Lou Reed: The Blue Mask / Legendary Hearts song by song review

In my 20s I used to listen to Lou Reed and the VU obsessively. However my tastes moved on and I started listening more to jazz. For some reason, possibly reading some old Robert Quine interviews, I have started re-listening to his mid period albums featuring Quine.

These are albums that seem to sway critically between reverence and shoulder shrugs. I remember getting The Blue Mask based on rave reviews fromVictor Bockris in his biography of Lou Reed and finding it a bit underwhelming and forced. I came back to it a few years later and loved some of the tunes but hated the rest. I didn't even bother with Legendary Hearts as it was seen as a poor man's BM.

Lou in his later years would drone on about his music being for "adults not kids" which when you are under thirty is a bore. However despite the pomposity the older I get the more his later albums reveal themselves to me, in the same way that later Miles Davis and impressionist painters have become favourites as I reach the age the artists created their masterworks.

The world is so youth obsessed, perhaps it always was, that it is easy as you get older to either switch off and not engage with new music or to try and stay up to date with music you don't really like. While it is always a tightrope past 30 one benefit is that certain albums become good friends and you have the expereince to understand what you are being told by them. The other thing is that you have enough time behind you to see the works that have lasted through fashion and critical ups and downs. It is also a time to appreciate artists and albums which have not bend to commercial pressures or passing fads but have been bold enough to draw a line in the sand and say "this is where I am in life, this is how I view it, take it or leave it".

I feel Lou Reed's music endures because each album is a direct window into a particular period of his life. His albums are not afraid to be ugly, cheesy, corny, vulnerable and funny. In the same way everyone's life is littered with mistakes and bad judgements so are his albums. As we ourselves look back on the same errors and comedic pratfalls we start to enjoy artists whose work is not perfect but mirrors the same highs and lows we all go through.

I thought I would right a song by song review of these albums which can be paired quite nicely and cover similar topics with similar musical themes.

 

The Blue Mask track 1

My House

The first time I heard this song I was almost afraid to like it. I was also deeply confused by it. My experience with Lou's music was all the VU albums, Transformer, Berlin, Street Hassle R&R Animal and Sally Can't Dance. Most selections were based on Victor Bockris' scabrous Lou Reed biography. I have no idea if even half the tales in it are true but if they are Lou was a very naughty boy. Bockris had a very readable manner in dishing the dirt and certainly had his favourites when it came to the albums. The impression I got was that apart from the albums listed all the other albums were pretty terrible, mainly due to poor production, drugs and LA session musos who didn't understand Lou's music. Having dipped a vague to into The Bells I tended to agree. However the whole story led up to the amazing resurrection of The Blue Mask aided by the amazing guitar hero Robert Quine.

Victor went so overboard with his reviews that I rushed out to buy the only very recently rereleased on CD Blue Mask. I expected a mix of the pop of Tranformer, the darkness of Berlin and the guitar freakouts of White Light White Heat. I also was excited to hear Quine let rip being a big fan of his deranged playing with Richard Hell and the Voidoids.

The first thing is that all excess has been stripped from the arrangements and the band. Lou is back to a four piece. It is that weird dichotomy whereby fans want an artist to be experimental and progress but also immediately attack the artists if they don't like the experiments. The fact that Lou chose to broaden his music into areas like soft rock, doowop, show tunes, cabaret, funk and disco didn't go down that well, even though not a lot of it has aged surprisingly well, albeit inconsistently. hence the hypocritical critical relief when he took the regressive step of going back to guitar, bass and drums. However in the same way that punk was not new or particularly forward looking musical form but was necessary at the time there is a sense that Reed did need to find his roots and refocus with this band and album.

One thing I enjoy is looking at contemporary albums released at the same time. It is instructive as quite often you can be surprised and a work put into much broader perspective by seeing how it stands along side other possibly forgotten works that have not transcended the time. I am not criticizing Ghost in the Machine, Face Value, Duran Duran or Tattoo You but stick any of them on now and they scream of a time and place. The Blue Mask however is wiry, spindly, fragile but mad. It does not really date, it does not make any concessions to making a hit record. It features no overdubs (apart from the lead on My House), it features no synths, no drum programming, no layers of percussion, no world music elements, so big statements in the lyrics. Even Fernando Saunder's fretless bass sounds more jazzy than Pino Palladino.

