Loaded – The Life (and Afterlife) of The Velvet Underground – Dylan Jones – Book Review

 Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com 

The Velvet Underground – Film Review

 Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com 

Looking back to Lou Reed

Article for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2018/11/23/looking-back-to-lou-reed/

In appreciation of Lou Reed

Article for www.meg.ie

http://www.meg.ie/in-appreciation-of-lou-reed/

Album Review: Lou Reed & John Cale – Songs for Drella

Lou Reed was on a particularly strong creative streak in the late 80s/early 90s, and in 1990 he teamed up with fellow ex-Velvets’ John Cale to record a tribute to the late Andy Warhol.  Reed had developed a subtle, deft guitar playing style which really works on this album the second of three real classics from this period (1989’s New York and 1992’s Magic and Loss also).

The keyboard-based Open House is wonderfully warm piece of music, as is the Cale-sung Style It Takes.  The second of these is a particularly beautiful piece of music, mainly keyboards but with great guitar touches from Lou Reed.  Supposedly John Cale had to be talked into singing the line “this is a rock group called the Velvet Underground... they have a style that grates”. 

Many of the songs are intelligent and original, without being up their own behinds.  Trouble with Classicists is an interesting musing on classicists, impressionists and personalities, while Faces and Names considers how easy it would be “if we all looked the same, and we all had the same name” how much easier things would be.

The album takes you through Warhol’s life, from his early days in America (Smalltown, Open House) to his shooting (Slip Away, I Believe) to his final, lonely days (A Dream, Forever Changed).   Nobody But You, an almost Leonard Cohen-style track muses about surviving his shooting by Valerie Solanas (“I’m still not sure I didn’t die”) and concludes devastatingly that “all my life... it’s been NOBODIES like you”.

The six-minute spoken word of A Dream is almost light relief.  The track is recited by John Cale, who can make a mundane passage sound very strange as the protagonist (Warhol) talks about Cale (“he’s been looking really great... what does it mean if you give up drinking and you’re still so mean”) and Reed (“I’m so mad at him, Lou Reed got married and didn’t invite me...   I hate Lou, I really do”).

The album ends splendidly, penultimate track Forever Changed has almost frantic piano under Reed’s streetwise guitar riffs while Cale laments how (Warhol) is “forever changed”.  The tender final track Hello It’s Me sees Lou Reed take the lead role as he directly addresses the deceased Warhol, lamenting his treatment of him (“I wished I’d talked to you more when you were alive) praising his vision (“I haven’t heard ideas like that in such a long long time”) but allowing himself a final sidewipe (“your diaries are not a worthy epitaph”).

Even without the words and knowledge of the subject there is fine music here.  Often overshadowed by its predecessor, this is a fine album in its own right.

Album Review: Brian Eno – Music for Films

It is said that Brian Eno invented so-called ‘ambient’ music in the 1970s. I’ve always found this sort of music particularly difficult to get a handle on, being very ephemeral and fleeting. Many have the opinion that such music is ideal background music. I disagree, I find it essential to actually sit down and actively listen to the music, without doing anything else.

This album, released in 1978 is a series of imaginary soundtracks. All the pieces are rather short and tranquil, consisting mainly of heavily treated electric guitar, with electric piano, and also minimal percussion from Phil Collins. A lot of it sounds meditative, like the type of thing you would hear in a flotation tank (one of my vices). Tracks like From The Same Hill, Sparrowfall and Strange Light are very zen, and many of them last less than 90 seconds, giving them little time to make an impression.

Slow Water stands out, due to the prominence of piano and the general moody ambience, while the likes of Alternative 3 and John Cale’s viola scrapings on Patrolling Wire Borders are quite cinematic and foreboding.

Others like Events In Dense Fog are barely there at all while on the debit side the funky/jazzy bass of A Measured Room sound a little out of pace. It’s not the most engaging of albums, you do have to persevere with it. Scholars of modern ambient music will have heard it all before but for those like myself who are less familiar with the genre it’s an interesting diversion.