R.I.P. Lou Reed

[Bean Bag]

From Brian's facebook:


"Lou Reed was a great songwriter and story teller. I especially connected with his ballads. I think Sad Song was one of my favorites. He will truly be missed."

Hell, yeah Brian.  Pale Blue Eyes.  I can hear it now.  So sad.

Rock on Lou.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

From Brian's facebook:


"Lou Reed was a great songwriter and story teller. I especially connected with his ballads. I think Sad Song was one of my favorites. He will truly be missed."

Hell, yeah Brian.  Pale Blue Eyes.  I can hear it now.  So sad.

Rock on Lou.

Brian and his band need to do the entire Street Hassle suite

[bluesno1fann]

Hey folks, I suppose I should post this in this thread here.

Here is my reconstruction of the "lost fourth album" by The Velvet Underground, if you want to play some Lou right now (I know I do).

http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-velvet-underground-iv.html

It concludes with what I think is probably the best thing they've done, "Ride Into The Sun" which seems really appropriate right now.  :/

Soniclovenoize, your work has always impressed me greatly. I'd like to make one request.
Is there any way that you can reconstruct the Woodstock performance of Gypsy, Sun and Rainbows (AKA Jimi Hendrix)?
There have been many versions officially available, but they're horrible. The first one released in 1994 doesn't have the full performance at all, many of the songs missing. The second version released in 1999 was "one step forward and two steps back". They did include most of the performance, but they still got rid of the two Larry Lee songs, and unforgivably, they mixed out Lee, Sultan, and Velez!
Is it possible for you to make a definitive version with all songs and where you can actually hear Lee, Sultan and Velez?

[donald]

What was wrong with his liver?

[rn57]

What was wrong with his liver?

He was reported for years to have suffered from Heptatitis C though he never acknowledged having it.

I previously mentioned the 1966 article in which Lou sang Brian's praises - here it is:

http://ubu.com/aspen/aspen3/bandstand.html

[Aum Bop Diddit]

What was wrong with his liver?

I am making no definitive comments on Lou Reed's liver because I don't know anything specific.  However it is no big news that people who have abused alcohol and drugs to a great extent, like say a Greg Allman or David Crosby (both like Lou liver transplant recipients), can be more prone to liver disease.  Having Hepatitis C, high usage of other medications, are other common factors or co-factors -- I'm sure there are others I am not aware of.  It seems pretty clear that Lou drank heavily at certain times of his life as well as used a lot of speed.  Other substances I'm not aware of though he did write a song called "Heroin."  From what I've read he cleaned up before "The Blue Mask" (containing the telling song "Underneath the Bottle").  Personally I've known recovered addicts who paid the price down the road.  Anyway, Lou's transplant didn't do the trick -- sadly.

[ontor pertawst]

"There is no god and Brian Wilson is his son."

[Aum Bop Diddit]

From Brian's facebook:


"Lou Reed was a great songwriter and story teller. I especially connected with his ballads. I think Sad Song was one of my favorites. He will truly be missed."

Of course "Sad Song."  BW is still hip.

[alf wiedersehen]

Other substances I'm not aware of though he did write a song called "Heroin."

As far as I know, he didn't write the song because he himself used the drug, he thought it would be an interesting topic to write about. Ya know, like "Venus in Furs" (although, I wouldn't be surprised....)

Apparently, people would actually start doing heroin during their concerts when the song was being played. Lou said it horrified him.

[Aum Bop Diddit]

Other substances I'm not aware of though he did write a song called "Heroin."

As far as I know, he didn't write the song because he himself used the drug, he thought it would be an interesting topic to write about. Ya know, like "Venus in Furs" (although, I wouldn't be surprised....)

Apparently, people would actually start doing heroin during their concerts when the song was being played. Lou said it horrified him.

I was being a little cute there -- it is not in my memory seeing any references to him using smack.  The song is brilliant of course, and the desire to be obliterated in an effed up world can be related to fairly universally I'd think, if you are open minded enough to get past it being a "drug" song.

[Jay]

Hey folks, I suppose I should post this in this thread here.

