Lou Reed archive project

This could be interesting. Here's an announcement from the Lou Reed Facebook page:

We thought today would be a good day to announce that the Lou Reed Archive is currently a work in progress. There are stacks upon stacks of boxes, full of hundreds of tapes, photographs, artwork, hard drives, letters, and more that will be transferred, cataloged, and assembled into an incredible archive. It's a long road ahead and we'll be sharing our progress along the way right here on the Lou Reed facebook and twitter pages so stay tuned!

 

They better get moving. The potential audience for this isn't getting any younger.

 

Very true. But before they put out a lot of demos and alternate takes, how about making sure all of the albums are in print and available on CD? Iconoclassic did a great job with the few Lou Reed remasters they were allowed to put out. I've suggested to them several times that they do additional Reed titles as he has several late 70's and 80's albums that are out of print. They said they would love to do more, but haven't been allowed to. Hopefully that will change.

 

I wonder who "we" are? Who's at the helm of this Archive? Could be interesting.

 

Bumb. Looking forward to this.

 

Me too.

 

As for the albums themselves, as has been reported here, Lou and Bob Ludwig remastered his entire catalog before Lou passed away.

 

my impression is that he rarely had extra material for any one album session, so I'm not sure what bonus tracks could consist of... I'm pretty set on the catalog, original vinyl-wise, but I wonder if they'll flesh it out with live recordings. Or will they go an audiophile route, considering his passion for sound?

 

Any word on this archive and the possibly box set of all of Lou Reed's solo albums yet?

 

All I want is Ecstasy on vinyl

 

I would be satisfied with a Live Archive box set. There are so many great Lou Reed performances which have never been officially released to CD. "New York Live" was a wonderful performance, but it was only ever officially available as a laserdisc. I believe it was aired on television and there have also been some VHS copies circulating amongst fan groups. That performance is one of many very enjoyable live shows.

What are some live performances each of you would want to see released officially?

 

I think the Street Hassle phase of the "Everyman Band" years might be the most revelatory. And there were several recorded for radio.

that said, the earlier '70s tours, like the one with Doug Yule, are also good. Very intense. And there's the show at the Roxy in '76 with Don Cherry, which almost serves as a turning point in the career.

actually, it would be nice to get a '74 show out there, with the '73 band but with Danny Weis on guitar, so people might finally pipe down about Rock 'n' Roll Animal :--).

 

I disagree in terms of the music. VU and Lou will always find new generations of fans. For physical product, maybe less so.

 

Oh yes, the tour with Danny Weiss is great. Maybe Lou wasn't in a good condition, but he only had to belt the lyrics out, something he succeeds fine with on all the live tapes.
Weiss is a fantastic player, and more subtle than Hunter and Wagner.

 

I'd be interested in hearing ANYTHING recorded 74-78, live, demos, rants. And yeah to Street Hassle. Different lyrics to some of the live performances, like "Shooting Star"....

 

I'm a huge Lou Reed and Velvet Underground fan and would love to see Lou's albums all extended with demos and maybe a complete live show from each year. If Dylan could have a box set with ALL Of his albums, then so can Lou Reed.

All that I can tell you guys and gals is that I can't wait for the box sets and/or extended remasters to come out!!

 

That's great news.

 

I see this listed on Amazon but it just screams "bootleg" to me:
http://www.amazon.com/Hassled-April-Lou-Reed/dp/B00IRAX5G6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416629328

 

"Gimmie Some Good Times", "Leave Me Alone", "Shooting Star" are taken from a concert in Ludwigshafen, Germany on April 14, 1977. The whole concert is circulating and is very interesting.

 

It is; there are a bunch of Lou/VU boots on Amazon.

 

Laurie Anderson?..... maybe?

 

There were five live Lou Reed VHS tapes that I know of:

A Night With Lou Reed (80s band with Quine)
A second one with the Quine band whose name slips my mind
New York Live
Magic & Loss live
Velvets reunion live

There may have been one of Songs for Drella too, not sure...

 

I'm actually quite excited for the prospect of the Reed/Ludwig remasters, especially after the recent Springsteen set. I won't lie and say there are a couple of albums I'm not particularly bothered about hearing again (Growing Up, I'm looking at you) but the prospect of fresh takes on New York, Street Hassle, New Sensations and Blue Mask leaves me very excited indeed.

 

Drella was a Laser disc. A release of that as cd is problematic, IMO. Drella was never recorded "properly" in a studio. the laserdisc (audio-wise) is just the same as the cd (different day, same set up, pretty much identical playing and singing). Why release something else on cd that is virtually identical? A dvd would be cool, though.

 

"At the record company party, on their hands at last, a dead star."