Lou Reed passed away this past week, its always a reflective moment when someone who has helped mold me passes. I am far from a Lou Reed fanatic, frankly there's some of his stuff I just can't listen to.
I listened to a lot of Velvet Underground in college, but two of Lou Reed's solo albums really hit me at certain times in my life.
Rock and Roll Animal. Yeah I know everyone knows the version of Sweet Jane from this album (and it is a great version), but that whole album was really formative for me. I owned this as an LP and I'm fairly certain I wore it out. I suppose in the grand scheme of every album ever produced its not exactly ground breaking, but it was the first time I really understood the power of music and words. How you could create a song that had a message and the music was part of the conveyance of that message. "Heroin" off that album is one of those songs that combines in an amazing way. "Its my wife and its my life", man, what a powerful statement.
New York. There are a lot of concept albums out there, but this one is both so personal and descriptive. You really get the feeling of a gritty New York City, where "normal" people struggle to make things work. I remember someone asking me one time what my favorite song off that album was, I thought what a ridiculous question that is. You can't take any song out of that album, it would be like looking at a Picasso and saying "which color on that painting is your favorite?". The Statue of Bigotry indeed.
Generally speaking I like the way Lou Reed was able make not just a sad song, there's thousands of those, but make a depressing song, that's a lot harder.
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