FOT Forum
FOT Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: Kormodd on October 27, 2013, 08:54:22 PM
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Pay respect to the legend, jerks.
The Velvet Underground - Ride Into The Sun (Good Quality) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydA0bmL-UEk#)
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One of the best recordings of all time
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAnJbF-mDbY)
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One of the best recordings of all time
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAnJbF-mDbY)
Heh. I've played that three times already. Brilliant and funny as hell.
It's not a stretch to say that outside of Bob Dylan, no musician made more of an impact on rock music than Lou Reed. Much of the music that I listen to and enjoy wouldn't exist but for the VU/Reed. For that, I and many others owe him a huge debt of gratitude.
RIP, Lou.
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I listened to both sides of Street Hassle and the Sweet Jane side of Take No Prisoners.
No Velvet Underground, yet.
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Ive always liked this video/interview.
Lou Reed doesn't think the British should play rock n roll, and they should learn to cook.
Lou Reed Interview with Bill Boggs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z509KPb9cxE&feature=youtu.be#)
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I listened to both sides of Street Hassle and the Sweet Jane side of Take No Prisoners.
No Velvet Underground, yet.
Last night, I listened to the 38 minute version of Sister Ray from the Quine Tapes. They may have been the best jam band outside of the Dead. Good stuff.
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Very few celebrity deaths impact me in any way, but this one did. I wasn't expecting it to be any time soon. It's not that he seemed so young, I guess - more like he didn't seem any older.
I got into Lou Reed through REM's Dead Letter Office (terrible) covers of "There She Goes Again" and "Pale Blue Eyes." My freshman year roommate (who also introduced me to Rock, Rot and Rule) was a DJ on the college radio station and had a million VU, Lou Reed, David Bowie, you name it CDs. I would say that the first and third Velvet Underground albums were the gateway for a lot of the music I like.
I liked a lot of his solo stuff, too, especially New York, and I thought Magic and Loss and - maybe I'm unique in liking this one - Set the Twilight Reeling were models of what "adult contemporary" should _actually_ be.
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As an older teen in the 80s who listened to metal and classic rock I was introduced to the Velvet Underground by a friend's older brother- "White Light/White Heat" lp recorded on cassette with all the snaps and pops n shit. Like the old MTV slogan, I never listened to music the same way again.
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is New York generally thought of as good? I've always loved it but I thought most people didn't
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is New York generally thought of as good? I've always loved it but I thought most people didn't
Lou Reed reads the news. I like it. Saw the tour.
However, I also just bought a Mort Sahl record,
(http://rymimg.com/lk/f/l/2e287220aeb83c249a4b1e5579f53f3a/1449208.jpg)
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Wasn't the biggest fan of his, yet I loved The Dream Syndicate, who was greatly influenced by the Velvets. Still, I do appreciate what the guy did, particularly this song - probably the best example of a single-chord drone song that existed during the 1960s.
Sister Ray - The Velvet Underground - Boston Tea Party 1969 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1AoGA6ynJs#)
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It's still sinking in with me. Everyone knows the Velvets were influential; what mattered to me is that to my taste they were genuinely the greatest, and my most-listened-to, band of all time. I've been listening to them for 35 years and still feel like I haven't gotten to the bottom of them. I also do think it's important when these VU references come up in the obits to note that they weren't Lou Reed + backing group; the other three deserve full equal credit for making them what they were (and Doug Yule, too, some).
And I've never been quite able to hate Lou the legendary asshole and solo purveyor of many a crappy album (and a few great ones). Say what you will, he was right when he said he did Lou Reed better than anyone. Given his legendary assholery, I will repeat a story I posted a while back: I once sat in Jimmy's Corner Bar near Times Square listening to two dudes talking next to me. One said he was a recording engineer, working with Lou Reed on what later turned out to be Ecstasy. This guy said Lou was a really nice guy, fun to work for. One day, Lou came in to the studio and announced that he didn't feel like working, he felt like going to Coney Island. So the band and the whole recording crew spent the day eating Nathan's and sitting in the sun at Coney Island, all on the clock! What a guy!