My House starts with a swelling bass note, a class and response between Quine's guitar on the left, Lou's distorted lead in the middle and Lou's chords on the right. For an album that is so heralded as a "guitar" album the guitars for the most part (the exception being the title track) are quite low in the mix, Quine's on the left, Lou's on the right. They are playing Fender or Fender type guitars, trebly and jangling. The band Television are often mentioned but Quine and Reed's guitars are much less frenetic and interlocking. There is a lot of space available which is mainly filled by Reed's dry rumble of a voice, glittering cymbal punctuations and Saunders melodic bass.

I find the Saunders connection very interesting. Despite his "godfather of punk" reputation Lou, like Frank Zappa, was an obsessive R&B and Doowop fan. The "black music" elements of his sound became more and more explicit on albums like Sally Can't Dance and The Bells. The instrumental line up of The Blue Mask is fascinating as Saunders brings such a strong funk and jazz influence to the music. However it fits much better this time around as the players are bending their styles to fit Lou's songs rather than Lou forcing his muse to fit a new musical form. They are good enough players that they can find new forms in Reed's basic chord progressions, much like the best jazz players can with a well worn standard.

Considering how combative Reed seems to be and his later falling out with Quine I find it amazing that Saunders has not only stuck around with Reed for so long but that his playing is consistently upfront in the mixes and providing a musical voice as distinctive and identifiable as Reed's. Saunders playing is by far my favourite use of a fretless bass in a rock context. I have read that Quine while admiring Fernando as a musician disliked his style and wanted a more Donald "Duck" Dunn style player. I need to find more info on this and Saunders elegant playing does stand in startling contrast to Quine's occasional explosions of sound. But I think Saunders adds a much needed musicality to the songs, connects Lou's music to his background in R&B and also adds subtle contemporary element without overdoing it.

Reed was coerced into playing guitar on this album after a long period of either not playing at all or only the occasional strums on his previous albums. You can hear Reed cautiously get back into his role. I have always found it odd that someone who played with such feral abandon on the Velvets albums took such a back seat thereafter. Tracks like Run Run Run and I Heard Her Call My Name feature awesome scattershot playing but it is only on The Blue Mask that Reed starts to re-explore this direction. Often Quine is a sort of proxy, being of course hugely influenced by Reed's playing. For the most part Reed sticks to fragile Pale Blue Eyes style strums or chunky chordal riffs in the style of Sweet Jane.

When I first heard this album I kept waiting for the jagged Quine rupturing solos or some extended Tom Verlaine style modal playing. I could not accept the stark beauty for what it was rather than what I had expected. The album shows a completely different side to Quine's work. I will say that I think he was a bit intimidated by working with Reed. He said himself he worried about what kind of parts to play on the songs until he came up with the idea of playing in an open tuning. This both created a contrast, kept him from playing well worn cliches and also gave the songs a drone that harked back to the VU. On My House he plays fragmentary partial chords, weaving between the bass and Reed's voice. It really is a reminder that Reed can write exquisite ballads than need to be treated with kid gloves.

I don't know anything about drummer Doane Perry but that he was a session player and later joined Jethro Tull of all people. However unlike most of the faceless session players who wandered in and out of Reed albums in the 70's he plays with sensitivity and subtly shaded colours. He can also add a crisp back beat as show on this track where the snare sounds like a gun shot. I find missing these elements missing from Fred Maher when he takes over the drum seat for Legendary Hearts. I also read Sanders didn't particularly like Maher's playing, but I only have a Quine interview to back this up. Certainly Perry's style fits Saunders much more comfortably and he leaves a lot of room for Saunders lines which the more aggressive Maher does not.

It is the hesitancy of Lou's voice and guitar which I think makes this song so cool. The whole album is a conflict between bold statements of intent along with the crushing doubt behind each war cry. Sometimes, after the excesses of rap and heavy metal, it is difficult to remember what a weird avant guard artist Reed was. For a moment imagine you get a band together, book some gigs with friends and work mates there and then sing a long discordant song to them called "I love taking meth" followed by " please tie me up and spank me".

