Lou Reed Wont Let Boyle Sing His Song

hearingimpared

kevhed72 wrote: »

I bought my first 2 Velvet Underground discs about 3 months ago...and listened to them once each since. I figured "Andy Warhol" and "White Light/White Heat" were good albums to start with. While Lou Reed has a great voice and these albums both have some good songs, overall I don't get them, man. Maybe I need to give them another listen, or maybe start shooting up before listening...but trying to hold Lou Reed up to what Zappa has accomplished musically...not even close. And Zappa was sober all the time, for what its worth.

That's another thing to his credit that I forgot to mention.

kevhed72

The other great thing about Zappa is his music makes EXCELLENT reference material for your system. Whenever I upgrade anything - I find myself pulling a Zappa CD to listen to. Much of his music has details layered over other details I never knew existed when I was young and oblivious to good audio.

hearingimpared

Face wrote: »

Here you go.

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Good Lord! I'm actually embarrassed for the nit-wit but I still like most of his music. BTW I loved listening to Zappa talk. He was so intelligent and articulate that he made monkey's out of people who tried to grill him. He left us way too soon.

doctorcilantro

inspiredsports wrote: »

maybe "the clamp" is the key . This thread is starting to piss me off.

I've had a lot of lou reed around since buying it in high school in the mid '70's, but i've added to it over the years too. Just for kicks and a sanity check, i just clamped reed's 1984 "new sensations" lp to the platter and played through both sides.

I think reed's mistake was not dying of an od in the late '80's, because then he would have become immortalized instead of a living legend who looks scary for really living the life we lived by listening to rock. I thought the whole thing behind rock, especially back when it was new and fresh, was rebellion. It was great stuff, but we listened to it to freak our parents out.

Lou reed was a rebel just like zeppelin, the stones, the beatles, black sabbath, etc., etc., etc.

Back to new sensations; it was well written, well produced and well executed. There's some stuff with mundane lyrics but catchy 4 pc classic rock band melodies. Vocals and guitar work, and some stuff with a little more meaning and catchy 4 pc rock band melodies, vocals and guitar work.

****, this stuff was about rebellion and he was rebel for sure. Maybe back in the day there were some eagle scouts, band faggots, lawn fairies and dudes in chess club who never smoked a joint that didn't get that, but now we're older and wiser and can't hide behind those excuses.

This stuff is clearly classic rock and roll.


P.s.: And yes, i have been drinking . . . See the vodka thread in the clubhouse about my need to escape images of last weekends 35th class reunion and female classmates kissing me who now look like lou reed :eek:

qft.

doctorcilantro

hearingimpared wrote: »

To my ears, Reed never really sang, he spoke his lyrics. Rap pure and simple. Being that Zappa and Reed were entirely two different types of musicians and their music was so polar opposites it's really is hard to compare the two. I just feel that although Reed's influence had a wider umbrella, Zappa's music was so precise and timed perfectly that I think Zappa's influence is overlooked. I think bands like Yes and a number of others took their cue of precise timing from Zappa's influence. IMHO.

BTW munk, I've been hinting that you are misspelling my screen name now I just come right out and say it. It's not "hearingimpaired," it's "hearingimpared!" I know wrong spelling but when I first joined "hearingimpaired" was taken so I went with the closest spelling that sounded the same. Just saying.

Yes, the Beat influence is quite pronounced. Dylan and Ginsberg had a big influence one another too, but Dylan actually sings (yes, he does). Try to catch Elvis Costello's show where LR was the guest. Great show, and just watch it with an open mind. I never particularly LOVED VU or LR, but they had their moment in the sun, and I've always enjoyed most of their music. Not sure why we are talking so much about his personal life here. Plenty of douchebags have blown my mind with their art, in both positive and negative ways.

BlueFox

doctorcilantro wrote: »

Yes, the Beat influence is quite pronounced. Dylan and Ginsberg had a big influence one another too, but Dylan actually sings (yes, he does).

Personally, I feel Dylan invented RAP with Subterranean Homesick Blues.

munk

hearingimpared;
I'm sorry- I don't wear my glasses at the screen. Here I'd been thinking there was a name I didn't have to worry about misspelling. I'm the kind of guy who takes a hint when it's a cast iron skillet against the skull. No offense was meant. Hell, you'll actually talk to me.