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Henry Rollins tribute show is now up on KCRW website.
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Why did Lou end up hating Doug Yule so much? I always thought the Hall of Fame thing (and the "dead, I hope" line) were unnecessarily cruel. Was it the abortive Reed-less VU that Yule tried to do?
EDIT: It seems like they got on ok - the quote was from '72 and Lou said he really didn't mean it, and then Yule played on two of Reed's 70s albums. Reed and Cale left Yule out of the reunion show (Cale never having worked with Yule) and the rock and roll Hall of Fame, but then Yule and Reed appeared together at some charity stuff as late as 2009.
The whole concept and execution of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame mystifies me, if you take "mystifies me" to mean "I think it's one of the stupidest concepts I've ever heard of."
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I've never been able to figure out why so many VU fans give Doug Yule such a bad rap. The guy was a talented multi-instrumentalist and an excellent singer to boot. And I think the band made their best work while he was in the group. Yes, there was a marked change in their sound once he joined the band, but I believe it was change for the better.
If you're looking for affirmation of Yule's talents, listen to a song like "Foggy Notion" or "Who Loves The Sun." Those two songs alone prove his musical worth.
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I've never been able to figure out why so many VU fans give Doug Yule such a bad rap. The guy was a talented multi-instrumentalist and an excellent singer to boot. And I think the band made their best work while he was in the group. Yes, there was a marked change in their sound once he joined the band, but I believe it was change for the better.
If you're looking for affirmation of Yule's talents, listen to a song like "Foggy Notion" or "Who Loves The Sun." Those two songs alone prove his musical worth.
I always got his voice mixed up with Lou Reed's, actually. As in "how come Lou can hit these notes on some songs and totally miss them on others?"
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I've never been able to figure out why so many VU fans give Doug Yule such a bad rap. The guy was a talented multi-instrumentalist and an excellent singer to boot. And I think the band made their best work while he was in the group. Yes, there was a marked change in their sound once he joined the band, but I believe it was change for the better.
If you're looking for affirmation of Yule's talents, listen to a song like "Foggy Notion" or "Who Loves The Sun." Those two songs alone prove his musical worth.
I always got his voice mixed up with Lou Reed's, actually. As in "how come Lou can hit these notes on some songs and totally miss them on others?"
I think it's somewhat easy to distinguish their vocals. Reed's voice had a pronounced nasally, New Yorkish tinge. Yule's voice was more mellifluous.
Although, they did bear a striking physical resemblance to one another. In fact, didn't LR once refer to Yule as his "brother"?
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In fact, didn't LR once refer to Yule as his "brother"?
Yes, that's in one of the band intros on Live 1969. Uh--unless it was on the Max's Kansas City album. If Lou was mean about Yule in 1972, that was probably his bitterness over the whole Loaded snafu:
Pat: Back to Loaded. The myth and legend is that the album was not finished when Lou quit and that you continued working on it yourself.
Doug: For all intensive purposes [sic] it was in the can when Lou quit. I think the biggest change after Lou left was that Sesnick rearranged the credits on the back of the album to make Lou look as insignificant as possible. I think he's listed below everyone else.
Pat: Because Sesnick wanted you to continue on without Lou?
Doug: Yes, he was manipulating. He was always manipulating.
--from an interview with Doug Yule on Perfect Sound Forever: http://www.furious.com/perfect/yule.html (http://www.furious.com/perfect/yule.html)
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Lou Reed does Don't Look Back:
Lou Reed Interview at Sydney Airport - 1974 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeMIWCxHgQk#)
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Oh if you saw that Lars Ulrich wrote a eulogy for Lou Reed you'd read it too.
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/30/metallica-lars-ulrich-lou-reed-rocknroll-poetry (http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/30/metallica-lars-ulrich-lou-reed-rocknroll-poetry)
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Oh if you saw that Lars Ulrich wrote a eulogy for Lou Reed you'd read it too.