The other thing to remember is that while Reed is berated by critics for his more commercial experiments I defy anyone to really find a Reed song from the 70s that panders to anyones idea of "commercial" at least when it comes to the lyrics. I genuinely feel that deep down Reed is incapable, like any great artist, of selling out his art. Yes during the late 80s that were wobbly patches but when you read the lyrics in the cold light of day there is some incredibly dark and subversive material there. Unfortunately while he did not water down his lyrics he did professionalize his bands which led to a sad retreat from guitar playing. Quine basically said you play guitar or I don't play before the sessions.

One thing to take into account when embarking on a Lou Reed album is that each is carefully put together with the clever juxtapositions of ideas and question and answer approaches to the themes. My House sets the stage for what this album will be. The brooding solo with which Reed finish the song tells you this will not be as straight forward a ride as the first few chords promised.

 

This is one of my favourite LR albums, but having said that - there are only a few I like and I mainly like this for Robert Quine's contribution. The words the first track My House say nothing to me and don't seem to be trying to. He lives in a nice house, has a beautiful wife and a motorcycle. Well good for you Mr Reed. However, the way he delivers and the the backing instrumentation don't suggest he is celebrating it (slow and dissonant). In that sense, there is a weird juxtaposition (between the words and the music) and listening to it again, the sum effect is somewhat strange: matter of fact manner of delivery with words that would otherwise suggest sentiment, but which here does not seem to be present.

Re Fernando Saunders: He's probably the musician that most sounds like the times it was made in (fretless bass was 'in' during this era), but on this record the one that seems at odds with the rest. Apparently Quine didn't like his playing at first but grew to appreciate it.

 

My House is one of my favorite LR songs. Perfect in every way.

 

The "key" lines are the one about the quija board, the house is haunted by the spirit of Delmore Schwartz, author and Lou's mentor from college at Syracuse.

 

Great topic for a thread!
Two caveats; I have stayed away from Bockris' book; he's a hate monger when it comes to Reed, and I do not believe the person he portrays in his book is the truth (John Cale said 90% in the book is true; that 10% of lies).
I also like all of Lou's 70s albums a lot, Sally Can't Dance, Rock N Roll Heart, The Bells...

"My House" I never warmed to to be honest. Nice guitars, but it's slightly mannered and not one of his best lyrics despite the profoundity of Delmore etc.
It says "I'm back, I survived and I'm happy", but the darker stuff on the album is more interesting.

 

Anyone know why Lou had that photo on the cover. It must be some sort of a statement I guess?



Peace and love✌

 

Hi wife Sylvia made it, not sure of the statement other than perhaps the darkness behind the icon? I maybe wrong but I think it was intended that it would reveal another image when it was turned in the light but for some reason this was not carried forward, perhaps the cost?

 

I agree it is a bit mannered, I think a lot of the album has a sense of Lou rediscovering himself. Some of it is perhaps a bit contrived, however I think this vulnerability contrasts well with the harder material. Like I said I think it is difficult to just pick songs from his albums as they all seem to be so closely linked to his state of mind at the time (with the exception of his first solo LP which was a lot of old VU material redone).

I would say that there is a lot of darkness in the song. After all he presents a perfect life and house with......a bloody ghost in it! A lot of Delmore Schwartz's work was about the fragility of family life, what lay beneath the conventionality of the 50s. By putting the supernatural presence of such a questioning writer next to this ode to a happy home I feel is almost as subversive as the more chest beating title track.

 

You're right about the cover. I seem to recall only the US issues were reflective; never seen a copy.

 

Wow, I never saw that angle...typical Lou .

 

Other cool musical points

Going back to Fernando Saunders, his bass is almost as loud as the vocal, I think this is one of the few rock albums with such an upfront bass mix. I love his use of harmonics.

Perry's cool drums, the stop and build up at 1.30. The floor toms at 1.58. The fills at 4.15 and 4.22 reminds me of Steve Gadd's playing on Aja by Steely Dan.