Here is my reconstruction of the "lost fourth album" by The Velvet Underground, if you want to play some Lou right now (I know I do).

http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-velvet-underground-iv.html

It concludes with what I think is probably the best thing they've done, "Ride Into The Sun" which seems really appropriate right now.  :/

Soniclovenoize, your work has always impressed me greatly. I'd like to make one request.
Is there any way that you can reconstruct the Woodstock performance of Gypsy, Sun and Rainbows (AKA Jimi Hendrix)?
There have been many versions officially available, but they're horrible. The first one released in 1994 doesn't have the full performance at all, many of the songs missing. The second version released in 1999 was "one step forward and two steps back". They did include most of the performance, but they still got rid of the two Larry Lee songs, and unforgivably, they mixed out Lee, Sultan, and Velez!
Is it possible for you to make a definitive version with all songs and where you can actually hear Lee, Sultan and Velez?

Yes!!  The same goes for the four(or was that 6?) concerts the Jimi Hendrix Experience did at Winterland in October of 1968. On the box set, they deleted a full two minutes(!) of Are You Experienced?.

[Jay]

From Brian's facebook:


"Lou Reed was a great songwriter and story teller. I especially connected with his ballads. I think Sad Song was one of my favorites. He will truly be missed."

Hell, yeah Brian.  Pale Blue Eyes.  I can hear it now.  So sad.

Rock on Lou.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK4DeMYtumc&hd=1

I've always loved Pale Blue Eyes. It's really a beautiful song. To me, it has a slight Otis Redding feel. I love the slightly dark twist in the last verse. 

[bluesno1fann]

Hey folks, I suppose I should post this in this thread here.

Here is my reconstruction of the "lost fourth album" by The Velvet Underground, if you want to play some Lou right now (I know I do).

http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-velvet-underground-iv.html

It concludes with what I think is probably the best thing they've done, "Ride Into The Sun" which seems really appropriate right now.  :/

Soniclovenoize, your work has always impressed me greatly. I'd like to make one request.
Is there any way that you can reconstruct the Woodstock performance of Gypsy, Sun and Rainbows (AKA Jimi Hendrix)?
There have been many versions officially available, but they're horrible. The first one released in 1994 doesn't have the full performance at all, many of the songs missing. The second version released in 1999 was "one step forward and two steps back". They did include most of the performance, but they still got rid of the two Larry Lee songs, and unforgivably, they mixed out Lee, Sultan, and Velez!
Is it possible for you to make a definitive version with all songs and where you can actually hear Lee, Sultan and Velez?

Yes!!  The same goes for the four(or was that 6?) concerts the Jimi Hendrix Experience did at Winterland in October of 1968. On the box set, they deleted a full two minutes(!) of Are You Experienced?.

They still shouldn't have mixed out Lee, Sultan and Velez...

[Jay]

Hey folks, I suppose I should post this in this thread here.

Here is my reconstruction of the "lost fourth album" by The Velvet Underground, if you want to play some Lou right now (I know I do).

http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-velvet-underground-iv.html

It concludes with what I think is probably the best thing they've done, "Ride Into The Sun" which seems really appropriate right now.  :/

Soniclovenoize, your work has always impressed me greatly. I'd like to make one request.
Is there any way that you can reconstruct the Woodstock performance of Gypsy, Sun and Rainbows (AKA Jimi Hendrix)?
There have been many versions officially available, but they're horrible. The first one released in 1994 doesn't have the full performance at all, many of the songs missing. The second version released in 1999 was "one step forward and two steps back". They did include most of the performance, but they still got rid of the two Larry Lee songs, and unforgivably, they mixed out Lee, Sultan, and Velez!
Is it possible for you to make a definitive version with all songs and where you can actually hear Lee, Sultan and Velez?

Yes!!  The same goes for the four(or was that 6?) concerts the Jimi Hendrix Experience did at Winterland in October of 1968. On the box set, they deleted a full two minutes(!) of Are You Experienced?.

They still shouldn't have mixed out Lee, Sultan and Velez...

