Best Friend" and "Coney Island Baby" recorded with Reed's former Velvet Underground colleague Doug Yule in January 1975 during rehearsals for "Coney Island Baby." These tracks have never been previously released.

Reed recently completed a European tour; the lone upcoming date on his schedule is a Sept. 15 show at Telluride's Blues & Brews festival.

Glam, I swear I can not find RnR Heart. It is baffling how an artist of Lou's stature can practcally be non existant on CD lately.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

I think the R'n'R Heart reissue was on Buddah [sic]. If I recall correctly they also did Sally Can't Dance at the time, and it also included a couple of bonus tracks, one previously unreleased song.

The SALLY CAN'T DANCE reissue is on RCA. Two bonus tracks on that one: single version of "Sally Can't Dance" (with different, "radio friendly" lyrics) and one previously unreleased song, "Good Taste".

RNR HEART was reissued by Buddha and is still available at Amazon:

[www.amazon.com]

Buddha reissued almost all of Lou's Arista titles, STREET HASSLE being an exception unfortunately.

There were actually two shows that day.

Village Voice ad

WoW ! It only took you 14 years to make that post.

Steve Hunter returned to do a few tours with Lou in later years. Steve appears on both the live at Lollapalooza album and the Berlin live in Sydney one.

The 1973-01-27 gig went like this :

"TRACK LISTING:
01. White Light/White Heat
02. Wagon Wheel
03. I'm Waiting for the Man
04. Walk and Talk It
05. Sweet Jane
06. New Age
07. Vicious
08. I Can't Stand It
09. Satellite of Love
10. Heroin
11. I'm So Free
12. Walk on the Walk Side
13. Rock & Roll
14. Sister Ray"

Hope it helps!

Quote
MJG196
There were actually two shows that day.

Village Voice ad

Yes two show and the best is the first one , a new version without any cuts ( on the rock n roll solo) of the second show is circulating , they recorded the both shows and the first one is the more rough !! Vicious is awesome , Oh Jim too
Lou reed best performance so far !!!



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2020-04-03 00:01 by 5strings.

Quote
5strings

Quote
MJG196
There were actually two shows that day.

Village Voice ad

Yes two show and the best is the first one , a new version without any cuts ( on the rock n roll solo) of the second show is circulating , they recorded the both shows and the first one is the more rough !! Vicious is awesome , Oh Jim too
Lou reed best performance so far !!!

To find this is now my COVID isolation task!

Quote
Bungo
WoW ! It only took you 14 years to make that post.

Thank COVID.

Here's a good autobiography by Prakash John, bassist on Rock And Roll Animal. [www.troianomusic.com]
He talks about his time with Lou but the whole thing is worth a read.

"Wagner and Hunter - I remember this clearly - all these guys that came after Wagner and Hunter in '73, all these guys in that band Aerosmith, and a band called Boston, they'd have those dueling guitar things, you know... leads, harmonizing - they got that all from Wagner and Hunter. These guys use to come and follow us all over the place - New York, Boston, wherever we were playing with Lou Reed.

Next thing I know, I listen to their albums, and it sounds like Wagner and Hunter. And good for them, but people should acknowledge that Wagner and Hunter were the originators. They're the guys who made that sound. If you hear that live album, Rock N Roll Animal, play the intro to "Sweet Jane." I'm telling you, that will give you and idea of what the two Detroit guys - well, Hunter came from Decatur, Illinois - and Whitey and I from Toronto, with our R&B roots, hammering away on a Lou Reed song. It's unedited. The beauty of that is none of the mistakes are fixed. Nothing is fixed on that album. It's a true live album.

It was the third day I was in that band. I rehearsed one day, played in Toronto - of all places - the opening night, the next night was in New York and they recorded this album. When we were with Alice Cooper, people all over the world would always play that album, more than Welcome to My Nightmare, so that usually used to irritate Alice. That album got such rave reviews that even Lou Reed hates it, because a lot of people started panning him because of his singing, and I thought that was kind of unfair. Lou Reed has his own style - great lyricist - and people shouldn't judge him on his ability to sing. Nobody said he had to be Al Green or Frank Sinatra. He's Lou Reed. He can sing in that monotone voice, and if he didn't, it would sound silly. Anyway, Lou doesn't acknowledge that album, but that is a famous album, and everywhere in Europe, they'd play it.

