- Walk On The Wild Side
Sweet Jane
Before I began paying attention to Lou Reed, these were the only songs of his that made any impression on me. All of Lester Bangs' rants had no effect. Velvet who? Didn't matter. There was as yet no 'there' there for my adolescent brain to muckle onto. It took a few years of living (plus a whole pile 'o Rolling Stone, Creem and other rock propaganda) to figure out that, hey, there's just something about that weird dude and his even weirder voice.
But then...I turned into a jazz snob. There's no gettin' around it. Honkin', screechin' and cats-walking-on-piano sounds emanated from my stereo for several years. "When are they gonna stop practicing?" was the joke question. Well, they never really did stop 'practicing' in my mind, but some happy musical synchronicity brought Reed back into the picture.
Right around the time of the release of Lou Reed's New York (and subsequent airplay of "Dirty Blvd.") I heard the most amazing song on the after-work drive. The 'singer' sounded like Louis Armstrong gone insane. There were references to booze, strippers, trench coats and cleavage. Accompanied by just a drum kit, the 'singer' belts and scats it out. The tune was Tom Waits' "Pasties and a G-String" (from Small Change). In a very short timespan, I had developed a jones for oddly constructed male vocals.
As I dug into the coolness of New York the residue of Lester Bangs' incessant ReedRamblings(tm) came to mind. I got myself a copy of some live Velvet Underground record and discovered a whole nuther world 'o screech. Maybe Bangs wasn't nuts after all. Maybe I can figure out why I find myself enjoying those flat& wobbly vocals. Maybe the Honda Scooter ads made sense after all.
Fast forward to the present and Reed's new live album Animal Serenade. Instead of the early-Animal GlamRockOnSteroids sound, Lou's very talented band (second guitar/guitar synth, bass, drums, cello) delivers the goods in an elegant, almost cerebral fashion. The influence of wife and fellow art-weirdo Laurie Anderson, maybe? In any event, we are treated to some of Reed's latest ("The Raven"), 'newer' material ("Set The Twilight Reeling"), older rarities (Berlin's "Man Of Good Fortune" and "The Bed", "Small Town" from Songs For Drella), sturdy Reed classics ("Street Hassle") and the Velvets classic "Venus In Furs", with scorching Cello solo provided by Jane Scarpantoni.
There's also a song written and sung by bassist Fernando Saunders: "Revien Cherie". I've seen some reviewers spitting bile at this tune. Relax! The juxtaposition of Saunders' beautiful voice next to Reed's croak is what makes it work. What? Lou's not following your rules for his show? Get over it.
This record makes for a pretty neat Reed career retrospective and statement of where Reed is currently at. Some folks can't take the altered arrangements of the material but, hey, that's their problem. For somebody with such a varied career, I would expect nothing less.
(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)
.jpg?t=20120209092158)
Article comments
1 - Nom De Plume
Of course, as Uncle Lou points out on the album, "Sweet Jane" has four chords in it, and, in his words, “As with most things in life, it’s that little hop at the end."
Not my favorite live stuff of his, but worlds better than some of the '70's live material.
Speaking of possible Laurie Anderson influence, did you happen to catch him on the Letterman show recently? He played "Sunday Morning", and among his band members was a fellow who didn't play an instrument, but instead did tai chi and martial arts moves through the whole song.
2 - Mark Saleski
i didn't see him on letterman but that makes sense...there's that picture in the foldout of the tai chi dude.
3 - Jim Carruthers
The following night on Letterman, he did a gag, which had him doing tai chi while Reed played.
I thought the tai chi dude was silly, and we don't really need another live album of rehashed material from Lou. I love Lou Reed, but he hasn't released a decent album in over ten years.