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/30/metallica-lars-ulrich-lou-reed-rocknroll-poetry (http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/30/metallica-lars-ulrich-lou-reed-rocknroll-poetry)
I agree with Lars.
I think that history will judge Lulu kindly. And I say that without the slightest hint of sarcasm.
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is New York generally thought of as good? I've always loved it but I thought most people didn't
I think it's great. A favorite of the 80s. I thought it was highly regarded. It's the Lou Reed album your square roommate liked too, but it's still great.
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Laurie Anderson writing:
To our neighbors:
What a beautiful fall! Everything shimmering and golden and all that incredible soft light. Water surrounding us.
Lou and I have spent a lot of time here in the past few years, and even though we’re city people this is our spiritual home.
Last week I promised Lou to get him out of the hospital and come home to Springs. And we made it!
Lou was a tai chi master and spent his last days here being happy and dazzled by the beauty and power and softness of nature. He died on Sunday morning looking at the trees and doing the famous 21 form of tai chi with just his musician hands moving through the air.
Lou was a prince and a fighter and I know his songs of the pain and beauty in the world will fill many people with the incredible joy he felt for life. Long live the beauty that comes down and through and onto all of us.
— Laurie Anderson
his loving wife and eternal friend
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Wasn't Lou a big WFMU supporter?
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Laurie Anderson writing:
To our neighbors:
What a beautiful fall! Everything shimmering and golden and all that incredible soft light. Water surrounding us.
Lou and I have spent a lot of time here in the past few years, and even though we’re city people this is our spiritual home.
Last week I promised Lou to get him out of the hospital and come home to Springs. And we made it!
Lou was a tai chi master and spent his last days here being happy and dazzled by the beauty and power and softness of nature. He died on Sunday morning looking at the trees and doing the famous 21 form of tai chi with just his musician hands moving through the air.
Lou was a prince and a fighter and I know his songs of the pain and beauty in the world will fill many people with the incredible joy he felt for life. Long live the beauty that comes down and through and onto all of us.
— Laurie Anderson
his loving wife and eternal friend
Beautiful.
Thanks for posting it.
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Beautiful gif from Kurt Gottschalk's playlist (Imagine it against a black background):
(http://i1317.photobucket.com/albums/t635/MinotaurMinnesota/lou_zpsf9d83edf.gif)
I assume a lot of FMU DJs are doing tributes. Anyone aware of especially good ones?
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Somebody put up a whole show from France 1972. Its got a really cool version of Waiting for the Man.
Velvet Underground . Concert Bataclan ( France) Juin 72 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hJM_jVJHuw#)
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I've never been able to figure out why so many VU fans give Doug Yule such a bad rap. The guy was a talented multi-instrumentalist and an excellent singer to boot. And I think the band made their best work while he was in the group. Yes, there was a marked change in their sound once he joined the band, but I believe it was change for the better.
If you're looking for affirmation of Yule's talents, listen to a song like "Foggy Notion" or "Who Loves The Sun." Those two songs alone prove his musical worth.
I always got his voice mixed up with Lou Reed's, actually. As in "how come Lou can hit these notes on some songs and totally miss them on others?"
I think it's somewhat easy to distinguish their vocals. Reed's voice had a pronounced nasally, New Yorkish tinge. Yule's voice was more mellifluous.
Although, they did bear a striking physical resemblance to one another. In fact, didn't LR once refer to Yule as his "brother"?
Yeahbut if you are new to it and listening, you might think Lou is singing everything. I know I did.
Except 'After Hours', of course.
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It'll be a week tomorrow and I'm still kind of wallowing in it, not listening to much of anything but Lou and the VU, compulsively reading tributes on the web. Well, if this isn't the time to concentrate on thinking out what an artist means to you, what is? Plus it's a distraction from depressing thoughts about the end of the Best Show.
