Lou Reed's New York appreciation thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by jwb1231970, Jan 20, 2017.

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  1. jwb1231970

    jwb1231970 Ordinary Guy Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    I was never a big VU fan and didn't follow Lou's solo stuff too closely but I was turned on to the New York album while in college and loved it, still do. Listening to this makes me want to write lyrics like Lou, he's very insprining in that way. Romeo Had Juliet is great example of these kind of lyrics. How does the ablbum stack against his work from you more all that are more well versed in his work? I always felt this album could appeal to more of the masses
     
  2. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    For me, it's part of the trilogy with Drella and Magic & Loss. He never equaled the virtuosity of those 3 again, IMO.
    I remember reading an old interview about Berlin, Lou said he'd never care so much again about anything, the walls went up. For me, NY was Lou deciding to let the walls down.
    IIRC, around this time he appeared in Blue in the Face discussing NY in really funny anecdotes.
     
  3. richierichie

    richierichie My glass is always full.

    I can`t be doing with the turgidy of `Drella` & `Magic & Loss` but the old goat excels himself on the magnifique `New York`. :cool::tsk::cool::hide::cool::cop::cool:
     
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  4. Dave Thompson

    Dave Thompson Forum Resident

    I'd lost interest in Lou after "The Bells," but "New York" brought me back in a big way
     
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  5. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    One of my favorite albums by Lou, or anybody. I got to do a little week-long mini-course on "Berlin", "New York" and "Magic & Loss", which was a blast beyond compare.

    Remember when you listen to it that it was meant to be listened to in a single sitting! So no texting, no skipping songs, no watching the TV with the sound off. Focus man. :)
     
  6. Agreed, although there is some magic in Lulu that reminds me of that hallowed 'trilogy'. Certainly nothing after Magic, prior to Lulu captures my attention apart from some seriously poor vocal work.
     
  7. MHP

    MHP Lover of Rock ‘n Roll

    Location:
    DK
    It is in many ways his best album because it's so much LOU REED.
     
  8. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    That really would be a DC 'stone gas'. You're lucky.
     
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  9. I agree but most people still rate earlier albums like Transformer as his best. I think this could be due to the popularity of certain songs from that particular album? To my mind New York is a far superior work. It's almost like a novel in the way it is structured as a song cycle whilst its setting is scored by a stripped down post-modern era Velvets style rock music.
     
    Last edited: Jan 20, 2017
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  10. fcmu

    fcmu Rock'n Roll Will Never Die

    Location:
    Weiden (Germany)
    it's one of his best albums, sure the one played the most over the years.
     
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  11. Sergius Wegmuller

    Sergius Wegmuller Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wiltshire
    For me a bona fide masterpiece. Together with the eponymous VU lp, Lou's best work. Magic & Loss ain't far behind.
     
  12. I saw Lou perform this entire album live in 1989 and to this day it remains one of the absolute highlights of my concert-going experiences.
     
  13. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    I really liked this album at the time, and there are still good songs on it, but now it sounds tendentious and turgid to me, a lyric sheet set to music. I think I prefer "Magic and Loss" now, though his voice is totally shot by then. I also saw him play live around this time and people weren't allowed to leave during the concert (!), you had to sit there like you were in church.
     
  14. moople72

    moople72 Forum Resident

    Location:
    KC
    It's so much better than the, let's face it, cheesy, mid-80s albums that preceeded it.
    In 1989, so many "vintage" artists came to their senses.

    "You can't beat two guitars, bass, drum".
     
