- Lou Reed, a massively influential songwriter and guitarist who helped shape nearly fifty years of rock music, died today. The cause of his death has not yet been released, but Reed underwent a liver transplant in May.

With the Velvet Underground in the late Sixties, Reed fused street-level urgency with elements of European avant-garde music, marrying beauty and noise, while bringing a whole new lyrical honesty to rock & roll poetry. As a restlessly inventive solo artist, from the Seventies into the 2010s, he was chameleonic, thorny and unpredictable, challenging his fans at every turn. Glam, punk and alternative rock are all unthinkable without his revelatory example. "One chord is fine," he once said, alluding to his bare-bones guitar style. "Two chords are pushing it. Three chords and you're into jazz." -

more...

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/lou-reed-velvet-underground-leader-and-rock-pioneer-dead-at-71-20131027

Wow..He will be missed...A GREAT lyricist....

What the blood claaat ???

:(

http://youtu.be/YuM3SteeAgY

His is one of my pillars.

Oh its such a perfect day.....

RIP Lou, in some sense he should have been dead in '72 not at 71 in 2013.

I'm guessing the liver problems are a direct result of that back-in-the-day behavior but still, I wasn't aware of the earlier recent issue.

Does this mean the 'Lula' debacle was his last work?

That would be a shame.

I don't know why I'm shocked he's gone but I am.

There is better respect in epic failures then putting out variations of the same shit(to diminishing returns).

My fav recent Lou Reed moment was his Yeezus review. Hate on the album, but i love how you could tell he listens to a decent amount of hiphop.

http://thetalkhouse.com/reviews/view/lou-reed

While at first being shocked at the news, in retrospect Lou Reed probably shouldn't have made 1972 let alone nearly reached 72 years of age in 2013.

That ornery bastard made some true time-tested bulletproof classics along with some of the most willfully terrible non-tunes & album-length debacles of any respected artist ever.

Despite being completely unable to 'sing' in any conventional sense or write songs with more than two chords, few if any in the history of the genre could touch Lou at his best and absolutely nobody could sink to his depths when he was at his worst.

Metal Machine Music was pissing in the ears of the record label and any fan pretending to like it way more than Dylan's Self Portrait or the longest extended nonsensical Phish opus set to tape.

And somehow the recent collaboration album with Metallica was worse than that.

But in the end those things only add to his 'NYC/Fuck You, I'm Lou' charm.

As for the great shit, 'I Can't Stand It' by Velvet Underground is maybe the best example of synthesis between early Sun Records-sounding raw 50s rock and the mid-to-late 60s classic-rock that followed, while that chicken scratch guitar hook and simple/surreal lyrics delivered in true non-singer fashion could have easily been a great punk song ten years later if sped up.

'Oh Sweet Nothin' is one of the all-time elegantly beautifu epic length cuts without ever bothering with the bells-and-whistles or suite-style changes of more ballyhooed WYSP war horses like Stairway or Freebird.

Thanks to *name removed* for helping me rediscover what a great album Coney Island Baby is about a year or so ago.

No thanks to Lou for putting me onto filthy and depraved Hubert Selby and Charles Bukowski novels as a teen but going down that Dirty Boulevard himself is what makes him the man he was musically.

I even loved the completely earnest review he wrote on Kanye West's 'Yeezus' album earlier this year.

Game recognize game with an approving testimonial from one shit-starting, public-nose-thumbing, aggressively asshole public pop figure to another.

*Cues up 'Sweet Jane' intro from "Rock & Roll Animal" and gives whoever on this email chain is still reading the same cool head nod Lou gave -another-friend-name- that day they passed each other on the street in Manhattan years back*

It points towards everything from Sunn0)'s drone/sludge to 80's guitar-avantgarde like Glenn Branca and Rhys Chatham to industrial like (early) SPK and Throbbing Gristle. The interesting thing is that people-not necessarily you-were giving Brian Eno props for his ambient music in the same era (and I haven't even mentioned the heavily acclaimed minimalists like Terry Riley) that is actually based on the same principles to a certain extent. However, just because Reed was more abrasive, it suddenly becomes a joke? Nah, I think it's a cool-sounding record even if it gets tedious due to the "ambient" nature of composition with overlapping layers and loops as opposed to horisontal development which isn't truly my thing unless we are talking more groove-based music.

Anyway, it is a fuck you to the record industry in the sense that it came after some very successful records and was clearly not what neither the industry nor audiences wanted at the time. However, I wouldn't say it is without artistic merits at all or that nothing went into it...

but the artist that delivered it

the man that just released Sally Can't Dance was trying to push an RCA-labeled noise album to an audience that had no experience with music the likes of The Well-Tuned Piano, In C, etc. I'm sure most of that crowd did/does have to 'pretend'

yes, it was a drastic departure, but if you approach the piece with some understanding of the works that Cage, Riley, and their peers were creating at the time, the brilliance of the album becomes a lot more clear

personally, i find it to be on the less-enjoyable end of noise/drone greats, but I fully understand and appreciate its place within the canon. I'm also someone that has stacks of recordings by Earth, Pelt, and various Stephen O'Malley projects in their collection, though.. I get the fact that noise & minimalism isn't quite everyone's cup of tea

As a producer or instrumental collaborator I like the Bowie records & Talking Heads records well enough but I would have probably liked whatever else they put out during that same time period without him as well.

I don't really know the John Cale albums well enough to pass judgment & the U2 albums (which I'm sure you hate) feel more Lanois than Eno in retrospect.

Eno was an additive but not-truly-essential element like Jon Brion in the mid-to-late 90s through early aughts.