If you listen to the raw bootlegs of the Woodstock show, you can kind of understand why they were mixed down. They tended to get in the way in some songs. But the hardcore fan in me agrees with you about leaving the mix "as is", and not fooled around with. I always thought that the performance of the Gypsy Woman/Aware Of Love medley was one of the highlights of the show.

[Gabo]

awwww

[Please delete my account]

From Brian's facebook:


"Lou Reed was a great songwriter and story teller. I especially connected with his ballads. I think Sad Song was one of my favorites. He will truly be missed."

Hell, yeah Brian.  Pale Blue Eyes.  I can hear it now.  So sad.

Rock on Lou.

Brian and his band need to do the entire Street Hassle suite

Or segue "Fun, Fun, Fun" into "Run Run Run"

[Ovi]

Other substances I'm not aware of though he did write a song called "Heroin."

As far as I know, he didn't write the song because he himself used the drug, he thought it would be an interesting topic to write about. Ya know, like "Venus in Furs" (although, I wouldn't be surprised....)

Apparently, people would actually start doing heroin during their concerts when the song was being played. Lou said it horrified him.

I was being a little cute there -- it is not in my memory seeing any references to him using smack.  The song is brilliant of course, and the desire to be obliterated in an effed up world can be related to fairly universally I'd think, if you are open minded enough to get past it being a "drug" song.

If I recall correctly, he did use heroin before writing the song, but only a few times. But the way he describes the whole experience, as if he'd been a junkie for years...it's just mind-blowing. I read dozens of drug-addicts journals (I'm into that kind of stuff) and I've come to the conclusion that everything that you need to know about heroin is in that song. Add the fact that he wrote it in '64, when he was only 22 years old, and it should be enough to place him among the most brilliant pop/rock song-writers to ever walk on this planet.

[cablegeddon]

This definitely leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. Everything about that liver transplant sounded fishy and it didn't do much good in the end.

Who is the 20-year old, the 30-year old or even the 40-year old who is dead today because a rich 71-year old paid and bribed people for that liver?

Where did he stand politically? I know he desribed himself as aligned with democrats/liberals when U.S invaded Iraq in 2003/04.

[rn57]

awwww

This pic is of Lou in the mid 1970s with his Puerto Rican transvestite (or some say transsexual) girlfriend of the time, the mysterious Rachel. Mysterious because nothing was heard from her again after they broke up around 1977, although she'd been very visible by Lou's side before that. Lou never spoke about her since they split, and she was said by some to have died sometime in the 1990s but no one knows for sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov6ZI58ozYE

Above, Lou's "Rock'n'Roll" as performed in 1971 by the legendary Mitch Ryder with his post-Detroit Wheels combo, simply called Detroit. When Lou heard this he got in touch with the track's producer, Bob Ezrin, who ended up making Berlin with him.  The lead guitarist on it, Steve Hunter, later teamed with Dick Wagner to form the scorching six-string duo on Lou's Rock'n'Roll Animal and Lou Reed Live albums. (And later Hunter and Wagner were the mainstays of Alice Cooper's post-1974 band.)

[rn57]

From Brian's facebook:


"Lou Reed was a great songwriter and story teller. I especially connected with his ballads. I think Sad Song was one of my favorites. He will truly be missed."

Hell, yeah Brian.  Pale Blue Eyes.  I can hear it now.  So sad.

Rock on Lou.

Brian and his band need to do the entire Street Hassle suite

Or segue "Fun, Fun, Fun" into "Run Run Run"

Come to think of it, this medley would really work with BAD/Beck.  Imagine Jeff laying into the Velvets tune with some of that Yardbirds-style feedback that inspired Lou back in the day. Full circle and all that.

(Plus, Jeff came pretty close to sharing a bill with the Velvets in the Yardbirds days - he left the band in Texas a few weeks before the two groups played the Michigan State Fair in '66.)

[ontor pertawst]

Or segue "Fun, Fun, Fun" into "Run Run Run"

The backing vox would be wonderful!

