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Best Lou Reed album?

Berlin consistently excellent throughout.

Morbid grandiose arrangements, which I mean as a compliment.

And he could still 'sing' then.

Transformer and New York have stunning moments, but a little patchy in places.
 
Just looking in the rack and I've got a copy of Mistrial from 1986. Can't say I've played it more than once so I guess I thought it was a duffer.

Which if right makes NY a more surprising high point to me. I've loved it since first hearing it, and now most of the tracks that I never got on that well with back then (Whale, Adventure) I really like. Still don't care much for Busload, but from then on marvellous.
 
Arkless Electronics said:
New York is an odd recording I find... sounds great at high volumes but naff at low levels.
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That’s strange, I’ve never found that. I’ve not played it for years, but my memory is of one of the better ‘80s albums for recording and I was never a high-volume listener even when playing Sonic Youth, Husker Dü etc!
 
Tony L said:
That’s strange, I’ve never found that. I’ve not played it for years, but my memory is of one of the better ‘80s albums for recording and I was never a high-volume listener even when playing Sonic Youth, Husker Dü etc!
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Could be just that in many ways it is a fairly good recording and without artifice in boosted bass and "loudness" type effects that make it work well at low volumes... At low vols it all just "collapses" leaving Reed's voice too prominent and everything else way in the background but get it loud enough and the electric guitars snarl and the rim shots could put someones eye out!
This all refers to my original vinyl pressing.
 
Transformer, Berlin, Street Hassle, The Blue Mask, Live in Italy and New York.

I really like Take No Prisoners, too, but that's more of a weird standup comedy/spoken word thing.

Rock n' Roll animal is a fascinating document on it's own terms, as a lampooning of stadium rock and a cynical grab at commercial success, but as a record of Lou Reed playing the Velvets, it sucks balls.
 
foxwelljsly said:
Rock n' Roll animal is a fascinating document on it's own terms, as a lampooning of stadium rock and a cynical grab at commercial success, but as a record of Lou Reed playing the Velvets, it sucks balls.
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I never got the lampooning aspect when I found a copy in the mid-80s at the height of my entirely imagined ‘indie coolness’. I think I got through it once and viewed it as some flabby dinosaur rock band excess and a dreadful misstep, in fact I moved it on here a decade or so ago without even revisiting it. Maybe I should have given it another chance as it was a nice orange-label 1st press with gatefold sleeve!
 
I guess I'm outvoted then, but I'm not changing my vote. The songs on 'Animal' are simply far more exciting, and better played, than the original versions. I have Transformer too (just like everyone else in the known universe), so that would be my second vote, but I listen to 'Animal' more often.
 
Arkless Electronics said:
Could be just that in many ways it is a fairly good recording and without artifice in boosted bass and "loudness" type effects that make it work well at low volumes... At low vols it all just "collapses" leaving Reed's voice too prominent and everything else way in the background but get it loud enough and the electric guitars snarl and the rim shots could put someones eye out!
This all refers to my original vinyl pressing.
Click to expand...
Could be your hi-fi? ;)

I listened to it the other day, I think mine is an original pressing but not sure. It has rather passive/aggressive instructions on the back as to how you should listen to it. I think it sounds pretty good, I usually listen at around 70db, his guitar is set hard left with vocal in the middle which is pure artifice really.
 
New York, which I have periodically listened to since release then Magic And Loss then, probably, Street Hassle.
 
I vaguely remember Lou Reed talking in interviews around the time of New York how he'd started visiting hi-fi stores to listen to his records on super high-end gear. I have no idea if this has any bearing as to how the record sounds :)
 
I listened to Take A Walk on a big Onken system, on vinyl, original pressing, very impressive. A superb analogue recording. Goosebumps all over up to the scalp if you know the feeling.
Metallica? Really?
 
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