People still e-mail me about that album. The president of the Jack Bruce fan club finally got a hold of me a couple years ago. He'd been looking for me because was such a fan of Jack Bruce, but he was also a fan of Chris Squire and, oddly enough, me. He was telling me how influential that album was to a lot of people in Australia. Get it, play it full blast, and think of yourself at the Academy of Music in New York. Steve Katz, the guitar player for Blood, Sweat, and Tears, produced that album... the most unusual guy to produce that album, but nevertheless, the best guy, because he left it alone.

That's probably my favorite album of all the albums I've done. I've done stuff that's maybe technically better, but every time that album is played, it sounds just like the way we recorded it. There's Lou reed coming in a bar early, two bars late... but that's how he is. You would be surprised at how many people talk about "Sweet Jane" alone. People just go mental when they find out that I played on it or they've been looking for me.

Outtakes of that album actually ended up on an album called Lou Reed Live. That's a prime example of RCA Records ripping off the bloody musicians. They have two albums, they pay us for one, but they can get away with it, because it was outtakes of the previous album. You couldn't give each musician a couple grand in the early '70s? That's the stuff that really irks me about the business. Once in a while I may think of it in a conversation like this, but really, the overriding factor is the music."

P.S. Bush were a very underrated band. Incredible musicians, including my favourite drummer of all time, Pentti "Whitey" Glan (RIP).

I only know the Album "Rock and Roll Animal" which I consider together with YaYa's, as two of the best 2-guitarband records from that era.
According to John Prakash, Lou Reed's bass player, R&R Animal had no overdubs and was played in one take. That's quite an effort.

What sucks is that "Live" was for many years put out on sub standard labels. You couldn't find it, and then it would be on some crap release. I bet they've upgraded it by now, but in my own albums when "Live" comes on compared to "Animal" you got top turn it way up.
I hate it because the guitar duel on "Oh Jim" is legendary. It builds and builds. First it is only Hunter soloing, then Wagner takes over; then they start dueling, back and forth, the drums hit harder and harder. Fantastic song.

I don't quite agree with Prakash John that Steve and Dick were the first with the two guitar assault. There was Duane and Dicky; before them. I guess there were other superb guitar teams like Keith and Taylor, or Wayne Kramer and Fred Smith, but they weren't as virtuoso as the other two duos.

I have mixed feelings about RnRA and Live. RnRA was my gateway to Lou and the Velvet Underground as a suburban 13 year-old. And it's my favorite heavy metal album ever.

But it's so cynical: It's as if Ezrin said "Get the best band money can buy and put Lou out front, drunk as a rat. Who cares if he's mumbling and slurring his words all over the place? The band is so freakin' AWESOME that no one will care that he's making a mess of the Velvets hits."

On RnRA, the guitars are Wagner right, Hunter left. They're reversed on Live, which is now available as Extended Versions. So when you rip the albums and put the songs in the setlist running order, the guitars won't be consistent throughout.

BTW, Sweet Jane should be played in D, as Lou plays it when he's playing guitar, not E, as it's played on RnRA. Playing it in E turns the riff into metal. In D, it just about jangles.

A few years ago during a dive bar gig, my dingbat geezer garage band for whom I play guitar and sing was playing Sweet Jane with a shredder friend of ours joining us so that the rest of them could play the intro part. Three guitars is too many there. So I went for a cheeseburger during the intro. When they got around to playing Sweet Jane (in E, urgh), I walked back to the stage, still chewing on the last bite of my burger, to commence the vocal before I'd finished eating. "Standing on a corner...." I prefer when we played it in D, with the "heavenly wine and roses" part after the third chorus, minimal overdrive, no intro, and no guitar solos.



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 2020-04-04 09:35 by ab.