Watch Laurie Anderson perform five songs, including a slowed down cover of Dirty Blvd. by her late husband Lou Reed, for a NPR Tiny Desk Concert. She played electronics and violin, with Martha Mooke (viola, electronics) and Doug Wieselman (guitar, clarinet).
Setlist:
Grant McPhee has launched a website with contemporary press clippings about The Velvet Underground, organised by year. If anything, the bulk of the articles make it abudantly clear that the band was misunderstood by most writers during their short tenure.
Included are also links to a few in-depth essays he wrote on the most popular stories that have been making the rounds for decades. Did Beatles manager Brian Epstein wanted to manage them? How well did their debut album sell?
Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music album turns 50 this year. So the folks at RCA thought it would be a good idea to design some really shoddy looking packaging for a reissue for Record Store Day (April 12). 2500 copies.
A new compilation album with songs that were (co-)written by Lou Reed as a staff writer for Pickwick Records in New York will be released on September 27. The songs came fast as the label was trying to cash in on trends that dominated the charts in the early 60s.
Why Dont Smile Now: Lou Reed at Pickwick Records 1964-65 by Lou Reed features The Ostrich for The Primitives, an ersatz band for which John Cale was enlisted to play on a tour in the Winter of 1965 (he does not play on the recording). Also of interest Why Don't You Smile, which Cale co-wrote with Lou and Terry Philips and Jerry Vance for a band called The All-Night Workers. Most of the tracks have been circulating amongst hardcore collectors for decades. It is nice to have them rounded up, with accurate liner notes as an added bonus.
Cam Forrester made an in-depth 3-part documentary about Sterling Morrison, the Velvet Underground's understated guitar hero, who became a teacher and a tugboat captain before returning to music.
Maxim Ludwig & Angel Olsen are not exactly a match made in heaven with their cover of I Can't Stand It, which will be included on the tribute album The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed, out on Record Store Day (April 20). It sounds like it was mixed by a sleep-depraved intern, with Ludwig sounding like a really mediocre AOR guy and Olsen desperately trying to raise above the din (and failing mostly). Avoid.
» Lou Reed on Wikipedia
» Maxim Ludwig on Wikipedia
» angelolsen.com
Rufus Wainwright has made his cover of Perfect Day a late night lament, that is even more melancholic than the original. It will be included on the tribute album The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed, which will be released on Record Store Day (April 20).
On what would have Lou Reed's 82nd birthday Keith Richards has unveiled his cover of I'm Waiting For The Man. Pretty much a perfect gift. It will be included on the tribute album The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed, which will be released on Record Store Day (April 20).
It does make sense to have Keith Richards cover I'm Waiting for the Man on a covers album for Record Store Day. It had to been that one or Heroin. The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed also features contributions from Lucinda Williams, Rufus Wainwright and The Afghan Whigs. The latter picked I Love You, Suzanne, Reed's last stab at mainstream success in 1984, including a really cheesy video that got a lot of exposure on MTV.
The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed will available in limited quantities (3000 LPs worldwide, undisclosed number of CDs) on April 20. The booklet features liner notes by compilation producer & former Lou Reed publicist Bill Bentley. Oddly enough they left off the title track from the LP version. Brogan Bentley's version of The Power Of The Heart is only released on the CD.
Yet another book about The Velvet Underground sees the light of day on August 31. Written by English journalist Dylan Jones, this one also covers the band members' career after the band folded:
Dylan Jones' definitive oral history of The Velvet Underground draws on contributions from remaining members, contemporaneous musicians, critics, film-makers, and the generation of artists who emerged in their wake, to celebrate not only their impact but their legacy, which burns brighter than ever into the 21st century.
Loaded: The Life (and Afterlife) of The Velvet Underground is published by White Rabbit.
Watch Steve Jones tackle the Lou Reed classic Perfect Day at the Chrome Hearts Factory in Hollywood on August 7, 2009. With Vanessa Freebairn-Smith (cello) and Kirk Hellie (guitar).
