Content: Previously unheard songs and alternate versions Of famous ones like
‘I’m Waiting For The Ma‘n, ‘Pale Blue Eyes’‘Heroin‘ and recorded to tape by VU mate John Cale. Reed posted the tape to himself as a ‘poor man’s copyright‘ and it
remained sealed in its original envelope for nearly 50 years.
A deluxe 45-RPM double LP edition of the album will be limited to 7,500 copies worldwide and will include two 12-inch LPs, a bonus 7-inch including six previously-unreleased bonus tracks such as a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” a saddle-stitched, die-cut 28-page book featuring lyrics, archival photos and liner notes.
50 years ago this month late genius LOU REED released his self-titled commercially
and critically disappointing debut LP. In retrospect, it’s not a bad album whatsoever.
It’s a characteristic pop/rock Reed album with several tracks greatly reworked on later
LPs, but the production here sucks.
AllMusic said: “On its own terms, Lou Reed isn’t a bad album, but it isn’t a terribly interesting one either, and since superior performances of most of these songs are available elsewhere, it stands today more as a historical curiosity than anything else.”
Anecdote 1: Keyboardist Rick Wakeman and guitarist Steve Howe from the celebrated progressive rock band YES played on all tracks. Yes, a truly bizarre combination.
Anecdote 2: Wakeman said about the recording sessions, “the lights had to be out so nobody could see.”
Artwork: Designed by Tom Adams. The US-born Anglo-Scots illustrator and painter who
is best known for his book cover art for the paperback editions of Agatha Christie.
One of the greats of all time LOU REED ((March 2, 1942 – October 27, 2013)
released his 11th album THE BLUE MASK 40 years ago today. One of his many unforgettable longplayers, lauded by fans and the press.
Rolling Stone wrote back then: “Lou Reed’s the Blue Mask is a great record, and
its genius is at once so simple and unusual that the only appropriate reaction is wonder.
Who expected anything like this from Reed at this late stage of the game? Even though the Velvet Underground, as critic Lester Bangs once remarked, “invented the Seventies,” Reed
had as much trouble as anyone else in trying to navigate the decade’s actuality. By its end,
he seemed to have just about removed himself from rock & roll for good.” Score: 5/5.
Back sleeve
I’ll always associate this grand LP with one of his most poignant, most disturbing
and most bewildering songs ever. A delirious goosebumps pièce de résistance tour
de force, lyrically and musically and Reed’s raging vocals are flabbergasting.
Lyrics
Waves of fear, attack in the night
Waves if revulsion, sickening sights
My heart’s nearly bursting, my chest’s choking tight
Waves of fear, waves of fear
Waves of fear, squat on the floor
Looking for some pill, the liquor is gone
Blood trips from my nose, I can barely breathe
Waves of fear, I’m too scared to leave
Waves of fear, waves of fear
I’m too afraid to use the phone
I’m too afraid to put the light on
I’m so afraid I’ve lost control
I’m suffocating without a word
Crazy with sweat, spittle on my jaw
What’s that funny noise, what’s that on the floor
Waves of fear, pulsing with death
I curse my tremors, I jump at my own step
I cringe at my terror, I hate my own smell
I know where I must be, I must be in hell
Waves of fear, waves of fear
Waves of fear, waves of fear.”
Holly came from Miami, F.L.A.
Hitch-hiked her way across the U.S.A.
Plucked her eyebrows on the way
Shaved her legs and then he was a she
She says, “Hey, babe
Take a walk on the wild side”
Said, “Hey, honey
Take a walk on the wild side”
Give Ireland back to the Irish
Don’t make them have to get it
Give Ireland back to the Irish
Still makes Ireland Irish today
Great Britain, you are enormous
And nobody knows that better than me.
But really, what are you doing there?
In that land over the sea?
Tell me how you think
When you on your way to work
Would you be stopped by Irish soldiers?
Would you lie down and do nothing?
Would you give in or go mad?