Quine's lick at 2.06. Some of Quine's guitar reminds me of the time John Mclaughlin said Miles told him to play guitar like he didn't know how to play guitar. as does Reed's solo on My House, I love it though!

I always found it irritating how Reed pronounces the word "Perfect" at 2.30 as "Perfick"...just a gripe...

The imagery of "Canadian geese" reminds me of Neil Young's tune Helpless.

 

I'm a bit torn in my feelings for The Blue Mask. The musicians are first-rate and it's great to hear Reed and Quine in such sympathetic playing together, but some of Lou's singing is cringe worthy. It's almost as if he's unable to find the key he's singing at some points and has trouble staying in time, frequently having to slow down or rush a line to get back with the music. I'm inclined to think it was a conscious act on his part as he was more than able to sing in a conventional manner.

Despite that, I still think it's one of his strongest albums musically and lyrically.

 

Just my thoughts on it, perhaps is it just about being content ha ha!

 

Good interpretation. I don't know if he intended it, but now I have read your reading I'm hoping he did.

 

I do think Reed changed his approach to singing at some point in the 80s. Perhaps it is just age? I do think a lot of joy left his voice, compare his singing on a tune like Rock and Roll from Loaded. Some of his vocals on songs he was clearly a bit bored with in concert (such as Perfect Day) were a bit painful and frankly felt like he was taking the piss. However the topics he dealt with in his songs moved away from the occasional poppy style of the VU to much darker subjects, it is hard to write joyful pop songs in the grip of Reaganomics I imagine!

A lot of the vocal ticks on The Blue Mask are down to lack of confidence and just finding his voice again in such a bare setting. He is really out front in the mix. Quine actually said there is an alternate mix which features Reed doing live vocals, which he prefers. No idea if this was ever released?

There are worse Reed vocals, some of the singing on The Bells is horrendous. I think some of the joy returns with some tracks on Legendary Hearts and the singing on New York is great for the most part.

 

I have a RCA promo interview LP for The Blue Mask. It's Lou answering questions from a sheet, which the respective radio station reporter would read on air.
It's interesting...Lou states firmly that he will never go on tour again, as it's too hard on his health. He had been sober, what, a year, by the time The Blue Mask was made? Which has bearing on the themes of certain songs of course...

 

In an interview for the album - I guess it was in a German magazine like Stereoplay - Reed said that "Transformer" had been a mask for the Velvet Underground and this was a mask for his solo career. The album was released shortly before Lou's 40th birthday and after a career spanning compilation ("Rock N Roll Diary", 1980) so there is a sense of a circle being completed.

But since the title song is about a man on the edge - or even beyond - there are multiple ways to interpret the recycling of Mick Rock's photo. Always liked the idea. The album also "recycles" the typography from "Growing Up In Public" btw.

"Blue Mask" was my first Reed album btw so I think a track by track thread is a nice idea.

 

"The image of the poet's in the breeze"

 

Thank you for starting this thread. "The Blue Mask" is one of my favorite Lou albums.

"My House" is one of the tracks on the album that I like best. For the most part, I am often drawn first to lyrics and vocal performance, with musical nuances often a lesser concern. "My House" runs a bit counter to that experience - I find the music here just plain aesthetically pleasing and viscerally calming. Almost like a bit of meditation. I don't feel that the lyrics say anything particularly deep or profound, but Lou so often comes at things from a bleak, negative or cynical perspective, it is a simple joy to hear the songs where he lays claim to being happy, lucky, or fulfilled. I laugh off the metaphysical mumbo jumbo in the song (I'd prefer to think that Lou was just kidding about the Ouija board), but I like the notion of an artist feeling that his greatest mentor's spirit resides in his home. Again, a positive statement from a man prone to not always see the positive.

And for my money I'll echo what others have expressed - Fernando really shines on this song. He's largely responsible for the mood conveyed (IMO).

 

Must be this one. He actually obliges the interviewer with answers on this occasion.

 

No, this is not from the RCA promo record, it's a real interview. Interesting though, despite the journalist being an a** and trying to provoke. No wonder he hated them.