I also had a terrifying vision of Brian foghorn slurring his way through Sunday Morning at a charity gig with Foskett chorusing it up. I picked a wrong week to quit laudanum.

[Aum Bop Diddit]

This definitely leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. Everything about that liver transplant sounded fishy and it didn't do much good in the end.

Who is the 20-year old, the 30-year old or even the 40-year old who is dead today because a rich 71-year old paid and bribed people for that liver?

Where did he stand politically? I know he desribed himself as aligned with democrats/liberals when U.S invaded Iraq in 2003/04.

Short of organized crime "organ harvesting", no one is murdered to donate a liver.  One is put on a list and when someone passes who has willed their organs for transplant and is compatible and your number is up then you are given that liver.  Various criteria go into your eligibility and it can be a long wait -- I had a friend die last year waiting for one.  I imagine money could move you up the list, unfortunately, but I don't know.

Anyway, your statement that Lou Reed bribed and someone was killed for a liver seems pretty irresponsible to me, to put it mildly.

[cablegeddon]

This definitely leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. Everything about that liver transplant sounded fishy and it didn't do much good in the end.

Who is the 20-year old, the 30-year old or even the 40-year old who is dead today because a rich 71-year old paid and bribed people for that liver?

Where did he stand politically? I know he desribed himself as aligned with democrats/liberals when U.S invaded Iraq in 2003/04.

Short of organized crime "organ harvesting", no one is murdered to donate a liver.  One is put on a list and when someone passes who has willed their organs for transplant and is compatible and your number is up then you are given that liver.  Various criteria go into your eligibility and it can be a long wait -- I had a friend die last year waiting for one.  I imagine money could move you up the list, unfortunately, but I don't know.

Anyway, your statement that Lou Reed bribed and someone was killed for a liver seems pretty irresponsible to me, to put it mildly.

Excuse me...I was not suggesting that Reed purchased a liver from China (that happens too btw) or ordered a hit on someone....I'm suggesting that he jumped the waiting list and that someone who really, really needed that liver....someone who had tens of years left to live, maybe 20, maybe 40 years left... that person really needed that liver.

But the rich 70-year old somehow, magically jumped the waiting list.

Again, where did Reed stand politically? I'm offended by this story.

[SMiLE Brian]

Not the best way to make your return....

[Aum Bop Diddit]

This definitely leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. Everything about that liver transplant sounded fishy and it didn't do much good in the end.

Who is the 20-year old, the 30-year old or even the 40-year old who is dead today because a rich 71-year old paid and bribed people for that liver?

Where did he stand politically? I know he desribed himself as aligned with democrats/liberals when U.S invaded Iraq in 2003/04.

Short of organized crime "organ harvesting", no one is murdered to donate a liver.  One is put on a list and when someone passes who has willed their organs for transplant and is compatible and your number is up then you are given that liver.  Various criteria go into your eligibility and it can be a long wait -- I had a friend die last year waiting for one.  I imagine money could move you up the list, unfortunately, but I don't know.

Anyway, your statement that Lou Reed bribed and someone was killed for a liver seems pretty irresponsible to me, to put it mildly.

Excuse me...I was not suggesting that Reed purchased a liver from China (that happens too btw) or ordered a hit on someone....I'm suggesting that he jumped the waiting list and that someone who really, really needed that liver....someone who had tens of years left to live, maybe 20, maybe 40 years left... that person really needed that liver.

But the rich 70-year old somehow, magically jumped the waiting list.

Again, where did Reed stand politically? I'm offended by this story.

I hope you can understand why I misinterpreted your remarks because of how they were written -- jumping the waiting list is another matter.  As I mentioned I lost  a friend last year who was kept waiting.  Whether Lou Reed jumped the waiting list I have no idea, but of course it wouldn't surprise me.

Politically I have no idea where he was at -- On "Take No Prisoners" he says "give me an issue and I'll give you a tissue, and you can wipe my ass with it!"  Of course that was years ago.  I do know he seemed to get in bed with PBS a lot, whatever that could mean.

Again, goodbye to a great artist, not a perfect human being.