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Lou Reed's Debut LP "Lou Reed" from June 1972 (July 1972 UK)
Receives a Fabulous CD Remaster in 2000 by Andy Pearce
"...Living In A Garbage Pale... "
I
can't actually imagine another debut album in the early Seventies that loomed
with such intense expectation and on initial sales/critical response - died
such a genuinely horrible death. "Lou Reed" barely scraped No. 189 on the Billboard Rock LP
charts and didn't dent the UK lists at all.
The
next two Lou Reed solo LPs post Velvet Underground "Transformer" and "Berlin"
are blistering solo works and quite rightly met with near biblical adoration –
especially the Perfect Day and Walk On The Wild Side languid magic of "Transformer"
with David Bowie and Mick Ronson as part of the crew. But poor old eight of the tracks are old VU hand-me-downs
"Lou Reed" has always been that runt in the corner – an ignominious fart-start
that should have been a flame-thrower.
But
time, calmer more appreciative heads and legend have followed. a fantastically clear and fresh new Andy Pearce Remaster (well if you call January 2000 new) has dusted
down the wild child once more and asked us mere mortals to listen anew. Give that London-recorded upstart a
new soother – peel it slowly and see – well, in June 2022 Lou's self-titled half-assed "Lou Reed" debut album is celebrating a 50th Anniversary and I'm up for it. Here is what Lisa
and Mark says...
UK
released 21 February 2000 - "Lou Reed" by LOU REED on BMG/Camden
Deluxe 74321 727122 (Barcode 743217271220) is a straightforward CD Reissue and
Remaster of his 1972 Debut Album that plays out as follows (38:44 minutes):
1. I Can't Stand It [Side 1]
2. Going Down
3. Walk And Talk It
4. Lisa Says
5. Berlin
6. I Love You [Side 2]
7. Wild Child
8. Love Makes You Feel
9. Ride Into The Sun
10. Ocean
Tracks 1 to 10 are his debut album "Lou Reed" - released 21 June 1972 in the USA on RCA Victor Records LSP-4701 and July 1972 in the UK on RCA Victor SF 8281. Produced RICHARD ROBINSON and LOU REED - all songs written by Lou Reed.
LOU REED - Guitar and Lead Vocals
CALEB QUAYE (of Hookfoot and Elton John's Band) - Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Piano
STEVE HOWE (of Yes) - Electric Guitar
PAUL KEOGH - Electric Guitar
RICK WAKEMAN (ex Strawbs, with Yes) - Piano
LES HURDLE (of The Mohawks) - Bass Guitar
BRIAN ODGERS (of Sweet Thursday) - Bass Guitar
CLEM CATTINI (of Ugly Custard) - Drums and Percussion
KAY GARNER and HELENE FRANCOIS - Vocal Harmonies on Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4 and 9
I know some copies of this CD were issued in a card wrap, most aren't now. The 12-page booklet features illuminating and in-depth liner notes from noted writer and reviewer DAVID FRICKE done in New York, January 2000. Alongside period photos, Fricke includes Lou's own comments in 1972 interviews as to why the LP met with such a lukewarm response. The final pages give you original album and CD reissue credits. For me, part of the excitement of this release is an ANDY PEARCE Remaster from original tapes - and what a stunning job he's done. There is such clarity here and even if the playing still feels like they're an outsider's band and not Lou's backing group, the AUDIO is really great.
The guest list for his debut LP was impressive - Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe of Yes on Keyboards and Guitar, Caleb Quaye
of Hookfoot and Elton John's Band on Guitars and Piano, Bassists Les Hurdle of The Mohawks with Brian Odgers of Sweet
Thursday and Drummer Clem Cattini of Ugly Custard (said to be on 45 number 1 singles and once considered to be the drummer in Page's formative Led Zeppelin years). Throw in the girly vocals of Kay Garner and Helene Francois bolstering up five songs in that so Lou Reed arrangements kind of way, and it was all so promising. But then as Side 1 progressed and you flipped over to Side 2, that sinking feeling crept in and you began looking for magic that just didn't seem to want to turn up. To the music...
I know others dismiss it (which I find odd), but I have always held a candle for the opening number "I Can't Stand It" on Side 1 - a very Lou Reed post Velvets belter where he even comes across a tad Marc Bolan/T.Rex vocally and stylistically. Things mellow with the superbly languid "Going Down" - a tune I like a lot fifty years on. But then comes the awkwardly average "Walk It And Talk It" - a sort of half-kicking rocker that feels like its trying too hard with guitar runs that fill in rather than impress. Better is "Lisa Says" - the remaster very clean and full of presence. That 'so quiet' opening to the Side 1 finisher "Berlin" used to always drive me crazy with its lack on fidelity on those Dynaflex Vinyl original LPs - but again lifted up here. Dubonet on ice is very
nice in the oh-babe-I'm-gonna-miss-you "Berlin" - a tune he would re-do
in 1973 for the "Berlin" album (those doubled guitars and piano sound
like Howe and Wakeman of Yes)
Side 2's opener "I Love You" is one of the LP's secret sweeties - Drums and Acoustic Guitars so clean now in the mix - his warmth and declarations of love actually even unnerving. Another kicker is "Wild Child" - those guitars and that Bass finally coherent in the assault. "Oh baby can I have some spare change, can I break your heart..." Talking to Betty on how her audition was awful, but she calmed down with some wine, which Lou assures us is what always happens with Betty's trauma. Another one of the LP's hidden Faberge Eggs is "Love Makes You Feel" - Love making Lou feel ten feet tall - a great Reed song now pumped-up with fantastic clarity. I had genuinely forgotten how cool this tune is and if you listen close too, you can hear The Edge's strumming technique and guitar sound originating here. Looking for another chance, "Ride Into The Sun" is one that requires a few plays and again the guitars have been transferred by Audio Engineer Andy Pearce with such delicacy. Side 2 then ends with epic drama as we go down by the sea in "Ocean" - grungy guitars and sound effects bringing it closest to VU territory. And again, storming audio.
Anyone claiming that "Lou Reed" is a five-star overlooked masterpiece is pushing it in my books to say the bloody least. But for damn sure, there are more than a few overlooked gems in here even if the master disowned it a bit himself in October 1972 interviews. Still, this now old CD Remaster has polished up that curate's egg sufficiently to warrant another peek behind the banana peel.
"It's hard being in a band, like living in a garbage pale...I can't stand it anymore..." - he snarled on great lyrics. "I live with thirteen dead cats...purple dogs with spats...they're all living in the hall and I can't stand them all..."
"Lou Reed" was his ending the VU days LP - going it alone at last. And what came next with "Transformer", "Berlin" and the live "Rock & Roll Animal" LPs would prove him a stunning force in music. But spare a thought for this missing piece in his legend, fifty years on and sounding in dandy form...
