What are your favourite Lou Reed albums?

amazing . he left out the speed freak part tho lol

 

Berlin.
Always Berlin.
It’s not an album I can play very often as it’s very emotionally draining. But there’s such beauty in the songs, the playing, the arrangements, a beauty that he rarely reached again. There’s also despair and heartbreak and death and rebirth. It’s genuinely a movie for the ears.

I also have soft spot for Take No Prisoners. What a band! Terrific binaural recording, Lou having a ball, the band following his every word, and suddenly switching from gentle vamping behind his wayward raps, to roaring like a locomotive on full power. Tremendous album.

 

There was a point where his wife Sylvia took over the cover design, producing some pretty unimaginative and artless-looking work, but even after that I don't really find anything to excite me. The one exception is 'Set the Twilight Reeling'.

 

Yes. Too harrowing to listen to often. Bob Ezrin putting his own kids on the b-side, crying 'mummy', over and over again, kind of kills the second side for me. The one real weakness is the album's tendency to take itself a little too seriously at times.

Having said that, the song-writing on the album is very strong, and the production is very good. Men Of Good Fortune, Lady Day, How Do You Think It Feels and Caroline Says I and II. All excellent.

 

the cover for his first album is a strange bird/chick..a faberge egg about to be washed away by a giant wave in New York city.. ('Ocean'?) while other birds create a wreath of roses spelling Lou's Name, the artist had created a bunch of Raymond Chandler novel covers so lou apparently sought him out. its very un-lou but I like it.
tom adams;
It was good to meet Lou Reed and talk about his brilliant music and poetic lyrics. I'm not sure I did them justice but it was great to be involved in his first UK album.

 

I like the cover and the album is ok. Shame no extras in the packaging. I checked Discogs and I do not think the solo debut Lou Reed has had a release on vinyl in years.

 

I wish there was a very good remaster of this album... Praying for it for years.

 

I have an early RCA cd of the Lou Reed debut album. Then I have the remaster (with not a bonus track insight), a Japanese card sleeve with the same mastering, a high resolution download and of course the recent Lou Reed cd box of RCA/Arista albums.
The tracks on the old 3cd box set Between Thought and Expression from the album sound good in my opinion.

 

Rock 'n' Roll Animal and Live

 

I also think the few tracks on the box set are the best sources for the first album.

There was clearly something wrong with the recording set up that no remaster is ever going to solve. It's been debated endlessly.

 

Yes, I know, but I would like to see an (almost) perfect release of the complete album and not just some tracks of it at a compilation… I'm afraid I will never see it.

 

I have a soft spot for every Lou album, but Sally Can't Dance and Rock N Roll Heart and Lulu are the ones I really enjoy that people and critics (and in the case of Sally, Lou himself) tend to dislike.

 

the first album that really got me into lou reed. it really is an ugly beautiful masterpiece....but I love all lou's albums up to Public which I like but not love lol. but the love began again with The Blue Mask and had a really good, occasionally bumpy (raven) run

 

I listened to my first lou reed album (transformer) yesterday so that's my favorite, I guess i'll be checking out Berlin next?


Saaatalliiiite of Loooooveee

 

Second LR album I ever bought and I always loved the sound. I just don't hear the problems.

 

I haven't heard any albums after "Magic and Loss", just never got round to it. I like all of his albums up to and including "Magic and Loss" though. Favourites:

Transformer
Berlin
Coney Island Baby
Street Hassle
Take No Prisoners
Blue Mask

 

Berlin
Rock n Roll Animal
Street Hassle
New Sensations
New York

Transformer when i have company
Lulu when i want to get rid of company

 

I like that cover (and album--but I like every Reed album and I love 90% of them). The cover seemed to me like a sarcastic take on 80s trends--and went well especially with tunes like "Original Wrapper" in my opinion. I still own a T-shirt with the Mistrial cover photo on it. I got from the Mistrial tour, and I still wear it occasionally --it still fits fine, but as you might expect from a 30+ year old T-shirt, it's a bit worn out. I actually have a handful of shirts that are up to 10 years older than the Mistrial shirt that are still in wearable but old-looking condition--the oldest is actually a bootleg shirt from a 1977 KISS show.

 

Take No Prisoners
New York
Transformer
Berlin

 

Berlin
Magic and Loss
Take No Prisoners

 

The general opinion seems to be that it has almost no high end and sounds kind of muffled. Read "general opinion", I don't have my gear listed in the profile .

 

NY + Drella + Magic and Loss

Transformer + Berlin

Take No Prisoners, Blue Mask, Lulu

RnR Animal, LR Live, Live in Italy, Sally Can't Dance, Legendary Hearts, Street Hassle

Montreaux, Animal Serenade, Set the Twilight Reeling

 

Yes. I read the phrase 'general opinion' and I'm not trying to contradict you on that. I'm only saying that personally I just don't hear the problem. I recall it was supposed to be something to do with dolby.

 

wish they still made t-shirts like that

 

I am of the general opinion.