 

I do think a lot of the humour in his writing is either missed or misunderstood. I like the fact I can listen to his music in different moods and get different sides to his writing.

 

Great interview! Actually comes across as a decent bloke. A friend of a friend interviewed him a few years ago and Lou started off the interview quite grumpily but when he found out he was not a professional journalist, was not getting paid and it was for his personal blogspot he warmed up and just came across as a music fan talking about his favourite bands including Melt Banana!

I love the subtle way he responds to the interviewer's dumb questions.

 

The Blue Mask track 2

Women

Quite a controversial track this one. Also one I was brought round to by the music after finding the lyrics difficult to digest. As mentioned above I think there is a lot of humour in Reed's lyrics that sometimes gets missed. This also tends to happen with Morrissey and like Morrissey I find Reed doesn't bother to take the time to discuss his meaning further adding to the confusion. Certain artists like to treat their audience as grown ups who can make up their own minds. Also songs take on meanings once recorded and out in the public eye and ear that even the artists possibly never intended or thought of. Once an artists is pigeon holed by the industry as "serious" the chance that humour will be recognised in their songs diminishes.

One down side to my theory that The Blue Mask works as a suite of songs that interlock and both undermine and compliment each other is that it is hard to pluck a song and play it to someone and not have it taken at face value. In the context of the album but also the myth of Lou Reed the bi-sexual glam rocker Women is a Freudian puzzle. Played on it's own the lyrics come across as a slightly goofy love song. In this sense it reminds me of a song from Coney Island Baby, The Gift. In-fact I think a lot of The Blue Mask can be compared to CIB which contrasts melodic love songs that can seemingly be taken at face value (Crazy Feeling) with bursts of deranged psychosis (Kicks). CIB was also berated for it's seeming straight forwardness and domesticity by Lester Bangs and Peter Laughner. It was also supposed to be a love letter to his transvestite girlfriend Rachel which chimes with TBM and it's references to his then current wife Sylvia.

Ultimately a song has to stand by itself to last, removed from well worn critical critical tropes, and after Reed becomes as distant and myth shrouded a memory as Blind Lemon Jefferson to future listeners Women's music will hopefully see it remembered.

I have not really focused on the lyrics to this album as I feel Reed's lyrics have been analyses enough by others and the music is often marginalised. As I said once the "rock icon" context for lyrics is removed in rock there are relatively few rock lyrics that can stand on their own and still have any deeper meaning. Once the brooding presence of Jim Morrison becomes nothing more that a cool image on a poster what will "Celebration of the Lizard" mean to anyone? However one interesting thing I wanted to mention is that the lyrics about "castrati" link with the castration images of the title song "Cut the stallion at his mount, And stuff it in his mouth". Whether by accident, which I think is unlikely considering how seriously Reed thought of his self as a writer at this point, or design it once again seems to give a hint of the darker waters we will soon be led into on this album.

The music of Women is majestic and features perhaps Reed's greatest guitar playing. The introductory chords (you can also here some very very faint amp buzz) remind me of a slowed down version of the glittering guitar fanfare that opens Sweet Jane on Loaded. The guitar work also reminds me of some of Bobby Womack's gorgeous gliding fills on Wilson Pickett's I'm In Love. There is a lovely little pause at 1.33 after the chorus followed by a great Quine fill at 1.35 on the left. I do feel that the guitars are given an "R&B" mix, the level of Saunders bass, the funk inspired lines he plays and the way the guitars shimmer on the edge of the mix is very much like a funk or soul track would be mixed. However the eerie reverb heavy ambient mix makes it sound like nothing else. The only precedence I can think of is the sound of certain Blue Note jazz records ballads, check out Grant Green's tune Deep River for example.

The final 2 minutes of the song are clearly influenced by Television songs like Marquee Moon as the track glides into a beautiful jam. Reed starts exploring the lovely opening chords as Quine provides selfless support with his sliding open tuned guitar melodies. It takes no only a brilliant player but also a musician to step back like this and let an inspired but technically less gifted player solo. Some of the most minimalist but wonderful guitar music ever recorded.