portrait of this blog's author - by Stephen Blackman 2008

Sunday, October 27, 2013

"One chord is fine," he once said, alluding to his bare-bones guitar style. "Two chords are pushing it. Three chords and you're into jazz."

 LOU REED 


Sad loss - the enigmatic Lou Reed has passed away it has been announced this evening and an inspiration and challenging mentor to many has gone. Funny, serious, camp, bruising, possessed of genius and rare affection (see Andy Warhol & Songs for Drella with John Cale). He had a liver transplant earlier in May this year which did not bode well but he was resilient and determined that it would see him further create and he fully expected to be around a lot longer than this. Our thoughts here go out to his partner the wonderful Laurie Anderson and all his friends and fans

Sweet Jane - Lou Reed Rock 'n' Roll Animal
TURN IT UP!
An AMERICAN MASTER - Lou Reed

Sister Ray - THIS IS Lou REED!

So's THIS! Two Hours from Dusseldorf!


UPDATE:  Knew Big O would get around to posting something so here's a link to their Dayton gig from 1974



Live at the Palace Theatre, Dayton, OH; October 27, 1974. With parts from: The Felt Forum, New York, NY October 9, 1974; and patched audio in Heroin from The St. Bernard Civic Auditorium, Chalmette, LA; November 8, 1974. Excellent soundboard.
 
Thanks to lurid uk who originally shared this at Dime and to acetboy for the fixes.
acetboy noted:
There is some wild panning during the stereo parts [in the original tracks]. I’m guessing that the recording is the sound as it was sent to the PA. A stereo PA that they were having fun moving things around in.
I applied a bit of eq to this. And evened out the channels to keep equal energy in them throughout. There is a certain shimmery sound to the cymbals that we’ll have to live with. I didn’t want to kill the high end.
There is a cut in ‘Heroin’ that always bugged me. I had a feeling I could patch it if I had the right source to use. I suspected that the only possibility for a patch source would be the Chalmette gig from a couple of weeks after the Dayton show. I finally got that recording recently when it was shared again. Thanks slashdog!!
During the part that needed patching the band is pretty much playing the same thing at both shows. It took some work but I got it so that the patch source would play right in time with the Dayton ‘Heroin’. That is, it would play in time for a few measures right before the Dayton recording cuts and then for a few measures after the Dayton recording comes back in.
Of course Lou’s phrasing is never the same. During the crossfades that bring the two versions together you can hear two Lous briefly on a word or two. I had this one version with a long crossfade in and it sounded like two Lous singing the vocal in ’round’. For those who don’t want the patched ‘Heroin’ I am including the original track unpatched.
 Big O themselves put it so
Lou Reed, a massively influential songwriter and guitarist who helped shape nearly fifty years of rock music, died on October 27, 2013 on Long Island. He was 71. The cause of his death has not yet been released, but Reed underwent a liver transplant in May, Rolling Stone reported. According to the Associated Press news agency, Reed’s literary agent said he died of a “liver-related ailment”. Andrew Wylie said the musician died at his home in Long Island, New York, on Sunday morning and had not been well “for a few months”.
With the Velvet Underground in the late ’60s, Reed fused street-level urgency with elements of European avant-garde music, marrying beauty and noise, while bringing a whole new lyrical honesty to rock & roll poetry. As a restlessly inventive solo artist, from the ’70s into the 2010s, he was chameleonic, thorny and unpredictable, challenging his fans at every turn. Glam, punk and alternative rock are all unthinkable without his revelatory example
2nd UPDATE - THERE'S MORE! Big O have posted another Lou Reed gig this one from the time of 'Growing Up In Public' - 1980

Lou, Florence Italy 1980
Line up:
Lou Reed - vocals, guitar
Stuart Heinrich - guitar
Chuck Hammer - guitar
Ellard “Moose” Boles - bass
Michael Fonfara - keyboards
Michael Suchorsky - drums

Set list - 
Track 01. Standing on Ceremony 3:41 (6.2MB)
Track 02. How Do You Speak to an Angel 3:52 (6.5MB)
Track 03. Sweet Jane 3:57 (6.6MB)
Track 04. Real Good Time Together 3:05 (5.2MB)
Track 05. I’m Waiting For the Man 3:26 (5.8MB)
Track 06. Coney Island Baby 5:43 (9.6MB)
Track 07. Vicious 2:25 (4.1MB)
Track 08. Walk on the Wild Side 3:04 (5.2MB)
Track 09. Heroin 7:18 (12.3MB)
Track 10. The Kids 4:46 (8.0MB)
Track 11. Caroline Says II 4:30 (7.6MB)
Track 12. The Power of Positive Drinking 2:17 (3.8MB)
Track 13. So Alone (snippet) 0:18 (520k)
Track 14. My Old Man 3:37 (6.1MB)
Track 15. Keep Away 2:52 (4.8MB)
Track 16. Street Hassle 12:10 (20.4MB)
Track 17. Rock ‘n’ Roll 3:24 (5.7MB)
Track 18. You Keep Me Hanging On 4:47 (8.0MB)
76 mins
Enjoy!

UP-UPDATE!
 The lovely people at Big O send me a lovely email stating that there are the following Lou Reed sets still up and running I think

LOU REED - Big O ARCHIVE

Lou Reed
Alice Tully Hall 1973


Lou Reed
Australia 1975-77


Lou Reed
Brooklyn 2006


Lou Reed
Columbia University 1979


Lou Reed
London 2010


Lou Reed
Los Angeles 1976


Lou Reed
Master Class (London 1992)


Lou Reed
New York 1976


Lou Reed
Paris 1974


Lou Reed
Stockholm 1974


Lou Reed And Zeitkratzer
Metal Machine Music Live!


Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, John Zorn
Montreal 2010


(That's at least TWO versions of Metal Machine Music LIVE!)
 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your airbrush ink study is a fitting tribute and accompaniment to Lou's words and music. Missed for sure, and one of my memorable gigs. J

Andy Swapp said...

Thanks Johnnie!
Too kind - it was a study for a larger 3' x 4' canvas now destroyed. Thanks so much for dropping by to say something. It's appreciated

bestests

Andy