R.I.P, Lou Reed

[buffcoat]

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?"

[nec13]

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"?

[cavorting with nudists]

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

[cavorting with nudists]

Lou Reed does Don't Look Back:

Lou Reed Interview at Sydney Airport - 1974

[not that clay]

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

[nec13]

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

I agree with Lars.

I think that history will judge Lulu kindly. And I say that without the slightest hint of sarcasm.

[Steve of Bloomington]

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.

[Trotskie]

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

[Joe Rogaine]

Wasn't Lou a big WFMU supporter?

[fonpr]

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.

[cavorting with nudists]

Beautiful gif from Kurt Gottschalk's playlist (Imagine it against a black background):



I assume a lot of FMU DJs are doing tributes.  Anyone aware of especially good ones?

[Joe Rogaine]

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

[Steve of Bloomington]

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.

[cavorting with nudists]

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."

[Joe Rogaine]

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.