  15. stewedandkeefed

    stewedandkeefed Came Ashore In The Dead Of The Night

    A major work by a major artist. I saw Lou at Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto in March of 1989 where he devoted the first set to playing the New York songs - he did eleven of them that night. One of the greatest song cycles on a theme and who better than Lou Reed to write a record that looks at the city of New York. "Romeo Had Juliet" is one of my favourite Lou songs ("Romeo Rodriguez, squares his shoulders and curses Jesus" is one of the great rhymes of all time). "Halloween Parade" is a great song that mourns the many people who lost their lives to AIDS in the 1980s and it does so in a unique way. He notes why he can't enjoy the Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village because of the people who are not there. "Dirty Blvd." is one of the great Lou songs - only he could have written that song. He's got an environmental fable in there with plenty of dark humour speaking of which "Sick Of Me" is the funniest Lou Reed song ever. It's interesting that most of the people he name checks are still in the public view and in light of the fact of who will became the 45th POTUS today, it is interesting to note Lou said "They ordained the Trumps" way back in 1989. "Hold On" is great ("There's blacks with knives and whites with guns fighting in Howard Beach, there's no such thing as human rights when you walk the New York streets" - brilliant) and I really like "Good Evening Mr. Waldheim" just because an angry Lou is always compelling. Speaking of anger, "Strawman" is also a great song. When Lou sings "we who have so much to you who have so little to you who don't have anything at all", it sounds like the voice of God to me. The "Dime Store Mystery" closer is a moving tribute to Andy Warhol. I love this record. I can't quite fit it into my all time Top Ten but it's always bubbling under in the low teens.
     
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  16. LOL! Yes, I remember that and I also saw him perform the entire Magic & Loss album in 1992 (another memorable experience). Mind you, I wouldn't have left early even if I was paid - Lou was dressed in a white suit and at the time I thought I was in the presence of the Lord! :D
     
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  17. MHP

    MHP Lover of Rock ‘n Roll

    Location:
    DK
    There is some general consensus that Transformer is Lou Reed's best work, but for me it's not very Lou Reed-like. It has great songs, but it's more David Bowie and Mick Ronson's idea of what he should sound like. New York is bare bones and stripped rock and roll with great novel-like lyrics. To each their own, but I think NY are way better than Transformer (and that's not a knock on Bowie by any means).
     
  18. Stone Turntable

    Stone Turntable Independent Head

    Location:
    New Mexico USA
    Apart from the VU albums and the classic-rock populism of Rock & Roll Animal, my main impression of Lou Reed by the late 80's was as a dour, opaque, inconsistent anachronism. New York blew my mind as an amazingly naked and strong work of art. I was lucky to see him live at Radio City when the album came out and that band just blistered the paint off the walls and opened up those songs like a heavy metal lotus flower.
     
  19. Culpa

    Culpa Forum Resident

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    I was a big Lou and VU fan and I loved New York when it came out.

    All these years later I still see it as a quality piece of work, and I understand why people love it, but it (and most of his subsequent work) just doesn't hold much interest for me anymore. For me, Mistrial (with all its flaws) marks the end of an era for Lou, and New York marks the beginning of a much less-interesting (though exceptionally well-crafted) journey.
     
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  20. adm62

    adm62 Senior Member

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    His best solo album. Saw him play it live in full and in order (first time I saw anybody do that). and, yes, Drella and Magic and Loss are almost it's equal.
     
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  21. misterdecibel

    misterdecibel Bulbous Also Tapered

    "New York" is not only one of Lou Reed's finest albums, I think it's the greatest album of the '80s, period.
     
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  22. stewedandkeefed

    stewedandkeefed Came Ashore In The Dead Of The Night

    I would argue that in the 1980s, Lou Reed had the best run of any 1960s veteran. The Blue Mask, Legendary Hearts and New Sensations were all strong records in my view. I find Mistrial hard to take but he followed that up with New York and I think that is Lou's masterpiece.
     
  23. Stone Turntable

    Stone Turntable Independent Head

    Location:
    New Mexico USA
    You're probably right about the '80s — my "main impression" at the time was pretty shallow and far from a smart, deep opinion on his recent albums.

    BTW has anybody mentioned yet how GREAT this album sounds? CD or vinyl, it punches hard and true.
     
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  24. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    I'm pretty sure that "New York" (my first Lou Reed album) and "The Best of the Velvet Underground" (my first VU album) arrived in the same package from the BMG Music Club (with other now forgotten titles) around 1990 and set me back a penny. All I had known to that point were a few songs from the radio, and I happened to see Lou perform a few songs live at the 1986 Amnesty concert. So from that point my education regarding his music ran backwards and forwards at the same time. So "New York" sort of remains the touch stone for me.
     
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  25. stewedandkeefed

    stewedandkeefed Came Ashore In The Dead Of The Night

    I can attest to that because when I was posting on your Knocked Out Loaded thread, your signature was from "Sick Of You". "They say the bad makes the good and there's something to be learned from every human experience" would be the line I would pick but there are so many great lines in that song and on that record.
     
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