Anyway, I just read something that jogged my memory of a great moment from a Rolling Stone interview. This was in the mid-seventies, I think between Rock and Roll Heart and Street Hassle. Lou was being his usual cranky self, putting down Bob Dylan and Van Morrison ("Van Morrison got it right once, on 'Madame George.'") when he suddenly interrupted himself to show a little vulnerability: "You know who I like? Don't laugh at me. Neil Young." (For you younger readers: Yes, there was a time when Neil Young was widely considered a hippie washout and it wasn't particularly "cool" to like him.) He started talking about the incredible guitar sound Neil got on Zuma and actually pulled out the album to play it for the interviewer. He was especially impressed by the solos on "Danger Bird" and said something like "Listen to that. Neil! He got it. He must have wanted it."
Something like that, anyway. I may be mangling these quotes, which are from memory. It was just a moment. I loved that "Don't laugh at me."
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It'll be a week tomorrow and I'm still kind of wallowing in it, not listening to much of anything but Lou and the VU, compulsively reading tributes on the web. Well, if this isn't the time to concentrate on thinking out what an artist means to you, what is? Plus it's a distraction from depressing thoughts about the end of the Best Show.
Anyway, I just read something that jogged my memory of a great moment from a Rolling Stone interview. This was in the mid-seventies, I think between Rock and Roll Heart and Street Hassle. Lou was being his usual cranky self, putting down Bob Dylan and Van Morrison ("Van Morrison got it right once, on 'Madame George.'") when he suddenly interrupted himself to show a little vulnerability: "You know who I like? Don't laugh at me. Neil Young." (For you younger readers: Yes, there was a time when Neil Young was widely considered a hippie washout and it wasn't particularly "cool" to like him.) He started talking about the incredible guitar sound Neil got on Zuma and actually pulled out the album to play it for the interviewer. He was especially impressed by the solos on "Danger Bird" and said something like "Listen to that. Neil! He got it. He must have wanted it."
Something like that, anyway. I may be mangling these quotes, which are from memory. It was just a moment. I loved that "Don't laugh at me."
Just wondering what did he say about Dylan, i would love to read this interview. I didn't know Neil Young was considered a washout in the 70's.
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Just wondering what did he say about Dylan, i would love to read this interview. I didn't know Neil Young was considered a washout in the 70's.
I don't remember what he said about Dylan, just something like "He hasn't done anything good in forever," blah blah. (He also said that he, Lou, was a better guitar player than Jimi Hendrix.) I have no idea where this interview can be found unless it's in the Rolling Stone archive somewhere. But I can tell you that yes, in the mid-70s there was a large body of opinion that Neil was a washed-up bumbler who'd sold out when he joined CS&N and then pissed away (probably drugged away) whatever talent he'd had in the Everybody Knows/Gold Rush days. If you can go back and find the relatively few positive reviews that greeted On the Beach and Tonight's the Night, you'll see how apologetic their tone was, like "I know all you hipsters have written this guy off, but believe me, this guy has something going on here."
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It'll be a week tomorrow and I'm still kind of wallowing in it, not listening to much of anything but Lou and the VU, compulsively reading tributes on the web. Well, if this isn't the time to concentrate on thinking out what an artist means to you, what is? Plus it's a distraction from depressing thoughts about the end of the Best Show.
Anyway, I just read something that jogged my memory of a great moment from a Rolling Stone interview. This was in the mid-seventies, I think between Rock and Roll Heart and Street Hassle. Lou was being his usual cranky self, putting down Bob Dylan and Van Morrison ("Van Morrison got it right once, on 'Madame George.'") when he suddenly interrupted himself to show a little vulnerability: "You know who I like? Don't laugh at me. Neil Young." (For you younger readers: Yes, there was a time when Neil Young was widely considered a hippie washout and it wasn't particularly "cool" to like him.) He started talking about the incredible guitar sound Neil got on Zuma and actually pulled out the album to play it for the interviewer. He was especially impressed by the solos on "Danger Bird" and said something like "Listen to that. Neil! He got it. He must have wanted it."