As for Metal Machine Music, it's better than Lula & that's about all the credit I feel compelled to give it.

Its a great, kind of glammy ROCK/album he did with some experimental flourishes but not too much and those mostly come from Fripps guitar which smokes. Heres babys on fire http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMt1Oy5uQ0w

Anyway, check it out if you dig that era of british rock, it\s NOT an ambient, music for toilets kind of thing. Thats an eno/record you might dig...

that taunting vocal reminds of 'Corporal Clegg' a bit.....*time elapses*.....wow, Fripp is crazy.

s.blak
Satellite Of Love

"Innovator" doesn't even begin to describe his role in modern music.


``i know you are fake. . . 'cause man, i'm the same.``
"unspecified psychosis." http://bit.ly/HgJRBl
"untitled 6." http://bit.ly/19QmVPu
"untitled 5." http://bit.ly/GWjmBl
"so whatever 2.0." http://bit.ly/18hYTfT
"1.5.2.0." http://bit.ly/18UMv7A

.

I'll be your mirror
Reflect what you are, in case you don't know
I'll be the wind, the rain and the sunset
The light on your door to show that you're home

When you think the night has seen your mind
That inside you're twisted and unkind
Let me stand to show that you are blind
Please put down your hands
'Cause I see you

I find it hard to believe you don't know
The beauty that you are
But if you don't let me be your eyes
A hand in your darkness, so you won't be afraid

When you think the night has seen your mind
That inside you're twisted and unkind
Let me stand to show that you are blind
Please put down your hands
'Cause I see you

I'll be your mirror

Reed written songs... "Sweet Jane"....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkumhBVPGdg



Suitcase in my hand
Jack is in his corset, and jane is her vest,
And me Im in a rocknroll band hah!
Ridin in a stutz bear cat, jim
You know, those were different times!
Oh, all the poets they studied rules of verse
And those ladies, they rolled their eyes

Sweet jane! whoa! sweet jane, oh-oh-a! sweet jane!

Ill tell you something
Jack, he is a banker
And jane, she is a clerk
Both of them save their monies, ha
And when, when they come home from work
Oh, sittin down by the fire, oh!
The radio does play
The classical music there, jim
The march of the wooden soldiers
All you protest kids
You can hear jack say, get ready, ah

Sweet jane! come on baby! sweet jane! oh-oh-a! sweet jane!

Some people, they like to go out dancing
And other peoples, they have to work, just watch me now!
And theres even some evil mothers
Well theyre gonna tell you that everything is just dirt
Yknow that, women, never really faint
And that villains always blink their eyes, woo!
And that, yknow, children are the only ones who blush!
And that, life is just to die!
And, everyone who ever had a heart
They wouldnt turn around and break it
And anyone who ever played a part
Oh wouldnt turn around and hate it!

Sweet jane! whoa-oh-oh! sweet jane! sweet jane!

Heavenly wine and roses
Seems to whisper to her when he smiles
Heavenly wine and roses
Seems to whisper to her when she smiles
La lala lala la, la lala lala la
Sweet jane
Sweet jane
Sweet jane

His importance on various forms of alternative rock in particular can not be overstated; wer'e dealing with velvet Underground casting a shadow that lasted for well over 40 years:from Kraut-rock and Bowie to punk and post-punk to 80's "indie" to bands like Galaxy 500 and Mazzy Star to shit like BRMC and so on. What is often forgotten though is that Velvet Underground was a real rock-band in spite of all their artsy leanings which many/most of their followers never got.

And some of his solo-records are dope too; "Transformer" is a classic of course but I presonally have a weak spot for late 70's records like "Street hassle" and "the bells". And "Coney Island Baby" is gorgeous. And "Sally can't dance" in spite of its sell-out reputation a really fun record with all the time-typical "fake-rock" trappings.

And yes, "Metal Machine music" rules!!!

RIP!!!

I agree also about a lot of fans losing sight of them as a "real rock band." I hear some people say things like "Loaded was sort of their most accessible album" in a tone that makes it sound like a negative thing. I love that fucking record, probably one of my ten favorites of all time.

He really did it his way, Sinatra-style.

Here is his last post from 10 hours ago on FB. "The Door"

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151988713575953&l=de47fbf994

Since 1976

http://youtu.be/B6Ar4xsNNE8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojA49jYIdIQ


``i know you are fake. . . 'cause man, i'm the same.``
"unspecified psychosis." http://bit.ly/HgJRBl
"untitled 6." http://bit.ly/19QmVPu
"untitled 5." http://bit.ly/GWjmBl
"so whatever 2.0." http://bit.ly/18hYTfT
"1.5.2.0." http://bit.ly/18UMv7A

I love this quote from Lou Reed.

"I was an English major in college (Syracuse University), for chrissakes," Reed said. "I ought to be able to put together a good lyric at the very least. It would be embarrassing if I couldn`t. And I really like rock. It`s party stuff, dance stuff and R&B stuff that we all grew up on and loved. But I wanted something that would engage you mentally, that you could listen to on another level. I just thought that would be the perfect thing in rock 'n' roll. That 10 years from now you could still listen to one of my albums because it wasn`t just a party record, but something that would engage you emotionally, intellectually, if not spiritually, on the level that a novel can. And because you also have music going on, you could do something that no other form could do, especially if someone is listening on headphones. You could really get their attention and really take them someplace. You`re joining the voice in their head with your voice-there`s no one else there."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-lou-reed-dead-20131027,0,4221650.story

Velvet Underground has never left the rotation....

thank you, Lou.


werd.

http://youtu.be/TjPuF-CYuic

http://youtu.be/HtifD0P_kgE