What's your top 3 favourite Lou Reed (studio) albums?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by MHP, Dec 4, 2017.

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  1. Frosst

    Frosst Vinyl-obsessive kiddo

    Location:
    Sweden
    Transformer, Berlin and Street Hassle
     
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  2. Chrome_Head

    Chrome_Head Planetary Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA.
    My selections are bound to be fairly boring, I'm afraid:

    Transformer
    Berlin
    The Blue Mask

    Surprised to see Set The Twilight Reeling with so many votes--it's a solid album, not great, but solid. I have good memories of buying it when it first came out--only one of Lou's albums I had the pleasure of buying on release besides Ecstasy.
     
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  3. SoporJoe

    SoporJoe Forum Resident

    Location:
    British Columbia
    New York
    Berlin
    Songs For Drella
     
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  4. Runicen

    Runicen Forum Resident

    Phew.. Ok, apparently I'm going to be riding the hard shoulder of minority opinion here. I'm going to preface this by saying that my introduction to Lou was haphazard and had more to do with early jobs and having a Columbia House membership than a curated experience. That means I typically only laid hands on what I could easily order (mostly contemporary stuff) and that I didn't have many introductions to play with. In no particular order:

    -Magic & Loss: This one came to me much later and I didn't care for it on the first few passes. Then, my father passed away and songs like "Cremation" smacked me in the face, knocked me out of my chair, and kicked me while I was laying on the floor. Powerful, painful, and still somehow cathartic. What's good?

    -Ecstasy: This was my first Lou album if memory serves. It was either this or Transformer and, admittedly, when I came to Transformer, I came in as a Bowie fan and didn't hear enough Bowie on it to like it. Anyway, this album was the first that left a meaningful mark on me. That's not to say that the lyrics connected with me personally. It took the passage of time (no 17-18 year old is going to personally relate to most of this) to get some of the more "mature" concerns Lou was raising here. Even absent those, it's a very musically accomplished album from cover to cover. Of late, I've really appreciated "Big Sky."

    -The Raven: I got this when it came out. I still remember seeing this weird looking album (the double disc version - no cheating!) at a local Borders right after it came out and picking it up sight unseen. What followed were many nights listening to the most demented radio play I'd ever laid ears on. I believe I was 20 at the time and it blew my mind with regard to what could be done with an album. It's all here: the ghost of Metal Machine Music, spoken word, instrumentals, out and out rockers... What's not to love? I will say that Lou kicked the crap out of Willem Dafoe's version of "The Raven" when he did it for "Animal Serenade." I love she who hates me more.


    Oh, I noticed a few votes for Lulu. Can those of you who favor this one share some thoughts on why you like it? I only heard about half the album and sort of gave up. Metallica have been off the boil for a while as far as I'm concerned (especially true then) and Lou's voice was too weak to properly match the music (simple as it was) or the intensity of his lyrics. It just seemed a poor match. How would you fans sell me on giving this one another pass?
     
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  5. Todd W.

    Todd W. It's a Puggle

    Location:
    Maryland
    Maybe not in that order.........but agree on the three.
     
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  6. babyblue

    babyblue Patches Pal!

    Location:
    Pacific NW
    Berlin is definitely my favorite, but after that, choices get difficult. But I picked New York and Growing Up in Public. I could have easily gone with The Bells or Magic and Loss too.

    Looks like Growing has less votes than Lulu! LOL!
     
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  7. malco49

    malco49 Forum Resident

    Outside of mistrial-the raven-Hudson river-MMM(the later two are both outliers as they are not song based).the first two are the only studio albums of his i don’t really enjoy. I could have just picked pretty much any three,they and Lou ar just that great!

    For the sake of this poll i chose 1.legendary hearts 2.ecstasy 3.the bells
     
  8. erasmus

    erasmus Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Berlin
    Street Hassle
    The Bells
     
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  9. Chrisaw

    Chrisaw Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    1. Magic & Loss
    2. Berlin
    3. New York
     
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  10. babyblue

    babyblue Patches Pal!

    Location:
    Pacific NW
    The first album ain't bad at all!
     
  11. the pope ondine

    the pope ondine Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    agree its a great album!
     
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  12. Rickchick

    Rickchick Forum Resident

    Location:
    PA
    The Bells, The Blue Mask, and New Sensations. The ones I play the most. The fourth would have been Street Hassle.
     
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  13. joyager

    joyager Forum Resident

    Location:
    Santa Ana, CA
    Street Hassle
    Blue Mask
    Transformer
     
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  14. Vinyl Socks

    Vinyl Socks The Buzz Driver

    Location:
    DuBois, PA
    Magic & Loss
    Set The Twilight Reeling
    Transformer
     
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  15. soundfanz

    soundfanz Forum Resident

    New York
    Transformer
    Magic and Loss
     
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  16. And, from these poll results, I'm going with "Legendary Hearts" as his most underrated Top Shelf album...
     
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  17. Rickchick

    Rickchick Forum Resident

    Location:
    PA
    Growing up in Public has the wonderful Keep Away.
     
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  18. DTK

    DTK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    LH is very underrated album indeed. Great songwriting and band.
     
  19. DTK

    DTK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    What do you think is wonderful about it?
    Just curious; I like the song too :).
     
  20. samthesham

    samthesham Forum Resident

    Location:
    Moorhead MN
    I have 4 that I tried to downsize but I can't.
    1.Street Hassle&New York (tie)
    2.Ecstasy
    3.The Blue Mask
    IMO Songs for Drella is very powerful artistic statement also.
    Peace.
     
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  21. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Berlin, Coney Island Baby, Street Hassle.
     
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  22. Magic & Loss
    Berlin
    Transformer

    In that order. But I'm leaving out a lot of favourites.
     
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  23. Chris Bernhardt

    Chris Bernhardt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago IL
    Agree, it's one of those albums ( Velvet's Squeeze is another) , that you've read in bios and articles that it's so bad , your expectations are so low, when you actually hear it , It's a enjoyable listen.
     
  24. the pope ondine

    the pope ondine Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia

    I was tempted to vote for LH and the Blue Mask but I kind of went with 1970's Lou. its hard for me to compare the sober/1980's - 2000's with the 1970's, theyre so different, theyre need to be 2 different polls
     
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  25. Bill Cormier

    Bill Cormier Forum Resident

    Location:
    Malta, New York
    New York
    Transformer
    New Sensations
     
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