https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rock-N-Roll-Animal-Live/dp/B00004RD54?crid=33H0T0TKS3NIT&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.1FJkx3Gqm1PdhweHjeOnFG2qw9u2XXNa6jY5Obfz2Eo.OIOTB_Gfi2P8bAfcoFSzG3tYoZ45Dx4BL46uu0dOtyM&dib_tag=se&keywords=078636794822&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1730419930&sprefix=078636794822%2Caps%2C70&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=mabasreofcdbl-21&linkId=e82c48a0781c780d35bc50ebef3ed6cb&language=en_GB&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
RATINGS:
Material *****
Presentation ****
Audio Restoration *****
"…Hey Protest Kids!"
With the worldwide smash of "Walk On The Wild Side" in the solo-career bag (from his cool 1972 second studio LP "Transformer" – the song and album - all Lou Reed meets Mott The Hoople meets David Bowie meets Mick Ronson brilliant) – it seemed that the ex-Velvets main-man was finally on the deserved up-and-up.
That is until October of 1973 and the release of his third studio album "Berlin". A seriously bleak almost quiveringly quite music/poetry opus about drug addiction, prostitution, abuse and family break up (a mother has her children taken away to the sound of screams and suicidal despair) - both critics and the public hated it – a hugely down-and-grimy Rock Opera that few could take in one sitting (although for me the gorgeous orchestrated "Sad Song" is surely one of his greatest achievements). Time to get your big-boy leather-pants on again and Rawk.
His first live set – the uncompromisingly sinewy "Rock 'N' Roll Animal" did much to return favour amongst the party faithful. Right from the off, 'Animal' is an aural and attitude assault - a tight-brilliantly-in-synch twin-guitar-and-keyboards attacking band unleashed on four Velvet Underground songs and one solo cut from the infamous "Berlin" LP.
To this day - is there any Live Set anywhere that opens with something as good as "Sweet Jane" – Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels axemen Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner absolutely slaying it before Lou hits the microphone in that undefinable cool of his. It was enough to elicit hero-worship from me for a lifetime. Which brings us to this beautifully restored CD Reissue & Remaster. To the details Protest Kids…
UK and US released March 2000 - "Rock N Roll Animal" by LOU REED on RCA/BMG/Legacy 07863 67948 2 (Barcode 078636794822) is an Expanded Edition CD Reissue with Restored/Remastered Audio and Two Previously Unreleased Songs from the same concert. It plays out as follows (48:12):
1. Intro/Sweet Jane (7:46 minutes) [Side 1]
2. Heroin (13:13 minutes)
3. How Do You Think It Feels (3:41 minutes) *
4. Caroline Says I (4:07 minutes) *
5. White Light/White Heat (5:11 minutes) [Side 2]
6. Lady Day (4:00 minutes)
7. Rock 'N' Roll (10:08 minutes)
Tracks 1 to 2 [Side 1] and Tracks 5 to 7 [Side 2] are his fourth album "Rock 'N' Roll Animal" (first Live set – see Notes) - released February 1974 in the USA on RCA Victor APL1-0472 (same date and catalogue number in the UK). Produced by LOU REED and STEVE KATZ – it peaked at No.45 on the US Billboard LP charts and No. 26 in the UK.
NOTES: Tracks 3 and 4 (*) are Previously Unreleased – recorded on the same night the live album was taped, 21 December 1973 at Howard Stein's Academy of Music in New York. Neither song appear on "Lou Reed Live" (released March 1975) that also featured music entirely from the same show. The studio versions of each song originally appeared on his infamous October 1973 LP "Berlin". Four of the five songs on "Rock 'N' Roll Animal" are from his days with The Velvet Underground with only "Lady Day" from "Berlin" being from his then three-album-strong solo career. His biggest hit "Walk On The Wild Side" from 1972's "Transformer" is notable by its absence – but Reed wanted the live album to be Classic Rock and Rock and Roll. After Reed released his fourth studio album "Sally Can't Dance" - four of his band members – Guitarists Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner along with Bassist Prakash John and Drummer Pentti Glan would form the basis of the Alice Cooper Band as featured on his February 1975 album "Welcome To My Nightmare".
Nice to see the CD get a picture disc (his face from the front gatefold cover) and the 8-page inlay with new liner notes from JONATHAN HILL goes into the genesis of the album - it's release - and post-album follow ups - including "Sally Can't Dance" in the same year (1974) and the "Lou Reed Live" set from 1975 that returned entirely to unused material from that night at the Academy of Music in NYC, 21 Dec 1973. There is the inner gatefold shot and the 'Heroin' lyrics that appeared up in the left corner but sadly no shots from the gig. Hill is honest about Lou's spiky responses to criticism - his belligerence almost - and smartly that Reed believed in the redemptive nature of 'Rock 'n' Roll'. It's good enough for an RCA-BMG-Legacy issue, let's put it that way.
But the big news is two unused Bonus Tracks from the same gig - live variants of two 'Berlin' cuts - "How Do You Think It Feels" and "Caroline Says 1" - and fab new Audio Restoration from BILL LACEY and MICHAEL (Mike) HARTRY which pumps up huge power without amping everything to a hissy mess. When the 13-plus minute "Heroin" goes into those almost silent slow bits and then both guitarists lose it thrashing solos towards the end - both are remarkable for their clarity and 'live' power. It's a truly wicked job done on an album that holds a special place in any LR fan's heart.
Side 1 opens without any real indication that you're live and dangerous - "Sweet Jane" from the Velvet Underground's fifth and final studio album "Loaded" in 1970 comes at you almost like a mission statement. The twin guitars of Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner are thrilling and so tight that it isn't until Reed turns up at the microphone do you realize that's its a 'gig'. The power of the riffage is as good as The Who and then to follow that with the stop-start magnificence of "Heroin" - originally on the groundbreaking 1967 debut album "The Velvet Underground And Nico".
I had to play the two new inclusions - "How Do You Think It Feels" and "Caroline Says 1" - a couple of times to like them and I can so hear why they would have interrupted the flow of an album called "Rock 'N' Roll" and were left off. But for real fans - anything new from the difficult "Berlin" period is manna from the Gods. Their third LP "White Light/White Heat" gets a muscle-car rendition from the band and Lord help us all - even Lou seems to be enjoying himself. Reed then romps home with "Lady Day" from "Berlin" and another from 1970's "Loaded" LP - the title of the album - "Rock 'n' Roll" - a great tune.
Reed would go on of course to the ludicrous f-you of "Metal Machine Music" - a notorious double-live of feedback and unlistenable shit that RCA deleted within three months of release due to the outrage and returns of irate punters. It also hammered any kind of commercial clout Reed might have had with the hick Country Music label - but you suspect our hero New Yorker probably wanted it that way.
But there are no such thoughts when it comes to 1974's "Rock 'N' Roll Animal" now sounding most ballsy and snot-nosed than ever. Naught sad about this...buy...
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