Something like that, anyway. I may be mangling these quotes, which are from memory. It was just a moment. I loved that "Don't laugh at me."
Just wondering what did he say about Dylan, i would love to read this interview. I didn't know Neil Young was considered a washout in the 70's.
http://www.examiner.com/article/how-bob-dylan-and-lou-reed-became-friends (http://www.examiner.com/article/how-bob-dylan-and-lou-reed-became-friends)
When you consider how much Reed borrowed from Dylan, both musically and aesthetically, it's hard to believe that he disliked him as much as he did. I'm not surprised that he was a fan of Neil Young, however. If Lou had a musical kindred spirit, it was Neil Young. For better or worse, both guys have followed their muse wherever it took them, public opinion be damned. So in that sense, I think they're fellow travelers.
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It'll be a week tomorrow and I'm still kind of wallowing in it, not listening to much of anything but Lou and the VU, compulsively reading tributes on the web. Well, if this isn't the time to concentrate on thinking out what an artist means to you, what is? Plus it's a distraction from depressing thoughts about the end of the Best Show.
Anyway, I just read something that jogged my memory of a great moment from a Rolling Stone interview. This was in the mid-seventies, I think between Rock and Roll Heart and Street Hassle. Lou was being his usual cranky self, putting down Bob Dylan and Van Morrison ("Van Morrison got it right once, on 'Madame George.'") when he suddenly interrupted himself to show a little vulnerability: "You know who I like? Don't laugh at me. Neil Young." (For you younger readers: Yes, there was a time when Neil Young was widely considered a hippie washout and it wasn't particularly "cool" to like him.) He started talking about the incredible guitar sound Neil got on Zuma and actually pulled out the album to play it for the interviewer. He was especially impressed by the solos on "Danger Bird" and said something like "Listen to that. Neil! He got it. He must have wanted it."
Something like that, anyway. I may be mangling these quotes, which are from memory. It was just a moment. I loved that "Don't laugh at me."
Just wondering what did he say about Dylan, i would love to read this interview. I didn't know Neil Young was considered a washout in the 70's.
http://www.examiner.com/article/how-bob-dylan-and-lou-reed-became-friends (http://www.examiner.com/article/how-bob-dylan-and-lou-reed-became-friends)
When you consider how much Reed borrowed from Dylan, both musically and aesthetically, it's hard to believe that he disliked him as much as he did. I'm not surprised that he was a fan of Neil Young, however. If Lou had a musical kindred spirit, it was Neil Young. For better or worse, both guys have followed their muse wherever it took them, public opinion be damned. So in that sense, I think they're fellow travelers.
I wish some of those videos worked on that link. There is a picture out there of Dylan, Reed, Randy Newman, and Tom Petty hanging out, i bet its from Farm Aid.
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When you consider how much Reed borrowed from Dylan, both musically and aesthetically, it's hard to believe that he disliked him as much as he did. I'm not surprised that he was a fan of Neil Young, however. If Lou had a musical kindred spirit, it was Neil Young. For better or worse, both guys have followed their muse wherever it took them, public opinion be damned. So in that sense, I think they're fellow travelers.
I agree with this, but: 1.) Lou's putdowns of Dylan would have had to come from a wish to distance himself from someone he was so obviously indebted to--see "Anxiety of Influence" if not "Oedipus Complex;" and 2.) I think Lou's and Neil's kinship would have become more evident later on, as both sustained long careers of success/crash and burn/coming back from public disdain/doing whatever the fuck they wanted.
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I remember Jonathan Richman saying (close paraphrase) "It's okay if you put me down me, Lou. You only bad-mouth people you like."
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I remember Jonathan Richman saying (close paraphrase) "It's okay if you put me down me, Lou. You only bad-mouth people you like."
I was just listening to WTF and Maron, talking with John Cale, said something like "I worry about people like him [Jonathan], and they were both like 'he's one of those people who's impervious to negative vibes'. He rises above- it's in his nature.