Golden Nose Slim Golden Nose Slim
I know’s where you’ve been
Purple Pie Pete Purple Pie Pete
Your lips are like lightning
Girls melt in the heat
Telegram Sam
You’re my main man
It’s been a long time since I rock and rolled
It’s been a long time since I did the stroll
Ooh let me get it back, let me get it back
Let me get it back, baby, where I come from
There’s a starman waiting in the sky
He’d like to come and meet us
But he thinks he’d blow our minds
There’s a starman waiting in the sky
He’s told us not to blow it
‘Cause he knows it’s all worthwhile
He told me
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie
We all came out to Montreux
On the Lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile
We didn’t have much time
Frank Zappa and the Mothers
Were at the best place around
But some stupid with a flare gun
Burned the place to the ground
Smoke on the water
A fire in the sky
Smoke on the water
I don’t want to drink my whisky like you do
I don’t need to spend my money but still do
Don’t stop now a c-‘mon
Another drop now c-‘mon
I wanna lot now so c-‘mon
That’s right, that’s right
I said Mama but we’re all crazy now
I said Mama but we’re all crazy now
Mmm yeah!
Women think I’m tasty, but they’re always tryin’ to waste me
Make me burn the candle right down
But, baby, baby, don’t need no jewels in my crown
In the mornin’ you go gunnin’ for the man who stole your water
And you fire ’til he is done in but they catch you at the border
And the mourners are all singin’ as they drag you by your feet
But the hangman isn’t hangin’ and they put you on the street
You go back, Jack, do it again, wheel turnin’ ’round and ’round
You go back, Jack, do it again
Released: 8 November 1972 – second LP Charts: #13 in the UK, #29 in the USA, #12 in Australia
AllMusic wrote: “The sound and style of Transformer would
in many ways define Reed’s career in the 1970s, and while it
led him into a style that proved to be a dead end, you can’t
deny that Bowie and Ronson gave their hero a new lease on
life, and a solid album in the bargain.” Score: 4.5/5
TUTV: Lou took a vicious walk on the wild side
on a perfect day, found a satellite of love, and
scored his first masterpiece.
2. ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’ by DAVID BOWIE
Released: 16 June 1972 – 5th LP Charts: #5 in the UK, #21 in the USA
AllMusic: “Bowie succeeds not in spite of his pretensions but because of them,
and Ziggy Stardust, familiar in structure, but alien in performance, is the first
time his vision and execution met in such a grand, sweeping fashion.” Score: 5/5.
Released: 12 May 1972 – the band’s 12th LP Charts: #1 in the UK, US, Canada, and all over Europe
Rolling Stone wrote: “There are songs that are better, there
are songs that are worse, there are songs that’ll become your
favorites and others you’ll probably lift the needle for when
their time is due.”
TUTV: With only its best 9 tracks out of the total
of 18 tracks, this would have been a masterpiece.
Ps: Recently The Who’s Roger Daltrey (commonly known as the dumbest Who)
said that the Stones sounded like a pub rock band. He also said after his beloved
England turned into Brexshit that British bands still could tour Europe without extra
financial problems. Yes, the rich ones, you dickhead. And last but not least the greedy
billionaire defended the fact that The Who charge exorbitant prices for their gigs lately
with “We are worth it” I think if Keith Moon was still alive he
would smash Daltrey‘s brains in. Fuck you fake rock star.
“On this day 50 years ago, Wednesday, March 10, 1971, Lou Reed gave his first poetry reading at the Poetry Project at St. Marks Church. This was Lou’s first public appearance since leaving the Velvet Underground and he made it known at the time that he might not go back to rock & roll at all. He focused on his writing for the year between leaving the Velvets and ultimately signing with RCA as a solo artist. Many of his poems from this period were published in the early 1970s. The cassette recording that Lou made during the reading is part of the Lou Reed Archive at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in Lincoln Center.”
Full info on FB Lou Reed right here.
One of his poems was WE ARE THE PEOPLE.
Listen here to the authentic version, 50 years ago today…
Rolling Stone: “After you’ve devoted an entire album to the ultimate concept — death and the mourning after — what do you do for an encore? If you’re from New York and you’re Lou Reed, you write about the kind of small pleasure that makes life amid the ruins worthwhile. Only Reed could invest a song about 50 cents’ worth of seltzer and syrup with roiling guitar and almost corny vocal zeal and put it at the beginning of a record about emotional renewal and personal discovery… Reed has dedicated ‘Set the Twilight Reeling’ to his paramour, Laurie Anderson… The album, however, is less about consummation than transformation and its consequences — for better and worse… Reed has been a changed man on record so many times, it’s easy to mistake sincerity for shtick… And when you get right down to it, true love and a new day rising are both a lot like a good egg cream: sweet relief.” Score: 4/5.
Turn Up The Volume: For Lou Reed it’s an average LP
as he made to many classics to compare with.
