Discography
101 releases – 76 under his own name, 9 in other groups and 21 credits on others' music Edit
- Show everything (101)
- Released as Lou Reed (76)
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In other groups (9)
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Credits on others' music (21)
- Tracks on others' music (147)
Has worked with
Has been in these groups
Has this family
In the News
( 2 stories between 28th April 2009 and 4th February 2010 )Lou's Metal Machine Hits The Road
Feb, 4 2010
Lou Reed has always gone against the grain. During 1967's so-called summer of love, his band The Velvet Underground released a debut album about prostitution and heroin addiction. Then, when the hippy revolution turned sour, the VU released their happy, trippy pop album, Loaded, starting with the decidedly hippyish "Who Loves The Sun."
But most contrary of all was Reed's 1975 solo album, Metal Machine Music (1975), four sides of unlistenable noise which divided fans: 99% hated it, while 1% considered it a challenging but worthwhile work of conceptual art. Last year a Rolling Stone reviewer described it live as "a continuous blaring fog that rose and decreased in its deafening intensity, marked by shrill electronic shrieks, long demented sax solos and Reed’s occasional yelling voice."
Great news - Lou Reed is taking his blaring fog, shrill shrieking and demented soloing on tour! So far only European dates have been announced, but the April shows will coincide with a full reissue program which will include Metal Machine Music on Blu-Ray for the first time. Perhaps a marginal improvement in audio clarity will make it an easier listen? Probably not.
Lou Reed
Apr, 28 2009
Rock icon Lou Reed is best known as the former frontman of underground legends The Velvet Underground, and for solo hits such as "Walk On The Wild Side" and "Perfect Day." But in 1975 he released a controversial solo record called Metal Machine Music that has become the stuff of legend. Comprising four sides of unlistenable noise and feedback, debate has raged ever since about whether the record was a joke or whether Reed's claims to artistic merit were justified. Listening to it is something of an ordeal, meaning determined fans who can stomach the entire thing are few and far between. This weekend, Reed played the album in full for fans at the Gramercy Theatre in Manhattan. Rolling Stone described the unusual concert as consisting of "a continuous blaring fog that rose and decreased in its deafening intensity, marked by shrill electronic shrieks, long demented sax solos and Reed’s occasional yelling voice." Although the venue was only half-full at the outset, around a quarter of attendees left by the end of the show, proving that even fans who were curious enough to attend still weren't all able to cope with the noise. Once outside, New York City must have seemed like an oasis of calm in comparison.