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I remember Jonathan Richman saying (close paraphrase) "It's okay if you put me down me, Lou. You only bad-mouth people you like."
I was just listening to WTF and Maron, talking with John Cale, said something like "I worry about people like him [Jonathan], and they were both like 'he's one of those people who's impervious to negative vibes'. He rises above- it's in his nature.
I think that's why I like Jonathan Richman and his music. The positivity and childlike sense of whimsy and wonderment isn't feigned, it's genuine.
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I dunno, I've heard a number of stories of Richman being kind of an a-hole in real life.
I do like a lot of his music but I kind of hopped off the train in the mid 90s.
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There was a fun article in the local paper last week about an IU professor who has run a History of Rock class since the 80s approaching Lou at a show Lou and other Farm Aid folks (including local rock guy and organizer John Mellencamp) did as a bit of a surprise/rehearsal show at a small local bar (the Bluebird for the 2 or 3 Bloomington area FOTs who hang out here). He persuaded Lou to come talk to his class, and at one point Lou said 'this is the weirdest thing I've ever done'.
Also I guess a student who was a big Lou Reed fan chose to cut class that day and was inconsolable when she found out she'd missed Lou's visit. A cautionary tale to students.
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I dunno, I've heard a number of stories of Richman being kind of an a-hole in real life.
I do like a lot of his music but I kind of hopped off the train in the mid 90s.
He shoved me in the chest when we met. In his defensive, I *was* too forward with him.
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I dunno, I've heard a number of stories of Richman being kind of an a-hole in real life.
I do like a lot of his music but I kind of hopped off the train in the mid 90s.
Really?
I guess I take back what I said then.
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I dunno, I've heard a number of stories of Richman being kind of an a-hole in real life.
I do like a lot of his music but I kind of hopped off the train in the mid 90s.
I met him back in 1989 and he couldn't have been nicer. He also replied to a letter I wrote him after that meeting. Still have it somewhere....
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You would have figured Banksy would have did a Lou Reed thing while he was in NY.
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http://www.prx.org/pieces/105748-lou-s-legacy-a-lou-reed-appreciation (http://www.prx.org/pieces/105748-lou-s-legacy-a-lou-reed-appreciation)
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Just wondering what did he say about Dylan, i would love to read this interview. I didn't know Neil Young was considered a washout in the 70's.
I don't remember what he said about Dylan, just something like "He hasn't done anything good in forever," blah blah. (He also said that he, Lou, was a better guitar player than Jimi Hendrix.)
That is such an absurd thing to say, I can't believe it was meant seriously. Can you find the exact quote? I tried searching for it, but only came up with the interview clips from the Hendrix movie (in which he gushes over Hendrix).
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That is such an absurd thing to say, I can't believe it was meant seriously. Can you find the exact quote?
I can't, but I suspect you should trust your instincts re: his seriousness on this matter.
Believe me, your old Gramps is struggling with distant memories of this interview. I also seem to remember him saying something jokingly scornful about the dead bozo Jim Morrison, which I assume would ruffle fewer feathers here.
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I don't remember what he said about Dylan, just something like "He hasn't done anything good in forever," blah blah. (He also said that he, Lou, was a better guitar player than Jimi Hendrix.)
Reminds me of that scene from Don't Look Back where Dylan drives a Time Magazine reporter crazy by claiming he's a better singer than Enrico Caruso. "I can hold a note longer, man!"
I'd like to think that Lou was paying tribute to Bob Dylan every time he acted ridiculous with an interviewer.
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Does anyone know where to get that performance that Tom played on the show a couple of weeks ago. It had some interview stuff and then some music. I assume it was some radio session, I have been trying to google it but I am not having much luck.
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See here: http://friendsoftom.com/forum/index.php/topic,3693.msg203186.html#msg203186 (http://friendsoftom.com/forum/index.php/topic,3693.msg203186.html#msg203186)