It's an excellent point about Reed's wider umbrella.

Kevhed72- Reed was the anti pop star, the anti musician's guitar player. I'm not sure all of his band could play....I like "Mo" the drummer..but she's primitive. Primitive was good in Velvet Underground's world. Mo thumped her way through the Velvet's years and even recorded some with Reed solo career, but I think she was a mom with kids by then.

I WAS going to say that a couple years means a lot in early rocknroll, but I would have been dead wrong- Zappa's first album was in 1966. I forget when the banana album came out, but it wasn't much earlier if it was at all.

That makes me off base and Zappa an even greater genius than I'd realized. In college everyone had Zappa in their record collections. Mandatory Zappa.

munk

BlueFox

If Dylan invented Rap with Subterranean Homesick Blues, then Rambling Jack Elliot never existed, nor did Woody Guthrie. What is known about early Dylan is Rambling Jack Elliot's work- Dylan copied his style and delivery after playing with him extensively one summer in NY.

I really like this kind of discussion. I learn things I didn't know, and everyone learns from each other.

doctorcilantro

munk wrote: »

BlueFox

If Dylan invented Rap with Subterranean Homesick Blues, then Rambling Jack Elliot never existed, nor did Woody Guthrie. What is known about early Dylan is Rambling Jack Elliot's work- Dylan copied his style and delivery after playing with him extensively one summer in NY.

I really like this kind of discussion. I learn things I didn't know, and everyone learns from each other.

I heard RJE on the radio last year, a new song which was a duet, and the topic was a buddy of theirs who had died. Just jaw dropping in its ability to make you feel what they felt. Gritty realism that was a beautiful homage to a friend, but also reflected the despair of these two world weary singers at being the "rememberers" (if that makes sense).

munk

doctorcilantro,

I thought he died- I am happy. Looks like there's a lot of his stuff reissued too, and stuff from the 90's I never heard.

It's said Ramblin Jack Elliot learned to play Woody Guthrie songs better than Guthrie himself. Who did he sing the duet with?

doctorcilantro

Not sure.

Ramblin' Jack Elliott's first album for Hightone, Friends of Mine, is a thoroughly enjoyable collection of duets (and one trio) produced by Roy Rogers. There's a loose, intimate atmosphere on Friends of Mine that is instantly appealing, and his selection of singing partners -- Emmylou Harris and Nanci Griffith, Peter Rowan, Tom Waits, John Prine, Jerry Jeff Walker, Arlo Guthrie, Rosalie Sorrels, Guy Clark, and Bob Weir -- is smart, since each singer helps bring out the best in Elliott. It's an excellent latter-day effort from Elliott that confirms his status as a legendary folksinger.

It's a traditional song about a dead friend, and I wonder if it was John Prine, who I also enjoy. Nothing online is showing an accurate listing of performers for each song on his album Friends of Mine.

munk

I'm going to get it. I have half the people on the album well represented in my collection.
I also have many Prine albums. He was up there on the munk hit parade.

hearingimpared

doctorcilantro wrote: »

Yes, the Beat influence is quite pronounced. Dylan and Ginsberg had a big influence one another too, but Dylan actually sings (yes, he does). Try to catch Elvis Costello's show where LR was the guest. Great show, and just watch it with an open mind. I never particularly LOVED VU or LR, but they had their moment in the sun, and I've always enjoyed most of their music. Not sure why we are talking so much about his personal life here. Plenty of douchebags have blown my mind with their art, in both positive and negative ways.

I don't need an open mind when it comes to Lou Reed & Elvis Costello. I love them both.

hearingimpared

munk wrote: »

hearingimpared;
I'm sorry- I don't wear my glasses at the screen. Here I'd been thinking there was a name I didn't have to worry about misspelling. I'm the kind of guy who takes a hint when it's a cast iron skillet against the skull. No offense was meant. Hell, you'll actually talk to me.

Hahaha, no harm, no foul. I actually was noticing you weren't getting the hint and was going to start calling you monk! LOL! but I figured it was time to make it obvious.

This has turned out to be a great discussion about Frank Zappa and Lou Reed. Some would thing it blasphemy to use them in the same post let alone the same sentence but as Shack said, "to each their own" and that hit the nail on the head.