Another example of Lou Reed's early demos has hit the streaming services. This May 1965 version of Men of Good Fortune is folkie in a Bob Dylan kinda way, with a bit of harp thrown in for good measure. He is out of tune more often than not, It will be included on Words & Music on August 26 via Light In The Attic Records in conjunction with the Lou Reed Archive. Words & Music contains homemade lo-fi recordings of songs that would turn up on albums by The Velvet Underground and his solo output. John Cale features on some of the tracks as well. Men of Good Fortune would see the light of day on Berlin in 1973.
Another example of Lou Reed's early demos has hit the streaming services. This May 1965 version of Heroin comes close to country rock. It will be included on Words & Music on August 26 via Light In The Attic Records in conjunction with the Lou Reed Archive. Words & Music contains recordings of songs that would turn up on albums by The Velvet Underground and his solo output. John Cale features on some of the tracks as well.
On July 14, 1971 Lou Reed, performed at the Scala Cinema in London. The day after that Iggy & the Stooges played up a storm at that same venue. Photographer Mick Rock was there for both nights and shot the pictures that would become iconic album covers. A blue plaque will be unveiled today to honor these events. Thurston Moore will be there to help out:
This Thursday July 14, 5:30pm at London’s Scala Cinema I’ll be helping in unveiling a blue plaque in honor of Lou Reed, Iggy & the Stooges + Mick Rock and the one-two punch of their game changing concerts there in 1972 as seen on the Raw Power and Transformer LP jackets. Bar open with Lou and Stooges music til 9pm. Gimme danger!
» Lou Reed on Wikipedia
» iggyandthestoogesmusic.com
» mickrock.com
Early demos of Lou Reed penned songs will see the light of day on August 26 via Light In The Attic Records in conjunction with the Lou Reed Archive. Words & Music contains recordings of songs that would turn up on albums by The Velvet Underground. He recorded them with John Cale in May 1965 and on his own at home in 1963/64. Reed mailed the five reel-to-reels to himself to get the copyright for early renditions of tracks like Pale Blue Eyes, Heroin and I'm Waiting for the Man. Also of note is the Cale sung Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams, a song that would wind up on Nico's debut album Chelsea Girls. The true oddity however is the inclusion of Gee Wizz, which Reed recorded by as a teenager in 1958.
Lou Reed & Kris Kristofferson appeared @ The Bottom Line in New York on February 2, 1994, talking and playing for the long running In Their Own Words With Vin Scelsa radio show. It was first released in 2017 as 2CD and a single LP without all the banter. And now The Bottom Line Archive: Lou Reed & Kris Kristofferson In Their Own Words With Vin Scelsa gets the full vinyl (3LP) treatment for Record Story Day (23 april). 1500 copies worldwide.
On December 24 last year 17 acoustic Lou Reed tracks popped on various digital outlets (as inferior AAC 256 kbps files). They disappeared shortly after that - just another Sony scheme to secure the copyright. I'm So Free: The 1971 RCA Demos now gets the vinyl treatment for Record Store Day (April 23). It is not the full set - Hangin' Around (Take 2), Love Makes You Feel (Take 2), I Can't Stand It and Walk It And Talk It did not make the cut. Still, it is nice to have Lou working through these songs, instructing the engineer to "fade" as a song is nearing the end. 7550 copies worldwide.
Side A:
1. Perfect Day – Takes 1 & 2 /
2. I'm So Free /
3. Wild Child /
4. I'm Sticking with You - Take 2 /
5. Lisa Says /
6. Going Down – Take 2 /
7. I Love You
Side B:
1. New York Telephone Conversation /
2. She's My Best Friend /
3. Kill Your Sons /
4. Berlin /
5. Ocean - Takes 1 & 2 /
6. Ride Into the Sun - Take 2
Philip Frobos, member of Atlanta based post-punk band Omni, laid down two covers for Aquarium Drunkard's The Lagniappe Sessions: Lou Reed's Berlin (MP3) and Iggy Pop's Tonight (MP3):
Watch French singer and pianist Emily Loizeau pay tribute to the works of Lou Reed at Le Festival Temps d’Images in Paris on September23, 2014. Additional vocals by Julie-Anne Roth and guitar by Csaba Palotaï. The performance was taped by Arte TV.
Setlist.