Lou Reed
Born
2 March 1942, Brooklyn, NY, United States
Died
27 October 2013, East Hampton, NY, United States
Member of
Artists United Against Apartheid, The Jades, The Primitives, Lou Reed's Metal Machine Trio, The Velvet Underground
Notes
Married to Sylvia Reed [1980-94] and Laurie Anderson [2008-13]
Also Known As
Lewis Allan Reed
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LeavesofQuaver
"Lou Reed has probably been...the most important artist in contemporary music history.
Now, clearly, his work with The Velvet Underground is the reason why I stated the aforesaid thought, yet Lou's solo career proves a key fact: he really was one of those artists (alongside few others, like David Bowie or Madonna) capable of creating a distinctive way, while never remaining on the same, obvious track more than a couple of albums.
Let me explain: Transformer is glam rock, Berlin places halfway between rock opera and baroque rock, Street Hassle is art rock with new wave strokes, The Blue Mask and New York both belong to the singer/songwriter genre - but with different overall atmospheres (the former is darker, the latter is cynical and aggressive) and a different approach to the writing (the former is very "empty" in order to feel immediate, the latter is overloaded in order to sound epic). Yet if you just listen to the first few notes of each LPs, you can feel "the artist" Lou Reed fulfilling them - such is his touch, his idea of Music, his essence."
Now, clearly, his work with The Velvet Underground is the reason why I stated the aforesaid thought, yet Lou's solo career proves a key fact: he really was one of those artists (alongside few others, like David Bowie or Madonna) capable of creating a distinctive way, while never remaining on the same, obvious track more than a couple of albums.
Let me explain: Transformer is glam rock, Berlin places halfway between rock opera and baroque rock, Street Hassle is art rock with new wave strokes, The Blue Mask and New York both belong to the singer/songwriter genre - but with different overall atmospheres (the former is darker, the latter is cynical and aggressive) and a different approach to the writing (the former is very "empty" in order to feel immediate, the latter is overloaded in order to sound epic). Yet if you just listen to the first few notes of each LPs, you can feel "the artist" Lou Reed fulfilling them - such is his touch, his idea of Music, his essence."
RYM Rough Guide for Lou Reed
Biography
At 14, he formed the doo-wop group The Jades and recorded the single "Leave Her for Me" with the band in 1958. A few years later, in an attempt to separate himself from his middle-class background, he moved upstate to Syracuse to study English literature and became enamored with poet Delmore Schwartz. He was more interested in music however, and found a job as a factory songwriter for various record labels who were all looking to cash in on popular trends, such as Surf Rock and Merseybeat, by releasing quickie albums by faceless studio bands.
While playing in one of those bands, he met Welsh musician John Cale. In 1965, the two formed The Warlocks along with guitarist Sterling Morrison. The Warlocks became The Falling Spikes, which soon evolved into The Velvet Underground, the legendary Art Rock / Experimental Rock band that would have a great influence on avant-rock, Punk Rock, New Wave, Garage Rock, and Alternative Rock. Reed served as the band's lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter. After four groundbreaking albums, he left the band in 1970.
Reed returned to live with his parents in Long Island, working as a typist in his father's firm. After publishing some poems in Harvard's literary magazine, he began his solo career with support from his girlfriend, Bettye Kronstad. (The two were briefly married in 1973.) His eponymous solo debut, Lou Reed, was released in January 1972, with members of Yes in the line-up.
Success came when David Bowie and Mick Ronson produced his next album Transformer. It included the songs "Walk on the Wild Side," "Perfect Day" (written for Kronstad), and "Satellite of Love." An important album for the LGBT community, Transformer put Reed on the map. However, the fame that came with it worsened his pre-existing alcoholism. He released his next album, the bleak story cycle titled Berlin and produced by Bob Ezrin, in 1973. The album was trashed by rock critics, frustrating Reed. Subsequent years saw opinion on the album slowly change, and the record is now considered one of Reed's major works.
