Lou Reed at 54 (well, actually, if you are reading this on March 1, he's still 53). 54? He sure doesn't look it. Thin, wiry, intense, Reed has the energy of a man half his age. But he was the wisdom and the authority of one who has lived a lot of life, which he certainly has.

This may be an office, but that doesn't mean Reed can't make music here. I notice several amplifiers including old tweed Fender champ. There is a photo of Reed and the great songwriter, Doc Pomus, on a shelf, along with some books on the Velvet Underground.

Reed was born on March 2, 1942 at Beth El Hospital in Brooklyn. His dad was an accountant, his mom a housewife. He grew up in Freeport, a suburb on Long Island. You could say that Lou Reed came from nowhere, and you wouldn't be too far off base.

He was a troubled kid who was subjected to shock treatment therapy when he was 17. I conduct a lot of electricity. No lie. Reed's story is a long one, and if you want one version of it, check out Victor Bockris' bio, Transformer: The Lou Reed Story.

From early on, Reed (certainly inspired by Bob Dylan) was doing something that few rock 'n' roll songwriters had done before him. He was attempting to write more than just silly love songs. "I wanted to write a novel; I took creative writing," Reed once said. "At the same time I was in rock-and-roll bands. It doesn't take a great leap to say, 'Gee, why don't I put the two together... I wanted to write...simple words to cause an emotion, and put them with my three chords."

Reed hooked up with guitarist Sterling Morrison while in college. A few years later he met John Cale (bass, viola, etc.) when the two were attempting to crank out hits at Pickwick Records, a New York-based budget label. Eventually Moe Tucker came in on drums. They named their group after a paperback book about suburban sex.

MEET THE VELVET UNDERGROUND

With Andy Warhol as their manager, and the model Nico on occasional vocals, the group made waves in New York (their fans included no less than Beatles' manager Brian Epstein), before recording the first of four albums that contain some of the greatest rock 'n' roll ever made: The Velvet Underground and Nico, White Light/White Heat, The Velvet Underground and Loaded.

At a time (1967) when American youth were caught up in the peace and love hippie vibe emanating from San Francisco, the Velvets offered dark songs about hard drugs, kinky sex and emotional dead ends. But they also delivered songs about transcendence ("Beginning To See The Light"). Despite the raves of a few rock critics who loved them from the start (Ellen Willis for one), the Velvets were, for the most part, hated. After an appearance at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, the nationally respected critic Ralph J. Gleason (who advised Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner and wrote a column for the San Francisco Chronicle), described the performance as "nothing more than a bad condensation of all the bum trips of the Trips Festival." Gleason was referring to a pivotal San Francisco "happening" that had taken place a year or so earlier.

Hated by many critics, ignored by the public. As Reed now notes: "When the Velvet Underground was around, we sold almost no records. Literally."

Though to this day when one thinks of Lou Reed, it is impossible not to also think of the Velvet Underground, the fact is that Reed has recorded several dozen solo albums. Brilliant songs can be found on just about every one, from his very first solo release, Lou Reed, which, for example, featured "Lisa Says" through the brand new Set The Twilight Reeling, which has at least four songs ("NYC Man," "Trade In," "Riptide" and the title track) that after many, many listens, sound like classics.

Reed, Lou, "Set The Twilight Reeling" from The Twilight Reeling
(45 second excerpt)

Stereo MPEG (984k)

Mono MPEG (492k)

Mono Sun-AU (327k)

RealAudio 28.8k

The new album was recorded at Reed's "home" studio, The Roof. He is especially proud of the true-to-life sound quality of the album. What you hear is exactly what it sounded like at The Roof when Reed and his musicians-- Fernando Saunders on bass, Tony "Thunders" Smith on drums--played the music, live.

On to page 3 of 10
Previous page Geocities