Berlin was quickly followed with the live release Rock n Roll Animal in 1974. The album, which featured two soon-to-be members of Alice Cooper's band, solidified his public image, and was the first place many ever heard his VU classics. That same year, his fourth album, Sally Can't Dance was released, becoming his highest-charting album in the U.S. After putting out 1975's Live album, drawn from the same concert as Rock n Roll Animal, to capitalize on the success of Sally Can't Dance, Reed froze audiences by releasing the double album Metal Machine Music: The Amine β Ring in mid-1975. An avant-garde Noise composition mastered by Bob Ludwig, MMM is still seen as a controversial release, credited by some as an early example of the Harsh Noise genre and deemed by others pointless static simply released as a way for Reed to get out of his recording contract. The album was interpreted in 2002 by Swiss ensemble zeitkratzer, later released as Metal Machine Music.
Around 1975, Reed fell in love with a trans woman, Rachel Humphreys. His next album, 1975's Coney Island Baby, was inspired by her, with the eponymous song mentioning her by name. A year later he released the LP Rock and Roll Heart, which received lukewarm response from critics. The year 1978 saw the release of Street Hassle, featuring Bruce Springsteen in the title track. Possibly Reed's sleaziest work, a good part of the album also documents his break-up with Humphreys. Soon after, Reed began a relationship with designer Sylvia Morales. Morales became a close collaborator in the art direction of his records, and the two eventually married in 1980.
In 1978, Reed also put out the live album — some considered it closer to Stand-Up Comedy — Take No Prisoners. The next year, he released The Bells, with the title track featuring trumpetist Don Cherry. The album was one of his darker and heavier efforts. At this point Reed decided it was time to try to clean-up from drugs and alcohol, which had characterized his public persona the previous decade. After putting out Growing Up in Public in 1980, he released The Blue Mask in 1982, one of his most warmly received releases in years. The album featured The Voidoids' Robert Quine on guitar and saw Reed return to the form of a twin-guitar/bass/drums line-up. It also marked the start of his collaboration with bassist Fernando Saunders, who would appear on most of his subsequent releases.
Quine also appeared on Reed's next album, 1983's Legendary Hearts, as well as the live album Live in Italy, before eventually falling out with him and departing. Reed followed those albums with 1984's New Sensations, 1986's Mistrial, and most importantly, 1989's New York. One of Reed's most political albums, it also marked a return to a more straightforward rock n' roll approach once more. The album received enthusiastic reviews from both critics and fans and is seen as one of Reed's greatest releases, perhaps the greatest, according to some.
When Andy Warhol passed away in 1987, Reed reconnected with John Cale. The two collaborated on Songs for Drella (1990), an album inspired by and dedicated to Warhol. Marking the first time the two worked together since Cale's departure from the Velvet Underground in 1968, the album is a standout release in both ariststs' discographies.
Reed put out the death meditation Magic and Loss in 1992, and after a brief Velvet Underground reunion in 1993, he released the rockier Set the Twilight Reeling in 1996. In the meantime, he and Morales divorced, and he started a relationship with Laurie Anderson.
The year 2000 saw the release of Ecstasy, a concept album about Reed's personal experiences with marriage and relationships. It was followed by 2003's The Raven, as well as the ambient album Hudson River Wind Meditations in 2007. While participating in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th anniversary concert in 2009, Reed joined Metallica on stage to perform the Velvets classic "Sweet Jane." Metallica's powerful performance inspired Reed, and he asked them to collaborate on an album based on a set of songs he had written for a theatrical production.
The resulting album, Lulu, came out in 2011 and was panned universally by both fans and critics a fact that deeply disturbed Reed, as it reminded him of Berlin's reception 38 years prior. One of the few admirers of the album was David Bowie, though, who called it "Lou's masterpiece."
Following a liver transplant in May 2013, Reed's health declined. He succumbed to liver failure on October 27, 2013, at age 71.
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